A someone has a White English Bull Terrier. He had a litter out of her. He had a phone call about 1 pup that has Dry Eye (KCS) (no one else has rang him to say about it) I've been trying to read up it being hereditary but i can't find anything on the matter. My question is, Is if the mum has it, will she pass it onto all the pups or will it effect just 1 or 2 pups ? Pup is 5/6 months old if that helps. Thanks !
It is recommended that you do not breed from a dog that suffers from KCS, (keratoconjunctivitis sicca). You do not say whether either parent of this litter themself suffers from dry eyes, though you do hint that the mother may well have it. KCS is thought to be an immune related condition which can vary a great deal in severity, but will usually need treatment for the whole of the dog's lifetime. At a minimal level there is eye irritation, but really severe cases can lead to loss of vision. I don't know whether anyone can forecast the pattern of inheritance for a puppy developing KCS, but the odds must be increased if there is an affected parent, and I note that the EBT is one of the breeds mentioned in relation to this condition. I would suggest that this breeder contacts the breed club, and see whether the Breed Health Co-ordinator is able to give them definitive breed-related information. I have a Beagle which suffers from auto immune conditions, and has a mild drug-related KCS. He copes well with routine Schirmer testing and eye drops once or twice a day, but a true dry eye is a distressing condition, and not as easily managed. I have to say that I would not breed from this bitch again.
It is prolific in Gsd’s yet in all my years of owning them Heiko is the first time ive had this problem. Since Heiko was diagnosed with plasmoma’ a related condition to Pannus’(kcs ) ive done lots of research and there appears to be no definitive answer whether or not it is heritable, it can't be detected in a blood test so it’s obviously not carried via a dominant gene. Another theory is that it's an immune issue with the dog's immune system attacking the cells in the cornea, the other factor apparently is that intense UV light seems to trigger it. It’s one of those complex issues where we don't really know.
