Breed Health Update 

Dear all,

I have heard from the Kennel Club regarding the conclusions of their Health Standard Advisory Panel meeting and am very pleased to report that they have revised their stance on Hip Scoring and SLEM testing.

HIP TESTING.

It was agreed that there is some uncertainty about the clinical relevance of radiographic hip scores in small breeds with unexaggerated conformation. Hip Scoring will be removed from the Health Standard for our breed but retained as a point to be investigated within the Breed Health Conservation Plan while the clinical evidence is considered further. This may be reviewed next year.

SLEM

SLEM testing was previously placed in Best Practice as the paper detailing the mutation responsible for this disease had not been published.

As Dr. Mellersh was one of those present at the Health Standard Advisory Panel meeting she was able to provide an overview of where her team are with the test and the update that the paper is due to be released very soon . Given the severity of the condition and the relatively high mutation frequency the group were happy to recategorise this test as a Good Practice test.

This is much more sensible and means that all breeders must remain vigilant and not become complacent about SLEM testing.

Hip scoring remains at the discretion of the individual breeder.

Regards,

Eddie Houston BVMS, MRCVS