Ah, "my" two little bookends! How I adore them both. The black one is "Chewpee," and his full name is Rubad-Kaos Get Shorty. He got a four point major at the show! Harper is looking up at the camera like, "Mom, I'm freakin' tired. Get that camera out of my face."
This weekend has been good and traumatic for me. The good part is that Harper took second to another bitch on Saturday, and beat one other bitch. I'm going to keep showing her until we get a couple of points or maybe even get a major. I think right now it might be too tough to finish her.
Nancy told me that Pippin, Uno's full sister, came down with Addison's the last weekend in September. Harper and Pippin are half sisters through Brynnie. Nancy's puppy Mimi, from her Millie x Burnie litter, also came down with Addisons. However, Mimi's owner put her to sleep rather then have to deal with an Addison's dog.
What this means for me and Harper is that she has at least a 50% chance of being a carrier and at least a 25% chance of having Addison's disease herself.
Addison's disease is what is referred to as an "auto immune" disease, where the body attacks itself. Diseases such as demodectic mange and allergies are also immune diseases. Addison's disease is also termed as "hypoadrenocortism," or disease of the adrenal glands. The body is unable to produce corticol, which affects how the body handles stress.
Although Addison's disease is not thought to be genetic, auto immune weaknesses are common in certain lines and should be watched carefully. At this time, we are still planning on breeding Harper, but are going to make our choice as carefully as possible. I have asked both Meta and Yvonne in Europe if any of Harper's other relatives have had any immune diseases, or even just allergies or mange.
Here is the website where I found the information:
http://www.canineaddisonsinfo.com/index.html
http://www.canineaddisonsinfo.com/index.html
http://www.vetstreamcanis.com/ACI/january/VMD1/FactSheet054.asp
No comments:
Post a Comment