FB 65. I have a bit of an eye problem at the moment so this report should be brief. A minor but almost amusing news flash is that my wife (also a geneticist) and I recently volunteered to join the committee of a breed club. We were accepted and then immediately nominated as delegates to Breed Council. Attending the recent Council meeting I had expected all sorts of fireworks on JKD but instead met a very different scene. Our club proposition that Breed Council encourage member clubs to hold open meetings on the disease so that everyone at last could hear all about it was passed unanimously, on minor amendment, mostly because of persuasion by a delegate from another club. The amendment was that my club hold the first meeting, and funding to aid this was included. This seemed to be a complete turn-around from actions in past meetings, but one disappointment in this for me was that I was left in the dark as to what the past hostility had been about. I can only say that if any delegate, club or individual wants to ask me anything about my actions, or those of boxerjkd, please just contact me by email (brucecatt8@gmail.com) and I will endeavour to explain everything and anything. 
However, setting this aside, the important news is that an open meeting is being planned, amidst the difficulties of finding a free date and venue can be found in this summer season of wall-to-wall shows. The speakers will be Professor Syme of the RVC who will explain the difficulties of the disease and its diagnosis. I will summarise the genetic findings from the boxerjkd efforts which will include the evidence on the inheritance and what tools we can use to help with Boxer breeding until the responsible gene is found. And then Professor Amos will tell us how far his research to find the gene has progressed. And from what I can learn, everything is going extremely well.
Additional news of interest is presented in a Purina publication (https://www.proplan.com/media/5954/boxerupdate_spr2018.pdf). It describes a new project on kidney disease specifically in American Boxers. I think we already know the answers to many of the questions they want to address but the more information the better. Many American cases have already contributed to Professor Amos’ search to find the gene.
I finish on the sad note of new JKD cases. The worst concerns a puppy only 4 months old and seriously ill. The big question has been whether at this young age she should be put on a renal diet? I have checked with our specialist and it seems one has to choose the least of two evils, and a renal or even a senior diet is recommended. Other new cases have rattled the concept that JKD is rare; we have recently had a UK litter with at least three affected puppies, with a fourth possible, and a Polish litter appears to have broken the record with five cases in one litter. How awful for all concerned. Here I recall I have to mention another disturbing issue. I have just learned that a boxerjkd diagnosis has been questioned and this has been used to diminish the evidence on JKD. On checking back on the records I found an ndisputable veterinary diagnosis from two independent vets, including ultrasound assessment of the kidneys. They were described as abnormal (with much detail) and it seems that the owner had simply misunderstood what was described and thought that ‘kidney abnormalities’ meant ‘ kidney tumours’ and told the stud dog owner this. And the word spread. Why are people content to believe word of mouth rather than seek the truth? I endeavour to find the correct answers to all questions.

​FB 60. It may seem that nothing is happening with JKD at the moment. As always this is far from the truth. In part this has been due to my change in email address which caused a number of reports on new cases temporarily to go astray. My first news , therefore, is that this has been rectified and all the new pedigrees are now up on the boxerjkd.com website, with few more yet to come in. They include JKD cases from countries other than the UK and the whole makes informative reading. The same pattern of inheritance is becoming evident everywhere.
Disappointingly, critical personal comments on the boxerjkd group written by Tim Hutchings have appeared in the British canine newspaper, Our Dogs. The seriousness of the JKD situation is also dismissed. Responding to this has taken up some time but the whole story to date can be viewed in the boxerjkd.com blog. It all makes for sad reading.
It seems that much of the problem is due a lack of understanding of the genetics of the disease and full appreciation of the pedigree evidence. Therefore boxerjkd.com is now trying to alleviate this by annotating the pedigrees to provide more key information; this is based on the published evidence. However, as not all pedigrees have been reported to us, notably those held by the Breed Council health committee, the annotations are incomplete. The annotated pedigrees can now be viewed on the boxerjkd website. 
It should also be noted that the Norway list is incomplete. The Norwegian Boxer Club has decided that it wants to publish its own pedigrees, although with our annotation system. This may be appropriate and would save us much work. We are therefore closing our Norway list and replacing it with a link to the Norwegian one. Little difference will be noted in practice.
Of far greater importance however are the new research findings also reported in the boxerjkd blog. These comprise the incredible news from Professor Amos that he is confident that he has identified the chromosome on which the gene for JKD lies. Finding the chromosomal location of the gene is a major milestone in identifying the gene itself. More detail is given in the blog.