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Leo

As a breeder I assume a tremendous responsibility and committment to the puppies I choose to produce as well as to the puppy buyer with whom I choose to place one of my beloved grandpuppies with. I have always told my puppy people to contact me at any time for questions or just to bragg on the babies throughout their life and I have been priviledged to have shared in some wonderful stories with them. Along with the happy reports unfortunately comes some sad ones as well.

One Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from a puppy person. Their dog was over three years old and we had shown him several times for them but of late he had been feeling under the weather. They had found out that week that he had kidney stones which would explain his not feeling well. I told them to keep me posted on his situation. That weekend when I returned home on Sunday from a dog show I received my MCOA Journal. As always I sat down and anxiously browsed through it. Browsing through it on this day would open my eyes. I caught the article that Heidi McKenzie submitted with regard to Cystinuria. This described the symptons that this dog had in full.

I immediately contacted my puppy person and e-mailed Heidi and wanted more information. Shortly thereafter we got the dog's results back from the University of California Davis and he was diagnosed with Cystinuria. I then contacted Heidi again and said what can I do to help since he is not the only mastiff evidently diagnosed with the same. We gathered urine and blood sample from littermates, father and grandmother and sent them to the University of Pennsylvania where the study with regard to Cystinuria is being done. Grandmother, father and one littermate came up negative with another littermate's results being inconclusive so more samples are being submitted for an accurate diagnosis.

As a breeder I am extremely concerned about producing this. I am not listed as his breeder on paper because I had the stud dog only but I am his breeder in my heart. I am fortunate that he is in a wonderful home where he has since been neutered and they can take wonderful care of him.

The testing is very simple by submitting uring and blood samples. This is something that I would definitely do from now on before considering the breeding of one of my dogs. I am sorry that one of mine has been diagnosed with Cystinuria but I am not sorry for having my eyes opened and stepping forward to learn more.

Lynda Piercy
Wannabe Run Mastiffs