FB 36. I have accepted many facebook friends in recent times and have done so primarily to get news on the Boxer kidney disease, JKD/RD, circulated as widely as possible. However, I will be off-line for a short while next week so I hope nothing too exciting happens on the subject during this period.
The holidays are over and things are beginning to happen again:
1. I have heard of a new JKD case in Scotland, but it does not look like it will be reported. This is the first UK case I have heard about for several months.
2. We have a new case from abroad that links with a recent case from another country (yet same father). It is all hanging together very nicely.
3. The preliminary investigation of a candidate gene for JKD is now definitely going ahead.
4. I have encouraged a mathematical geneticist to look at the inheritance of JKD from a new and different angle. I am sure the probabilities will not mean much to most of us, including me, but I want every possible investigation followed.
5. Unfortunately I have not heard anything further from Swedish vet/geneticist, Ake Hedhammar, on the issue of RD diagnosis versus JKD diagnosis. This has to be resolved if there is to be any further breeder action against the disease.
6. Remarkably, the KC has suggested I join a new organisation, International Partnership for Dogs (http://dogwellnet.com/breeds/pedigreed/boxer-r26/). The membership seems to be all manner of research groups, vets, geneticists, people with particular experience with dogs, many national KCs, insurance companies. It presents research articles, blogs, and research news of all kinds. We’ll see where this goes.
7. On a different subject, I was saddened to hear that breeders in Scotland are having difficulty getting their dogs heart-tested for aortic stenosis. I fear that heart testing has become a rather unrewarding chore for the cardiologists, rather than the interesting study it once was. This is just my own view though.
8. Finally, many of you will have read in the British daily press about the cloning of a UK Boxer. The dog had been dead for 12 days before tissue was collected, but two pups were generated. I have written to the owners as I am very interested to hear how the pups develop.
The holidays are over and things are beginning to happen again:
1. I have heard of a new JKD case in Scotland, but it does not look like it will be reported. This is the first UK case I have heard about for several months.
2. We have a new case from abroad that links with a recent case from another country (yet same father). It is all hanging together very nicely.
3. The preliminary investigation of a candidate gene for JKD is now definitely going ahead.
4. I have encouraged a mathematical geneticist to look at the inheritance of JKD from a new and different angle. I am sure the probabilities will not mean much to most of us, including me, but I want every possible investigation followed.
5. Unfortunately I have not heard anything further from Swedish vet/geneticist, Ake Hedhammar, on the issue of RD diagnosis versus JKD diagnosis. This has to be resolved if there is to be any further breeder action against the disease.
6. Remarkably, the KC has suggested I join a new organisation, International Partnership for Dogs (http://dogwellnet.com/breeds/pedigreed/boxer-r26/). The membership seems to be all manner of research groups, vets, geneticists, people with particular experience with dogs, many national KCs, insurance companies. It presents research articles, blogs, and research news of all kinds. We’ll see where this goes.
7. On a different subject, I was saddened to hear that breeders in Scotland are having difficulty getting their dogs heart-tested for aortic stenosis. I fear that heart testing has become a rather unrewarding chore for the cardiologists, rather than the interesting study it once was. This is just my own view though.
8. Finally, many of you will have read in the British daily press about the cloning of a UK Boxer. The dog had been dead for 12 days before tissue was collected, but two pups were generated. I have written to the owners as I am very interested to hear how the pups develop.
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