Bloodhound Health, Testings & OFA

ABOUT THE PHOTO ABOVE:

On This Bloodhound Health Page you can see our photo above of an adorable bloodhound puppy (about 4 months old) on the left and a very senior bloodhound on the right (white faced and nearly 13 years old). This is the same bloodhound. The goal when breeding bloodhounds it to breed a HEALTHY BLOODHOUND PUPPY who lives a long HEALTHY BLOODHOUND LIFE to become a HEALTHY BLOODHOUND SENIOR!

GENERAL BLOODHOUND LIFE SPAN:

Bloodhound are a large breed that overall has a life span of 8 to 10 years (you could even say their lifespan is more like 6 to 12, since some dogs barely make 6 and others easily make 12).

RESPONSIBLE BLOODHOUND HEALTH:

Responsible Bloodhound Breeders and Responsible Bloodhound Owners are dedicated to trying to improve Bloodhound Health and that means they commit to doing BLOODHOUND HEALTH TESTINGS.

HEART - Bloodhound Hearts should be checked by a Veterinary Cardiologist. They should have an Echo-Cardiogram (Dopler), not just an Auscultation (Listen) done on the Heart so they can see the heart muscle, valves and that they are both built and functioning properly. (These tests are generally done after 1 year of age.)

HIPS - Bloodhound Hips should be x-rayed for evaluation by a radiologist to rule our hip dysplasia. You want an Excellent, Good, or even a Fair rating. You do not want any level of Hip Dysplasia. (These tests are generally done after 2 years of age and often done with the Elbows.)

ELBOWS - Bloodhound Elbow xrays should also be taken and evaluated by a radiologist. You want Normal Elbows and you do not want to breed any bloodhound with any degenerative joint disease. (These tests are generally done after 2 years of age and often done with the Hips.)

DM (Degenerative Myelopathy) - This is a super simple saliva test. Ratings are At Risk (dog has 2 markers of the disease), Carrier (dog has 1 marker of the disease), Clear (dog has no market of the disease.) Any bloodhound breeding should ALWAYS have at least one clear as this will ensure you are not creating an At Risk dog. (These tests can be done at any age.)

ALL RESPONSBLE

BLOODHOUND BREEDERS
DO THESE
BLOODHOUND HEALTH TESTS

NO Exceptions -

well the exception is
careless and/or irresponsible breeders do not.

Responsible Bloodhound Breeders also

POST the passing health test results on the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals Website (OFA) www..ofa.org

OFA Certification Examples

lf a Bloodhound has had proper Health Testings and they have passed their tests and been submitted to OFA they will listed on the OFA website and get a certificate. Here are examples below:

OFA Heart Certification Above

OFA Hip Certification Above

OFA Elbow Certification Above

OFA DM Certification Above

(Optional) - OFA Patellar Certification Above

(Patellar is the Kneecap)

(Optional) - OFA Thyroid Certification Above

OFA CHIC Above

Provided when all the required breed tests are done (Heart, Hips & Elbows)

Bloodhound Health Trends

OFAs ANNUAL HEALTH INFO:

Here's what they have for Bloodhounds:

Heart Info looks pretty good

93% Advanced Cardiac Normal!

DYSPLASTIC Info does NOT look good

HIPS we are 22nd highest for Dysplasia

ELBOWS we are 28th highest for Dysplasia

Folks - the breed needs to do better!

DM Info is minimal as there were only 72 bloodhound tested in 2021 for DM. There is no good reason people are not testing for DM.

Example XRAY of GOOD HIPS Above

Example XRAY of GOOD ELBOW Above

Example CERF ABOVE

CERF = Canine Eye Registration Foundation

Another Optional Health Test is an Eye Exam

A few FACTS about DM (Degenerative Myelopathy) and below a DM TESTING DISCOUNT AVAILABLE FOR YOU.

Because the Rocky Mountain Bloodhound Club cares about bloodhound and bloodhound health we have arranged a DISCOUNT for DM & Genetic Testing via GenSol. It does not matter if you have a show bloodhound, a rescue bloodhound, plan to breed or not; we encourage you to test your bloodhound for DM and to know if you dog may get it and to help gather important data.

FACT 1 - DM is Lou Gehrigs for dogs. It affects many breeds. It mainly affects older bloodhounds.

FACT 2 - Since DM is typically is not seen until old age, and because many bloodhounds don't live that long, it had/has gone a bit under the radar for many years.

FACT 3 - More Bloodhounds Die from Cancer & Bloat, than DM.

FACT 4 - There are now DM markers for breeders to test their dogs BEFORE breeding.

FACT 5 - There is also simple and cheap DM testing for bloodhounds.

FACT 6 - There is no reason a breeder will not do DM testing on their dogs.

FACT 7 - By bloodhounds being tested for DM it will help us learn more about the disease.

We recommend GenSol for your GENETIC TESTING

(but especially please do DM Testing on your Bloodhound)

go to www.GenSolDx.com

Order your DM Test for your Bloodhound

Order DM Tests and other Tests for your other Dogs

Members - we have a discount code.