Health related topic's and link's

Hip/elbow dysplasia:

Dysplasia is considered to be a polygenitic disorder with only 25% being inheritable.  That would leave 75% of dysplasia to be the result of nutrition/environmental.  Ester C or vite. C has also been shown to help improve Dysplasia which would also lead to the belief that nutrition plays a large role in Dysplasia.  I have added some links below to a few very interesting articles.

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/saortho/chapter_83/83mast.htm

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=TUFTSBG2003&Category=&PID=5093&O=Generic

http://www.cyberpet.com/dogs/articles/health/vitc.htm

Puppies from fully tested parents can develop dysplasia.  Breeders need to test all breeding stock and be honest with results and breed away from it.

Cystinuria:

Cystinuria in Mastiffs is a disease of the kidneys where the over load of cystine is not possessed and dumped into the urine.  Cystinuria is becoming a very large problem within our breed and as of to date there is no DNA test for it.  UPenn is doing the research on Cystinuria and can test for cystine in the urine.  Upenn believes that there is no false positive results and that there is false negative results.  What this means is if a Mastiff test positive for Cystinuria and later test negative it is still positive.  Cystinuria is a very heart breaking disease.  A Mastiff can form stones and cause a blockage which could lead to death if not treated surgericly.  The surgery is very expensive.  There is a medication that can be given to the dog to help prevent stones from forming is $500.00 a month and he would have to be on the medication for the rest of his life.  Please make sure that the parents of a puppy you plan to purchase has been tested for Cystinuria.  Below is a link to MCOA's health page.

  http://mastiff.org/health/cystine.htm

Cancer:

Some Cancer's are believed to be hereditary or run in lines or families.  There are no test at this time for any form of Cancer.  I believe that radiation has played a very big role in canine Cancer.  So many breeders are x-raying their girls to get a puppy count when bred.  I believe that we should not expose our unborn puppies to the effects of radiation then we would a human child.  You can click here to read a very interesting article on this.

Seizures:

Seizures is another problem that can show up within our breed.  I have listed the link below to MCOA's information on seizures.

http://mastiff.org/health/epi.htm