Question on health testing

[yoko]

I'm not too familiar with breeders and was going to see if you guys could answer something for me.

I get not putting all info online for privacy and sometimes you are paying to have people make the sure and more stuff means more money. But is it normal to not post health stuff? The breeder says they health test and the results are open to anyone that visits. But I don't know if I'd be able to understand what they were saying so I'd kinda rather see online so I could look up stuff as I look at it.

[Shai]

What sort of health testing?

If it's OFA then you can just look it up yourself on their online database, assuming you know the dog's registered name.

But there are a lot of health tests out there...so it just depends on which ones are being claimed.

[Emily]

Originally Posted by Shai

What sort of health testing?

If it's OFA then you can just look it up yourself on their online database, assuming you know the dog's registered name.

But there are a lot of health tests out there...so it just depends on which ones are being claimed.

This. It really just depends. Many heath tests are recorded in a public, online database. You can look it up with the dog's registered name.

Like, my mom's English Cocker is from health tested parents, but the breeder doesn't post the specifics on her site. She just advertises that she believes in the health testing and specifically names OFA recordable tests. So before we even contacted her, I snooped on OFA to see if her dogs were listed and sure enough they were.

[yoko]

http://www.redbudcavaliers.com/health.html

They say its submitted to OFA but I really didn't know what to search with and wasn't able to find much there.

[Maxy24]

I looked up all of their dogs in OFA. None of the females showed up for anything. Three males (Ryder, Cappie, and, Joey) showed that they've had their hips tested.

If you really want to get to the bottom of it you'd have to talk to them directly. It's possible they have not submitted the tests to OFA for some reason, or choose only to submit hips even though their dogs have been tested for everything else. It's also possible all of their current females have not been bred so don't need to be tested yet. But on a first glance it doesn't look good, you'd need to chat with them.

[OutlineACDs]

The deal with OFA is with certain tests, the results are determined when the test is performed, others are not.

Any vet can do OFA xrays, but the xrays must be sent to OFA and graded by their team or else the dog is not considered to be OFA'ed for hips.

If you go to a CERF clinic, the dog's eyes are dilated and evaluated and the paperwork is filled out right there. You pay the Opthamologist $20 or whatever they charge, and then if you want OFA to record the results of the exam you must send in the paperwork the opthamologist gave you and $10 and then it will be psoted online in OFA's database. The dog is considered CERF'ed as soon as the opthamologist gives you a grade on your paperwork, but it will not show up on OFA's website until you send it to them. Some breeders choose to just file the test results away and make copies to send with puppy buyers or stud dog owners as needed.

I just got my dog's OFA cardiac test done. It isn't required by the breed club, but I was at a show that offered it, so I took advantage. He's cardiac clear, but I haven't sent the papers to OFA yet, so you won't find it listed in their database. If I choose to never send it to OFA it will never be searchable, but he wil lstill be cardiac clear, and I would be able to show proof of that.

[yoko]

So something like this shouldn't be an instant write off but do go ahead and try looking at the stuff he has?

I've never seen one are they hard to read?

[MafiaPrincess]

I've found breeders who don't submit, but do do health testing.. and those who lie. You won't know till you visit them, or ask for scanned copies if they do or don't. Some cocker breeders I looked at that bragged about the most health testing couldn't prove anything when pushed.

[Shai]

Yeah especiakly in the case of OFA...I mean it's generally $150+ to get the x-rays done...and only $30 or $40 to submit them...so if someone is claiming OFA and they aren't listed or some dogs are listed and others aren't, I would definitely be asking questions. Bear in mind also that submitter can check the little box that says OFA cannot publish the results if they are abnormal.

There coukd be a good explanation. More likely, there isn't. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

[BlackPuppy]

Here is a list of all the CKCS dogs on the OFFA data base that begin with "redbud"

http://www.offa.org/results.html?num..._year=&rptdte=