All about health tests

We believe in health testing all of our Danes. We provide copies of ALL health tests to future families of our puppies. It should be good breeding practice to always provide ANY and ALL health test results to future families, and unfortunately we understand many breeders do not. I believe that is one aspect that sets "Kirk's Dane Farm" apart from other breeders. We have placed all copies of health tests of all of our Danes below for anyone to view. I have also added a few articles below describing three additional health tests we have decided to test for, which have been seen in the Great Dane breed. As always, please ask if you have any questions about any of the items below.

**Bruce, Luna, and Ella have all passed their eye certification. I will post those copies as soon as we receive those from OFA. This will result in each of those Danes with a CHIC#. A CHIC# stands for "Canine Health Information Center". Each breed of dog has certain health screenings that are required by the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) which has been recommended by the parent club of each breed and those results are public information (through a database using a CHIC#). The following Health Tests (screenings) are to be tested/checked by a board certified vet in each area.

  • Hip Dysplasia (One of the following)
    OFA Evaluation
    PennHIP Evaluation
  • Eye Examination by a boarded ACVO Ophthalmologist
    Results registered with OFA
  • Autoimmune thyroiditis
    OFA evaluation from an approved laboratory
  • Cardiac Evaluation (One of the following)
    Advanced Cardiac Exam
    Congenital Cardiac Exam
For your convenience, I have added a button that you may click to take you to the OFA site in order to learn more about CHIC#'s.
Bruce and Ella both have their CHIC #'s.  If you go to the OFA website, at the top right corner is a tab.  You can type in their number and verify all health tests that we have listed here.
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Bruce's CHIC #: 148994
Ella's CHIC #:  148995
Bruce and Ella both have had 3 additional health tests completed:

  • LEMP (Leukoencephalomyelopathy) is a recessively inherited neurodegenerative disorder that affects the white matter of the central nervous system (CNS).  Canine LEMP is characterized by slowly worsening gait abnormalities, especially spontaneous knuckling, dragging of the paws and hypermetria of the thoracic limbs, and a characteristic pattern on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Affected dogs show corresponding gross lesions in the cervical spinal cord white matter that may extend to the thoracic spinal cord, as well as to the brain; peripheral nerve and muscle biopsies are unremarkable.  Canine  LEMP often shows  a  juvenile  onset  and is characterized  by  a  generalized  progressive ataxia. Spinal reflexes of affected dogs are mostly normal.  In  the  progressive  clinical  course  of  the  disease,  affected  dogs may become  increasingly  immobile  within  a  few  months.  Like many diseases of the CNS, there is no effective treatment for LEMP.
  • IMGD (Inherited Myopathy in Great Danes) is a rapidly progressive muscle myopathy with an age of onset around six months. The disease is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion thus two copies of the IMGD mutation are needed for a dog to be affected. IMGD results from a single base change in the bridging integrator 1 (BIN1) gene. Affected dogs exhibit exercise intolerance and progressive muscle atrophy. Research data suggest that only 20% of affected dogs survive to adulthood with acceptable quality of life. Dogs with one normal and one mutated BIN1 gene (carriers) are unaffected but breeding two carriers together would be predicted to produce 25% affected offspring and 50% carriers.
  • DM (Degenerative Myelopathy) is a progressive disease of the spinal cord in older dogs. The disease has an insidious onset typically between 8 and 14 years of age. It begins with a loss of coordination (ataxia) in the hind limbs. The affected dog will wobble when walking, knuckle over or drag the feet. This can first occur in one hind limb and then affect the other. As the disease progresses, the limbs become weak and the dog begins to buckle and has difficulty standing. The weakness gets progressively worse until the dog is unable to walk. The clinical course can range from 6 months to 1 year before dogs become paraplegic.
Click the buttons below to read more about each of the health tests listed above.
Below you can view each health test performed on every single Dane from Kirk's Dane Farm.  Future puppy families will receive copies in their puppy packs.
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