DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS

Director: Dan Hogan , DVM dfh@vet.purdue.edu

I am happy to report that everything at CERF is running smoothly and we have had a good year. We hope this year has brought you happiness and joy. We have worked with additional breed groups to assist them in identifying eye disease as well as beginning some discussion with the American Kennel Club/Canine Health Foundation.The discussions with the AKC were concerning the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) with respect to working together to maintain a centralized information database on diseases in dogs that can be easily accessed by owners, breeders and researchers.This is a very exciting opportunity and we are happy to work together with the AKC to facilitate the spread of information to improve the health of our canine companions.

We have seen improved understanding between you, boarded ophthalmologists and the CERF office in terms of how forms are to be filled out and what is needed at the exam. We appreciate your efforts, understanding and suggestions to help with this process.If you should have any questions or concerns, please contact our office and let us know.

We will soon be making minor changes to the CERF form that you should be aware of. Please watch for these changes, make sure you fill out all required information of you and the ophthalmologist and let us know if you have any questions.

We have made minor changes in the processing of CERF forms within our office that should have no direct impact on you but could cause some minor delays in the time it takes to get your certification notices.Please let us know if you have any problems.

We want to make everyone aware that the CERF forms we use are copyrighted and cannot be photocopied. Any photocopied forms that are sent to us will not be accepted for certification of your dog. Please make sure that the CERF forms you use are the official ones sent out by the CERF office. This does not pertain to lost forms that are photocopied and then signed by the Ophthalmologist.

We look forward to working with you over the next year and want to be of assistance to you in any way we can. We wish you the best over this next year and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, concerns or comments.

Sincerely

Daniel F. Hogan, DVM, DACVIM-Cardiology, Director- CERF/VMDB

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What can I do if I lose my owners copy of the CERF exam form?

A: You can call the Doctor that did the CERF exam and ask them for a copy. Make sure you ask them to have the Doctor resign the copy. It must be an original signature on the copy, not a photocopied one.

Q: Can you find the Research copy that the Doctor sends you and use that?

A: We do not match the Research Copy of the CERF exam form with the Owners Copy that you send us to register the dog. We only scan the Research Copy into our database for our statistics reports and then it is recycled. It is up to the owner to register the dog.

New Canadian Funds Policy

Due to the cost to CERF to cash checks and money orders drawn on Canadian Financial Institutions, we must charge an additional $8.00 fee for such methods of payment. To avoid this cost, use checks or money orders drawn on United States Financial Institutions or US currency. When currency is used a receipt will be provided by mail. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Any registrations that are sent in with Canadian Funds payment will be sent back with a letter requesting the extra $8.00 fee.

"You can’t keep a good man down – or an over affectionate dog”- unknown

Free Brochures

CERF has a brochure entitled "Eliminating Heritable Eye Disease in Purebred Dogs" which is available to individuals and clubs. The brochure contains information and answers to many questions concerning CERF, the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) and canine eye testing in general.

The blue brochure is absolutely free and is available in both small and large quantities. Call today at (217) 693-4800 or email: CERF@vmdb.org to order for your next club meeting, clinic, dog show or kennel customers.

CERF/AKC Information

We still get many phone calls about why a dog wasn’t listed as having a CERF number with the AKC. There are two reasons why they may not be listed with AKC. One is that the AKC only recognizes dogs that have a form of permanent identification (tattoo, microchip or DNA Profile), so make sure you bring that information with you when you have the CERF exam done. Second is the registration number you give us is not the same number that the AKC has issued your dog. A lot of times the owners transpose numbers when filling out the CERF form (or we do when entering) and then when the information is sent to AKC it can’t be matched up. So please take the time to correctly and completely fill out the back of the CERF exam form and when you get your certificate, check it for any mistakes. Remember, we have to try to read your handwriting! If you discover an error on your certificate just call our office and we will correct it and send you another certificate at no charge. We are here to serve you and we want you to be happy.

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole"-- unknown

DX SPOTLIGHT

Yearly CERF Exams - Why Are They Important?

Sheryl Krohne, DVM, MS Diplomate ACVO, ACVO Genetics Committee/CERF Liaison

One of the most frequently asked questions at CERF is "Why is the CERF certification only valid for one year"? The reason is that some eye diseases in all breeds of dogs can occur at several ages. For example, if you take your dog to have a CERF examination when it is 8 weeks old, many diseases can be diagnosed. These diseases will not progress and once they have been diagnosed, they will not disappear or "go normal" in future examinations. These diseases include microphthalmos, iris coloboma, fundus staphyloma or coloboma, retinal detachment, persistent hyaloid artery, PHPV/PTVL, optic nerve coloboma, optic nerve hypoplasia, and micropapilla. Other diseases may be present at 8 to 10 weeks of age and these diseases can change in their appearance (get worse or better) or disappear with age. These include entropion and other eyelid conformational abnormalities, persistent pupillary membranes, retinal dysplasia (folds and geographic lesions), and choroidal hypoplasia. Still other diseases may not be diagnosed until the dog is older. Most hereditary cataracts do not form in the eye until dogs are 6 months to 8 years old. Progressive retinal atrophy is most commonly diagnosed in dogs that are 2 to 8 years of age, depending on the breed. The result is that a dog could be certified by CERF at 8 weeks and again as a 1 year old, and then not pass the CERF exam at 2 years of age because cataracts had appeared between the 1 and 2 year examination.

So, what does this mean to the breeder? Dogs should be certified every year to ensure that they have not developed serious ocular diseases that occur after dogs are one or 2 years old, such as cataracts or retinal atrophy. A yearly normal CERF exam would keep the dog’s CERF number up-to-date. Individual dogs that are "clear" at their CERF exam at 9 years of age are usually not going to develop any genetic eye disease after 9 years. This is not completely true for every breed, however, it can be used as a general recommendation. My advice for show, obedience, performance, working and breeding dogs is that they have a CERF examination when they are young (< 4 months old), and another examination before they are used for breeding the first time. After that, males that are being used regularly for stud service should be examined every year until they are 10 years of age, and females and males that are being bred intermittently should be examined before they are bred each time. Having the exam as close to the breeding as possible decreases the possibility that a genetic disease has appeared and will be missed before breeding again. Many females only have a litter every other year, and while a CERF exam from 11 months ago is still valid, it is not as useful to the breeder as an exam that is normal in the month before breeding. It is equally important to check the validity of the CERF number of the dog you are breeding your dog with. Many breeders accept the word of other breeders that their CERF clearance is current. It is easy to check the date of the CERF examination on the VMDB/CERF website where the exam date is listed, along with the CERF certification number (http://www.VMDB.org). The CERF certificate also shows the year of the examination and the dogs age at examination, so you should ask to see the current certificate if you have not verified it from the website.

While yearly examinations do not guarantee that the dog is not a carrier of genetic ocular disease, they do ensure that within the last year, the dog was examined and no genetic ocular disease was diagnosed. If CERF clear dogs are bred, genetic ocular disease can be significantly decreased in each successive generation and eliminated in 6 generations.

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” -Unknown

Congratulations!!

We would like to congratulate the eleven new Diplomates on passing their American College of Veterinary Opthalmology examinations. There are now approximately 240 practicing ACVO Diplomates available to perform CERF examinations. Congratulations to the following new Diplomates:

M. Tanja Nuhsbaum

Terri Gibson

Kristina Vygantas

Lisa Felchle

Heidi Denis

Ellison Bentley

Susan Keil

Ursula Dietrich

Dan Biros

Pat Welch

Elaine Holt

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