Dennyboy,

Yes, there is a dna test available. I'm looking into it for my ESS, even though the breed is not on the affected list. My personal opinion as I said earlier is that I feel breeders are morally obliged to use available tests but I am in the tiniest minority.
As for the 'fit for purpose' issue i.e. a healthy pet, I think it would be a waste of time unless someone wanted to make a 'cause' of it. There is no law to say you have to health check dogs before you breed them. I think there was a big case involving a GSD around 1980 which the breeder lost but that was not about genetic testing.

Sgurr

Today is day 3 that Timber has been on iv fluids. They took a blood test tonight and the lab should have some answers for me in the morning. I went in at lunch with a mixture of food that she ate and now it's been 7 hours later and it's staying in her tummy.

She's the most kind hearted loving dog ( as I'm sure every dog owner know ) and I will do everything in my power to educated myself and others the best I can.

I will let everyone know the results on Saturday

Im sure that if you breed and sell a puppy as a pet (all dogs should be pets first) and it has inherited a condition which would have been picked up by health testing,which is advisable for your breed,then under the Trade discription act that puppy will not fullfill the original purpose,then the breeder is liable for selling "faulty" products...

I am meeting a friend tomorrow who is a soliciter and will ask her to look into it for me as i am curious.

makes me so mad idiots who breed without knowing anything about the breed if they did their research and found out about the dogs they would know about the health issues even worse are the ones which do know but choose to ignore,saying it doesnt affect mine as they are only pets,only because it will eat into their profits £$£$ or they are scared their dog may have the condition and they will pass it on but if they know about it then they will have to not breed them,so better not to know
Breeding should be to improve on the breed not make as much as you can from a living,breathing animal with feeling

__________________
www.fairlenium.piczo.com
Health testing for the future.

I'm so sorry to hear this sad news

& i really hope Timber will be ok. xx

__________________
"If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes."
L David Mech

We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself." -Farley Mowat

Many thanks for the update on Tmber and I'll be looking for your posting later today.
All paws crossed,

Sgurr

The results on the 2nd blood tests were in and her Bun and Creatinine #'s did come down (only a tad) but nowhere near what we were hoping for. I've got to atleast look at it as a step in the right direction.

The downside to the results (aside from the other numbers not dropping enough) is that her red blood cells are also dropping and those were the #'s we were hoping would go up.

We are keeping her there and are continuing with the iv fluids but now we are starting a injection 3x a day and somesort of powdered med to correct ther hemoglobin.

A few more days of treatment and another blood test will be taken.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and prayers, I'll keep you updated

A small step in the right direction, let's hope the injections and other medication helps to keep the red blood count up.

Thinking of you,
Sgurr

Hi
We are in the same situation as TimberCakes. Our 6 month old Golden Retriever, Rufus, was a bit poorly on Monday and seems to have JRD. He has 'small and irregular' kidneys as shown by the scan he had on Thursday (the day he turned 6 months old) by which time he looked terrible and was obviously extremely ill. He has always drunk lots and wee'd lots but we thought that was just him. He was house trained but began to wet his bed at night, every night, about a month ago. By Monday (17th) he was very lethargic and his breath was awful so we went to the vet. After doing a blood test he was referred to a vet hospital and he has been on a drip since Thursday (now Sunday). We have no idea if he will make it home again and if he does how many months together we will have.

I spoke to the breeder who was fairly unhelpful when I suggested Kidney disease. She claimed that the father had fathered many litters and there had been no problems. This litter is the first mating with her new female. From what I have read on the web after Google searching it could be possible that previous litters were fine if the other mothers were clear of the gene, but maybe in this case both parents are carriers in which case there is a 1 in 4 chance of the disease, and other siblings have a 50% chance of being carriers. I have asked the vet to do the cheek swab (DOGenes) so we would then have a clearer idea and I can then go back to the breeder armed with facts and hopefully stop another mating of this pair. If it is JRD I will also be getting in touch with the Golden Retriever Club UK and try to get the word out to the breeders.

I wish there was a silver lining I could give you regarding your puppy but from everything I've read and learned it is that once kidney failure is suspected only about 25% of the dogs kidneys are still functioning. It's a devastating disease and it has taken away my "soul mate"
It has taken me almost 3 weeks to post Timbers situation, only because I have yet to quit crying.
Timber was not showing any improvement on IV fluids and medications for 2 solid weeks in fact she was getting worse. I tried everything in my power to "save" her even a little bit longer but knew she was suffering and I had to put her pain to rest.
It was by far the hardest decision in my life but I knew I couldn't let her suffer because I wasn't ready to let go.
I'm thankful I was there when she took her last breathe, I hugged her tight and told her I will always love her.

I did find an amazing support group with tones of information at yahoo newsgroups under "k9kidney" They ask you to post the blood results of your dog and will help you understand what everything means and what medications and treatment could benefit your puppy best.

I wish you and your puppy love and prayers and hope things turns out differently for you both

Sincerely
Deanna

Thoughts are with you. Most of us know how awful this is for you