INTRODUCTION AND SOME OF MY OPINIONS CONSIDERING THE HEALTH:
When I bought my first basenji back in 1991, it was a norm only test the eyes from the parents before they were used in breeding. The kids that were not used in breeding, mostly remained without testing at all and quite often still do :-( The basenjis were most likely thought to have no health problems that'd need testing except the PPM in the eyes so yes, I believed the same for some first years in the breed.
Well, good for me I did not breed more than 3 litters for a long time (not that I'd breed much even now, hardly few puppies a year!) and even of those, two were out of my foundation bitch Pimpu who is still fit & well and going strong at the age of 13. Pimpu's last eye-exam was done at the age 11+ showing absolutely no changings at all and had remained totally clean. Due to her old age I have not been positive to put her under anestesia for hip-xraying so no, she's not done even though she's my foundation bitch. How ever, she's still able to do nearly the same running than my youngsters so I guess she cannot be very bad :-) Two of her few produced kids have been xrayed both being hip excellent (like all their kids, grandkids and greatgrandkids so far). So, I think I had kinda good start with her.
When I read and heard more about the health problems and got some very wise long-time breeders abroad mentoring me, I was convinced to start testing more. So, here we are. Little by little more and more of Bulldobas-kids have been tested and we will surely continue this habit. How ever, it most likely means that their owners need to co-operate so I'm not able to have all my pups tested, unfortunately. I have most of my kids gone throught eye-exams at least once so have to be happy about it - we're still in the 'child's shoes' when it comes to hips and esp. thyroidtesting, how ever, were are doing our best and can assure no results are kept secret, let it be good or bad. We trust in honesty and only co-operate with people worth it.
The results so far have been superbly good. All hips Excellent (Europe) and two OFA goods (USA) - few PPM's only - one Coloboma (out of my imp. bitch bred to a foreign bred male). As their kids and grandget etc have been tested quite widely (thanks to their owners/breeders) we are happy to announce the results have been nearly flattering! I'd like to say THANK YOU for each and everyone who have bothered to do the service - not for me but FOR THE BREED!
I'd like to comment one thing: if and when thinking of a basenjipuppy please go on and ask the health-results & history behind your puppy. The same goes when you are hunting for a proper stud-dog. Naturally, not even all the testing makes a dog healthy! No way! But, it shows you that a breeder in question _cares_ more than just producing puppies for the market.
We all have our own thoughts what is needed on healthsection, what is a problem and so on. In my opinion, ALL things should be considered and given a thought before using the dogs for breeding. Not only the parents but also the near family - the more you know (good and bad) the better decisions you are able to make. NO-ONE can tell you that their dogs/this puppy could never come down with healthproblems that you need to worry about. None. And as stated before, we all have our own thoughts of what is important. Just remember one more thing: if and when you ask the health information; You have to be ready to digest there are problems sometimes and somewhere in the pedigree so the more information of the relatives available the better. You also need to remember that no-one is able to tell you yet how problems like fanconi is inherited, so it's all a big puzzle we need to figure out and try to do our best.
You'll find informatiton of fanconi, IPSID, thyroid- & eyeproblems, seizures etc when following the links provided from this site. Do your homework. Ask questions. Remember that when you ask the healthinformation there are people that are honest, not so honest and people who simpy does not care. AVOID PUPPYMILLS! I stand behind the honesty and the fact that if you do not test you cannot know.
While I still think that basenji IS a very healthy breed, we should not let it fool us. They sure have their problems and if someone tells you that they do not need to be tested, I'd suggest you to change the breeder. NO, I do not think that the testing makes the dogs itself any healthier than they are, but I sure want to know as much as possible of the family of my planned litters as I feel it's always better to know than not to know.
All our basenjis are regularly striptested for sugar in urine and so far there has been - unfortunately - two cases of fanconi in my imp. bitches (Pippa & Gemma) - something that no-one could have even thought few years ago. They both come from the same line that had been bred for a very long time with no said fanconi found so it just showed me that no-one can say their dear basenjis would be safe. So remember to striptest your dog!
Last but not least I've tried to collect healthinformation of my basenjis here. There may be some mistakes in years but this should be kinda accurate. If you have any healthinformation concerning your pet (my bred) I'd love to hear from you. I also collect information of my grandkids, greatgrandkids, uncles and aunts etc so if you have some to send me I'd love to hear from you too. I have quite a lot of it already and the more the better.
Clicking here you can find introductions of the stud dogs we have used for breeding.
FANCONI MARKER TESTED
