DNA Test For Fluffies

November 1, 2007 by AKC Gazette Breed Columnist   •  Categories: Breed Columns, Health

They are adorable, round balls of fur, unmistakable with their jackets of soft cottony hair. They are homozygous recessive—fluffies. And that’s how breeders have traditionally found out that their perfectly normal-seeming parents were heterozygous recessive—fluffy gene carriers. One breeder describes her experience this way, “By six weeks of age, the fact that puppies are destined to be fluffy is indisputable. They just puff right out as if someone had pumped them full of air.” It’s a serious fault in our breed. But now there is a new tool to avoid the Michelin puppy scenario.
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Everted Laryngeal Saccules (ELS) — Part II

February 1, 2007 by AKC Gazette Breed Columnist   •  Categories: Breed Columns, Health

It was dark when we pulled out of the driveway.  On Sunday, June 25th the first fingerlings of light were making their way over the New York City skyline.   Our destination — Okemos, Michigan, 689 miles ahead.  Three Norwich Terrier girls were tucked into the car along with their paperwork — ready for their appointment with William E. Schultz, D.V.M. first thing Monday morning.  Dr. Schultz has been working with the Norwich and Norfolk Terrier Club to diagnose, treat and study Everted Laryngeal Saccules (ELS) and Upper Airway Syndrome (UAS) in our breeds.  To date he has scoped over 65 Norwich Terriers and the number continues to edge up.  
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Anaphylactic Reaction to Leptospirosis Vaccine

January 1, 2007 by NTCA Webmaster   •  Categories: Health

Sudden Death, or Why I’m Leaving Out Lepto

by Alison G. Freehling

He was born the day before Easter so we called him Peter Cottontail, P.C. for short. In a litter of three, he was the only male and was bigger, bolder and more gregarious than his sisters. He was everybody’s favorite — playful, loving, spoiled. He never stopped living life to its fullest until his sudden, horrific death at 14 weeks of age.
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