Dog Community

Any reason to send in OFA and CERF paperwork?

Posted : 8/20/2012 8:53:50 PM

I had Luke checked out at the cavalier health clinic this weekend. I had his heart and eyes checked out, so I have stuff to send to OFA and CERF. I'm wondering if there is any reason why I should actually send it in. He's neutered, so there's no benefit for breeding. His sire and dam have since been retired as breeding dogs, and none of his siblings are being used for breeding. So, there is no benefit to be added in anything there. Is there any compelling reason to spend the money on it?

micksmom

Posted : 8/21/2012 6:58:57 AM

The only other reason I can think of is to be able to track the clearances of dogs in his line. Did that make sense?

griffinej5

Posted : 8/21/2012 4:42:17 PM

That makes sense. I went and checked for available results of the dogs on his pedigree and related dogs. That as a reason doesn't compel me to spend the money. Apparently his breeder doesn't bother to register results, or she hasn't for quite a while. I saw the paperwork when i got him, but she hasn't registered anything since 2004. For the dogs not owned by his breeder, nobody registered results for hearts at an age that would be significant or of much importance. 50% of cavaliers have mitral valve disease by age 5, and nobody put one in past maybe age 3. Actually, if he makes it to late age clear, it would possibly be useful to register him for the purposes of the research that is being done to get rid of the genetic diseases, though not have the dogs in his line registered probably makes his data less useful.

rwbeagles

Posted : 8/21/2012 5:16:36 PM

Yes, breed clubs use the OFA and CERF databases to track problems within a breed. When people do not report that skews everything and affords an inaccurate picture of the breeds overall health. This can affect applications for research grants etc...I always submit results to the overseeing database. Because I love my breeds and want accurate information as to their state out there in the public realm and accessible by the breed clubs.

griffinej5

Posted : 8/21/2012 10:26:30 PM

It's starting to make more sense to me now. It's a lot of money though. If I send in the heart and eyes, and then I am also planning to take him to do hips and patellas. I'm debating a BAER also. He's not deaf, but cavaliers are also prone to syringiomyeloma. If I understand it correctly, if he has a syrinx, it'll show up as abnormal. The only way to know for certain though is an MRI. If it shows as normal, he probably doesn't have a syrinx. The other part to that though is a dog can have a syrinx and show no symptoms, or have symptoms that don't match the size of the syrinx, etc. Cavaliers can become deaf later on in life also. Hips and patellas are of course one and done. Eyes and heart we have to keep looking at of course.

Gina, I wonder how many pet dog owners know they can even do this stuff. I knew the breeders were also supposed to do it, but I had no idea that I could do it until maybe a month ago. I didn't know about the health clinics, that I could take my pet dog to the clinic and get him checked out, etc. I don't think many people do either, because at least while I was there, though I was admittedly there early first thing when it opened in the morning, the only other people there were breeders and people who were showing. This was the regional specialty. The clinic I am planning to take him to for the x-rays appears to have more people with pets coming. If I had no clue, I imagine there are lots of pet dogs, and lots of valuable data not recorded.

rwbeagles

Posted : 8/22/2012 9:48:23 AM

There are a few breeders that will tell owners about sending things in, others that tell them to only send GOOD things in. But at the end of the day it IS an expense and I was not going to pay personally for them sending the stuff in on every pup I bred. I certainly did tell them the value of it tho, and if they were to ever want to avail themselves of my health guarantee for the hip or eye issues or thyroid issues I covered then certification was a definite requirement. I do know some breeders offer rebates and such if you do send things in. That seems reasonable to me, $75 or such back in a few years. Being that I am no longer breeding I can only send things in on my own dogs...which I will continue to do in future.

Liesje

Posted : 8/22/2012 12:16:49 PM

The benefits would be for the breeder to keep track of the lines and for OFFA to have a more complete database. The more info/data they have the more valuable it is and future research will be more accurately targeted.

griffinej5

Posted : 8/22/2012 6:23:31 PM

Obviously, his breeder doesn't care too much about it since she doesn't send in good results. I'm not getting another Cavalier for a while, but I'm getting it elsewhere, for a few reasons. I'm still debating it. I think the eyes and the heart are $15 each to send, hips are $35, and patellas are $15. So, I'm looking at $80, plus $15 annually for the heart, $15 next again for eyes, and then at 5, eyes go to every other year. That's a lot of money on a dog who isn't being used for breeding, and isn't related to any dogs being used for breeding.