03/21/2023
Danielle Steenkamp and I bred Dallas. His parents had all applicable health tests at the time. Georgia (his mother) later developed a myocarditis (which resolved) and had an abnormal Holter, but she had a clean cardiac record until 2022.
These are the issues we face as breeders. We can do everything “correct,” we can exceed our club’s standards for health testing, but these issues still crop up.
Until every breeder is testing their dogs, and following up with their puppies as they age, we will never have a grasp on heart disease in borzoi. That follow up is crucial - because if we don’t hear there is a problem, we can’t start working to prevent it in the future.
We’ll keep following up with and supporting Dallas, and continue to build our understanding of how these diseases work.
Hug your dogs.
Long post alert!
2 weeks ago we received some devastating news about our boy Dallas (Felixx x Georgia). I'm sharing this information publicly with permission from his breeders. Yes, he's my dog but he was not from my breeding program, so I wanted to be sure they were okay with me sharing.
Let's rewind: Dallas was a lease fee puppy. I leased Georgia (A girl I bought from Ronnie Blackstock) to Danielle and Rita. From 12 weeks until about 8 months, he grew up with me. A show/performance home, that had a similar aged male from the Legacy Litter, inquired about a playmate to which I offered Dallas on co-ownership.
Jump ahead 5 years: When Dallas and Cas were returned to me last month, they mentioned a-fib was detected at Dallas' last vet visit. So I hooked him up to my holter and well, it was the first time I've seen results like his. Luckily MBC was hosting an echo clinic, with Dr. Megan McLane. As soon as he was on the table it was not good news. Confirmed a-fib and also dilated cardiomyopathy. The worst of the news, he was in heart failure. Heartbreaking, especially because he looks so healthy and exuberant on the outside. He was prescribed 3 different medications and follow up in 2 weeks. She requested an x-ray and bloodwork to make sure meds were working. Unfortunately, all the cardiologists with in a 2 hr drive of me were booked. Luckily Dr. McLane had an opening just a little over 3 hrs away.
Quick side note: Dallas' parents were health tested. His breeders did everything right. I will continue to update them. I appreciate all their advice and support.
Fast forward to today: We received some good news that he is responding to treatment! There is no longer fluid around his heart and his numbers have improved. This time Dr. McLane wanted to address his arrhythmia. He was prescribed an additional medication to hopefully help with that, and a few of his medications were reduced. He was also prescribed an appetite stimulator. He seems happy and is starting to adjust to his new home with me. Hopefully his appetite will continue to increase as the medications help him.
Prognosis – If Dallas’s enlargement is secondary to diet then he has a good prognosis if his heart can remodel back to a mild enlargement (this typically takes 6-9 months to see results). If Dallas’s heart disease is natural progression of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy then his prognosis is likely less than 6-12 months - especially if his arrhythmias worsen, his appetite does not improve or require lifelong medications.
Some reflection: From my very limited experience as a breeder, no matter how many times a dog passes their testing, or how long a breeder waits to breed their dog, health issues will occur. Am I making an excuse? No, just stating a simple fact that seems to occur in all living things. That doesn't mean we should stop health testing our dogs, that doesn't mean we should blame and point fingers at the breeders who are doing the testing and sharing the results. We, however, should be demanding more of breeders who don't test, and those who don't share truthful results. You can not make an assumption about a dog's death, unless the dog had a diagnosis (ie. cancer) previous to death or euthanasia. A necropsy can be done, but in some cases you can only ascertain what the dog DID NOT die from. Who cares about titles and rankings when the dog has no health testing or history of testing behind them and the pedigree is just filled with assumptions? There are some things no matter what we do or how often we test that we can't prevent, as well as many things we still have no genetic test for, ie. bloat. Let's not forget there are many things we can test for as well as track within in a pedigree. With testing and sharing we can glean important information for not only the future breeders but the breed community as a whole. Breeding seems to be a mix of luck and past knowledge. So those sharing correct information no matter how bad, are helping the breed vs. those hiding or making excuses. Just like in people, we can do all the genetic testing available and still have a child with autism, or a heart defect, or deformity. Is it environmental? Is it genetic? Is it congenital? Without knowing the past, we have no way of doing better in the future. So kudos to those working to improve our breed, sharing the information so future breeders can make informed decisions. Maybe one day we will have genetic tests for everything but until then we just have to keep doing better with the science, resources, and information we have available.
