What is PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy)?
While some affected dogs might end up with night blindness others can become completely blind or they may not go blind at all. The good news is that P.R.A. isn’t a very common condition amongst most dogs but is more likely to be seen in some breeds compared to others. Toy and Mini Poodles have a higher incidence of P.R.A. than most breeds.
Testing for P.R.A is becoming more common and a test result can come back in one of three ways.
The first type of test result can be what’s referred to as “Clear” which means the dog tested carries 2 copies of a healthy gene.
The second type of test result can be what’s referred to as a “Carrier”. This means the dog tested carries 1 copy of a healthy gene and 1 copy of a bad gene.
The final type of test result is what is called “Affected” and this means the dog tested has 2 copies of the bad gene.
P.R.A. is what’s known as a recessive trait. This means that for a dog to be affected, they must get 2 copies of the gene that causes P.R.A. One copy of the bad gene comes from mum and the other from dad.
Dogs that are clear or carriers will not be affected by P.R.A. while dogs that are affected may suffer some form of vision impairment later in life.
All of our cleared puppies have come from a tested father that is “Clear” so that he cannot produce an affected dog regardless of the mothers test so we only require 1 parent to be tested in order to ensure the puppies are not affected.
We have found that P.R.A. is extremely rare in most breeds and especially amongst the designer dog crosses, in fact we are proud to say that we have never had a single case of P.R.A. in any of our puppies. So why are some breeders testing for P.R.A.? Well, even though P.R.A is rare, testing provides that extra assurance.
I hope that information has helped you understand P.R.A. a little better but if you have any questions contact us and speak with one of our very friendly and highly trained staff who will be happy to answer all your questions.