DNA testing results Health

I received three e mails today from Australia with the results of 1 of the four DNA tests I am having done on my BC's

All three of my BC's are Normal for the TNS(Trapped Neutrophil Syndrome ) mutation, which means they do not carry it & therefore cannot produce it in any puppies they might have.

All I have to wait for now is the CEA & CL & MDR 1 results

Good news!

1 down ,3 to go!

Fingys Crossed!

Good news on those results Dyane... congratulations.

Just out of interest, is it rountine to get BCs done for MDR? Have there actually been any found to have the mutation?

That's great news, good luck on the other three. I'll keep fingers crossed for you!

Quite a few acording to the lab I sent the samples to, it may not be routine, but it should be. I was offered Milbemax for my puppy in the puppy pack I got from the Vets

I know Invermectin & derivatives are in many drugs sadly

That's interesting. I know there was a lot of confusion at first because 'Collie' as referenced by the research team that did the initial work on this, meant Rough Collie, not the Border. I know the labs are promting the test for BCs, but I've yet to hear of any affected or carrier BC being positively identified and named.

Well I know we clash on a lot of stuff, but wanted to say that its great news about the results!

Great news fingers crossed for the others ,

I would presume because the owners don't want the results known, it is actually all herding breeds & crosses I know of two shepherds that lost a dog each with a reaction to Invermectin & they were not ISDS etc just working farm dogs, one in Scotland & the other in Ireland

Joedee - good luck with the DNA test results, I hope they come back okay.

Please could you explain the link with MDR and Milbemax - does this drug make the dog more susceptible?

Thank you.

Hi LS. MDR1 is a gene mutation that gives a dog sensitivity to certain drugs. It's a recessive, so the dog needs a double dose of the gene to be affected.

It occurs in Rough Collies and also some breeds and crosses that have RC lineage. Dogs tested clear of the mutation though, are not necessarily free of the defect. From what I've read, there are other types of drug sensitivity not associated with this gene.

There's a link here to a UK lab that does the DNA testing, with some good info, and the drugs listed. Note they do list the GSD as one of the affected breeds, but from what I've read this was a rare case, and possibly one with some crossbreeding, so not really established as a problem in this breed.

http://www.collienet.com/health topics/MDR1 Gene defect.htm

Almost correct the background to the "Collie"breeds is a common one, the difference in names tends to denote where the dogs were bred originally & the etymology of the word Collie stems from the word black in Anglo-Saxon. The most common colour in Border Collies is black with white, tan etc markings. The Rough & Smooth collies are essentially the same breed with different coat lengths(from the highlands of Scotland & they are more like Huntaways than the traditional sheepdog, the Shetland Sheepdog a scaled down version bred for independent thinking, the Border Collies quite literally bred in the Border Regions of England, Scotland & Wales, the Bearded Collie(a mixture of UK collie & the continental herding breeds) a drovers dog bred to drive stock(including cattle, sheep, pigs & geese)to market, there is a native Welsh Sheepdog again bred for work on the hills & mountains of Wales

Being heavily involved in BCs in the working world(both farm work & Obedience)I've come in contact with thousands of BCs(or WSD) over the years & before the reaction to Invermectin & it's derivatives(includes Milbemax, Gaveston etc)was known many dogs died or were seriously ill after being treated with this essentially horse drug(it wasn't approved for use for dogs at one time)not just Roughs & as most herding breeds have a common ancestry it is wise to err on the side of precaution to ensure that the reaction doesn't affect my dogs

Great news Joedee please keep us posted x

Oh yes, I agree with that. It's wise to test as a precautionary measure if drug sensitivity is suspected but it does seem that this particular gene mutation doesn't occur, or at most is at a very low frequency in the Border Collie, which does tie in with what is known of Collie lineage.

The gene mutation has been traced back to a dog of Rough Collie lineage that lived in the late 1800s and this was after the split from the line that gave rise to the other working breeds such as the Border Collie, Bearded Collie, Welsh Sheepdog, Kelpie, Cattle Dogs etc. Now this doesn't guarantee that there has been no crossing of the two lines as there could have been with any breeds, but it does seem that this particular gene mutation is not in the split off line.

The MDR1 mutation is however just one explanation for drug sensitivity. There could be many different reasons for dogs dying or showing over-reaction to drugs.

Thanks Pod and Joedee, much appreciated.

Well I've got the results & they are all clear

Two down, now just the Optigen to arrive for Jessie & Mr Wu

The two dogs I know of were tested post mortem for the research & did have the MDR 1 mutation

Congratulations on the latest results!

That's interesting Dyane. Not doubting you... they could have recorded the breed wrongly, but the research project paper published with the discovery of MDR1 specifically mentions the Border Collie as a breed where the gene mutation was not found.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/101/32/11725

Congratulations on the results Dyanne

That's quite interesting pod as I've never heard of the GSD being one of the affected breeds.

AFAIK it's only one, and in the USA. Details here -

[link deleted]

No hang on wrong one. That one says normal. I'll go search.......