MDR1 gen defekt

[ulla warden]

hi Kris

Before I comment on your message I would very much like to know , who is responsible for the web site you refer too ??

thanks ulla

Hello Ulla!

This homepage is an independet project by some women not only owning dogs, which are affected by the defect, but also knowing how they are going to die. So sorry, no club or any other organisation signs for this homepage. Only a few women spending their time and money for a, what we think, good project.

Feeling the need of more informations and the lack of good ideas, what to do, we followed a suggestion which was made ein a German forum - why not create a certain database to show tested dogs and to help breeders to find the right breeding partner?

Being at first a pure German homepage with mostly Collies we soon became international - an English translation by a friend, the first foreign dog (a Belgian Collie), other translations by people we merely knew by mailcontact, but which also felt that something had to be done, and more breeds like the White Shepherd, and a growing number of articles and links.

To guarantee good and important informations we meanwhile are in contact with the scientists at the Universities of Washington and Gießen, where research is going on. We were allowed to show studies and articles like the (up to now) official latest news, that this defect has a bad influence on the Cortisol balance (http://www.mdr1-defekt.de/texte/PublicationMealey.pdf) or an article first published within the International Collie Society Handbook 2004 (look at this side: http://www.mdr1-defekt.de/texte.php?lang=DE&ID=003).

Perhaps some people are dissatisfied with the fact, that we aren´t linked to a certain breeding club - but we feel a great advantage to be independend. So we can show dogs from other countries as well as dogs from different clubs. And - to tell the truth - there wasn´t and up to now isn´t a database like ours - showing tested dogs and giving other important informations like more health data. Well, you will find some list by seperate clubs - here a pure German list with results of Collies within the VDH/FCI, or there the test result sof dogs, which aren´t bred within the FCI and so on.

So - if you wanted to look farther than to the breeder next to you, if you were looking for new bloodlines and dogs in foreign countries - you were left to your own and had to spend hours and hours with google.

And more than this - if you wanted to get informations about drugs and what to do in case of a poisened dog, you were absolut alone. (There was a sad night I wished that google gave me the right informations...)
There are still vets telling you, that it will be all ok if you only dont use Ivermectin. But it isn´t. Ivermectin is only the tip of the iceberg. To be affected by this defect means to go without a certain protein which is necessary for the detoxication. To go without this certain protein means to have a disturbed metabolism.

There are side effects of many drugs - like the word for the intact gene says: multi drug resistance.
There is a lower Cortisol balance and this has bad effects on stress.
And perhaps there are intestinal desease because of the defect. Research is going on.

Well, it was in 2001 when this defect was discovered as the reason for the so called Ivermectin-sensitive Collie. So seven years are gone - and there are still affected puppies, there are still poisened dogs (even with Ivermectin), there are still vets just knowing nothing, there are still "breeders" which don´t care at all.
But there is a change within the last time. More and more breeders say "no" to this defect - even in countries nobody would think about like Bosnia and Hercegovina, where Branka owns a White named Aron, who was tested a few weeks ago.

And it can´t be told arrogant, if I say, that this is also due to our work.

Sometimes there are daily new dogs for our database. And surely tomorrow there will be some new White Shepherds from France.

So there is a good chance to get rid of this defect - especially for the White Shepherds. They have a good basic and there are already many tested dogs between (to stay in Europe) Spain and the Czech Republic, between Finland and Austria. And if you like, you can even find some dogs from the USA within our database.

Ever and again we are inviting breeders to test their dogs and to take part. And we are glad if we see a marriage between listed dogs or find a pup from our homepage in a new kennel. And sometimes we hear that our informations helped to rescue a dog.

I don´t know a better reason to make a night of it or to try to understand sentences in an utterly foreign language.

But nonetheless I like to go to sleep - therefore "good night" from Germany!


Kris