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The Beagle - A Healthy Breed
Beagles are medium sized, short haired dogs with no exaggerated features of
conformation. They have a merry disposition and are very sociable, which makes
them popular as family pets. They were originally bred to hunt hare and think
for themselves. This gets them into trouble at times as they follow their noses
to find food or other exciting, usually unsuitable, things to eat, often
resulting in an upset digestive system. Anyone who owns a beagle needs a good
sense of humour.
Our website www.beaglehealth.info talks about canine health in general, as well
as conditions that are specific to beagles and includes discussions about the
ones we feel are the most important. An internet search for beagle health
matters may bring up an alarmingly long list of diseases and conditions, but the
beagle is unique in being used for research and there are many thousands of
papers published from this. Many of these are obscure and may relate to the
laboratory population, which has become genetically selected.
Good breeders DNA
test their beagles for the main conditions that may occur in pet and show
beagles. This means they have done their best only to breed from healthy
parents.
At the moment the four conditions most likely to be debilitating in affected
beagles are MLS, NCCD, IGS and Lafora’s Disease, plus a fifth that appears to be
less of a problem: FVII deficiency. These are all recessive conditions and are
explained in more detail on the website. Briefly each dog carries two copies of
the relevant genes, with one inherited from each parent. An affected beagle has
two bad copies and will be affected by the condition. A carrier (one copy only)
or a clear dog (no copies) cannot get the disease and will lead a normal life as
far as these conditions are concerned. To avoid affected puppies, anyone
breeding must know the dog’s status, as carriers of the first four can only be
bred to a clear dog.
Lafora’s Disease is
our newest test (released at the end of 2017) and is a slowly progressive
metabolic condition, ultimately leading to neurological signs and seizures. In
some ways this is one of the most important as it is not visible until the
beagle is a few years old. Thus the beagle could have been bred from prior to
symptoms showing. We hope all breeders will take this on board and we will have
no puppies from unscreened parents in the near future.
Musladin-Lueke
Syndrome (MLS) is a condition that results in several visible physical
deformities as well as other issues, such as early arthritis and seizures in
some cases. This was the first condition we started screening for and we now
have many hereditarily clear beagles in the UK. Along with Neonatal Cerebellar
Cortical Degeneration (NCCD) these have been recorded for many years and there
is really no excuse for breeders not to screen for them. NCCD produces a
coordination problem visible by a few weeks of age and affected beagles cannot
control their hind legs properly. Both these conditions must be tested for under
the UK Kennel Club Assured Breeders Scheme.
FVII is one
of the chemicals involved in blood clotting. Fortunately it seems to be a minor
condition in most beagles, as many affected dogs have surgery without any
issues. However if a dog was compromised in some way it is wise to be aware of
its status.
We are also investigating epilepsy
and steroid responsive meningitis (SRM) with the Animal Health Trust.
We need DNA samples from affected and related beagles for this work. For more
information on this and other beagle health-related matters please contact the
UK the Breed Clubs’ Health Coordinator, Samantha
Goldberg |
