Progressive retinal atrophy

Unfortunately around fifteen years ago it was discovered the Glen of Imaal Terrier suffers from an hereditary eye disease called Progressive Retinal Atrophy. The breed worldwide is pulling together to combat this & two research projects are underway,Optigen in the United States and Bochum in Germany, to try and determine which and what form Glens suffer from, .

Reading a pedigree & relating it to PRA

Reading a Glen's pedigree & trying to relate it to any Glen PRA Database results can cause some face screwing up. It is not difficult if you are prepared to do a little research work and then remember a few things.
The majority of Glens were not singletons so if a name appears on the Database lists it is a fair bet there are brothers and sisters. These names may be on your pedigree. Even if it is a Glen without a kennel name attached the names of the parents are on the database so this should help you track it down.
If two, three or four from the same litter appear on the Database and they are on different lists it is possibly advisable to reach for a pencil! If the animal on "your" pedigree is down as tested and unaffected at this time but there are siblings that appear on the carrier or affected list there are things that need to be noted and remembered. You can "tick" the named Glen on your pedigree but any one of the siblings being affected means

that that BOTH PARENTS are CARRIERS so this should be written down for reference.
If a sibling is down on the carrier list because they have produced an affected with PRA Glen when mated to another Glen it means that one, or maybe both, of "your" Glens parents carried the PRA gene. This means a question mark should be placed next to both parents. These question marks are the only indicators in many cases of where PRA MAY go next.

If you are mating your Glen and you have quite a few question marks in its background and on viewing the prospective mates pedigree you find they also have question marks irregardless of what any testing results may say you should possibly think hard as to whether to mate the two animals together. All these question marks meeting up will quite possibly mean they will "land" on your litter.

DEFINITION OF PRA

~ Progressive a slowly developing disease process ~ the affected dog will gradually lose its sight and will usually adjust to its handicap

~ Retinal of the retina ~ the light-sensitive area at the back of the eye

~ Atrophy degeneration or deterioration ~ of the specialised light-sensitive cells in the retina

HOW A DOG SEES

Light passes through the lens and is directed onto the retina, which contains specialised photoreceptor (light-sensitive) cells called rods and cones. These cells convert the light into electrical nerve signals, which pass along the optic nerve to the brain, where they are "translated" into images.

~ rods are responsible for vision in dim light i.e. night vision

~ cones are responsible for vision in bright light i.e. daytime and colour vision

DISEASE PROGRESSION

Initially, a dog with PRA will develop "night-blindness" i.e. it will eventually be unable to see in dim light conditions or in the dark. This is due to atrophy, or degeneration, of the rods. The owner may notice that the dog is reluctant to go out in the dark and hesitant to do down stairs in poor light. The dog may also appear to be a little "clumsy" i.e. bumping into things.

In the later stages of the disease, the cones are affected, and the dog's daytime vision will gradually deteriorate.

PRA in Glens is considered late-onset as, up to yet, all cases have been discovered after 9 months of age. An eye examination is needed (only done by a KC recognised eye vet) to determine your Glen’s status, this should be done annually & the results will appear on the Kennel Club website

The EFG are proud that they instigated the “Bochum Campaign” and are honoured that the Kennel Club Charitable Trust recognised their effort by the awarding of a grant to go towards the continuation of the work.

When the KC Charitable Trust awarded a grant to the EFG on BEHALF OF GLEN OF IMAAL TERRIERS it was declared every effort would be made to match it pound for pound. Over £1,000 a year has been raised up to yet & we intend to match it in 2010!