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The mission of the Health & Genetics Committee is to educate and inform the Kerry breeders and owners about health issues in our breed.
We would like to do this in ways that ensure confidentiality and anonymity. It is hoped that by working in this way, the committee will gain knowledge of the total number of cases of a particular disease at a given time. To this end , we are working on a form that will allow for online reporting of a problem.
By January, you will be able to go to the H&G page on the website and fill out an on -line form to report health issues you have with your Kerries.
On the weekend of September 19-21, I will attend the AKC
Health Foundation Conference in St. Louis. I hope to
give everyone a report on it at the Annual Meeting,
Montgomery weekend.
The members of the Health and Genetics Committee of the USKBTC are:
Dr. Scott Kellogg DVM, Chair
Sarah Lagassa
Gene Possidento
Lynn Duckett
and all the local club representatives.
THE AKC NATIONAL PARENT CLUB CANINE HEALTH CONFERENCE
The Fourth AKC Parent Club Health Conference was a rich and rewarding event. Breed representatives from each parent club, as well as other interested participants, listened to research veterinarians report on work sponsored by the Canine Health Foundation. It was noted by one of the presenters that virtually all the participants worked hard and
attended all the presentations. He went on to say that the degree of involvement by all who attended was commendable.
Topics included in this year's conference included:
Genome Mapping of the Canine. The map is 60% complete at this time and the presenter expects that they will have completed the map by spring 2004.
Genetic Testing, Types of Tests and Their Uses.
Popular Sire Syndrome and Concerns for Genetic Diversity.
Color Implications in Health.
An Update on Cancer
Auto Immune Diseases
Probiotics—Maintain and /or improve the beneficial flora in the lower GI tract.
Alternative Therapies, Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicines
Vaccines and Titers.
Dr. Asa Mays, DVM addressed the conference on, “Caring for the Health of Your Breed.” In his talk he exhorted breeders to be honest in all their dealings when breeding. He stated that the perfect dog has yet to be bred, and that all of us have things in our breeding programs that need to be mentioned , so that others who use our dogs can make informed choices. Without this kind of honesty, you can very quickly jeopardize the health of a breed. He told us that all breeders needed to decide what they were breeding for.Was it ego or was it for the health of a litter and future generations?
I hope to write about each of the topics listed above in depth, as they were well presented and important for the future of our Kerries.
Gene Possidento
Health & Genetics
Last Updated: 10/28/2004, 9:43 am
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