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I would like to inform you of some of the diseases that can affect German Shepherds. This does not mean that my dogs have these diseases or that your's will. It is for informational purposes only!

EPI

This can be a deadly Pancreatic Disease. Left untreated, a dog will eventually die of this. Some dogs are affected while others are carriers. It is manageable in most dogs if caught in a timely matter. Testing for this specific disease is done with a TLI blood test - Please also see links below for more information on EPI & testing:

Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI)

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/git-epi.html#b

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diagnostics/tlitest.html

http://www.gsdhelpline.com/boweldis.html

http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/clients/antechnews/1999/5-99.html

PANNUS

Pannus is a Corneal inflammation found in German Shepherd Dogs.

Pannus

CANINE HYPOTHYROIDISM

Some dogs have a genetic susceptibility to diseases that attack their own immune system. Researchers suspect that these immune-mediated diseases may be triggered by environmental chemicals, viruses, repeated inoculation with multi-valent modified live vaccines, and other immune system challengers.

Canine Hypothyroidism

MEGA-E

The esophagus is the tube connecting the throat to the stomach. When food is received in the esophagus, neurological reflex causing muscle contraction and relaxation lead to rapid transport of the food into the stomach, like an elevator going down. Other reflexes prevent breathing during this swallowing process to protect the lungs from aspiration.

When these reflexes are interrupted such as by disease in the esophageal tissue or nerve disease, the esophagus loses its ability to transport food. Instead the esophagus loses all tone and dilates. Also, the reflex protecting the lung is disrupted and aspiration pneumonia commonly follows.

Mega-E

HIP DYSPLASIA

The OFA does certifications on all breeds for Hips, Elbows, Thyroid, and Cardiac certification, as well as many other health certifications. They have an open database for all certified (passed/failed) canines. You can search data by entering a full name or partial name, or Certification #.

Crooked River Shepherds prefers to use the Penn-Hip method of certification. Unfortunately, Penn-Hip is not an open database like OFA is. Therefore, unless you are shown the results of your puppy's parents by the breeder there is no way to look them up after the fact. Crooked River posts Penn-hip results on each dog's page.

Some Additional Health Links:

Canine Inherited Disease Database/CIDD :

(Learn how Inherited Disease Works)
http://www.upei.ca/%7Ecidd/intro.html

Ocular Cholesterol (is there an underlying issue?):
http://www.revoptom.com/handbook/sect5l.html

Canine Cardiac Disease:
http://www.mirage-samoyeds.com/Heart%202.html

and also
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/documents/myopathyinlabradors.pdf

Canine Lymphoma:
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_canine_lymphoma.html

Canine Cryptorchidism:
http://siriusdog.com/articles/cyptorchidism-congenital-testicle-dog.html

Malabsorption:
http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00131.html

SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth):
http://www.gsdhelpline.com/boweldis.html

Want a quick beginners lesson on Genetics???

Read these sites below:

Punnett Squares:
http://www.athro.com/evo/gen/punexam.html

Seminar on Canine Genetics:
http://www.gsdhelpline.com/genetic2.html

Virtual Genetic Lab:
http://intro.bio.umb.edu/VGL/index.html

Ties That Bind - Jeffery Bragg/Mastiffs:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz4/MastiffBreeder/ethics3.html

Modes of Inheritance:
http://www.nrta.com/breedforfoundation/breedingfor.htmlll#modesof

Please report broken links to the webmaster!

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To report broken links or other web site problems contact: webmaster@crooked-river.com - Thank you!