Read about collie health issues that may effect your dog.

Read about the Genetic Health issues associated with each breed of dog.

Please for your own benefit and education, when you have read this page come back and click the links below to aquaint yourself with some of the more common problems that are known to occur in the Collie in Australia.

* Collie Eye Anomaly (CEA)
* Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
* Hip Dysplasia HD
* Hyper & Hypo Thyroidism.
* Epilepsy.
* Pancreatitis.
* Dermatomyositis. DM.

The ethical, responsible breeders have their breeding stock tested for inherited genetic health disorders, prior to incorporating them into their breeding programs. The breeder should be quite happy to discuss any health issues with you openly and to also supply you with copies of the relevant health documentation & any other certification pertaining to the relatives of and also for your intended purchase.

All puppies should be eye tested by a registered Canine Ophthalmologist (this cannot be done by a vet, who is not also an eye specialist) at between 5 and 8 weeks of age. A certificate is supplied to the breeder at this time detailing the status of each puppy's eyes. It will say if the pup is affected or unaffected by CEA/PRA.
In most cases mild CEA will have no effect on your pup's eyesight and will not deteriorate as the pup ages.

It is very important that you as purchaser view and interpret the eye certificate correctly?

* Pups must be tested before 8 weeks of age.
* Parents and Grandparents must have been tested.
* Only breeders with dubious ethics will deliberately leave their pups until they are older to gain a better eye reading.
* Testing of adults gives many "go normal" results that are not accurate.
* Ensure the pup you select and the parents were tested at the correct time.
* Ask to see the certificates for each parent and even grandparents.
* A breeder who has nothing to hide will be proud to show you these.
* If any of the close relatives are affected then although your pup maybe rated a "go normal" understand genetically that individual is still affected.
* A pup with mild CEA will generally have good vision for life
* A pup with colobomas or detachment of any part of the retina will have sight problems that may deteriorate with age. The decision is then yours if you wish to accept this in your pet.

Ask to see the certificates for Hip Scores on each of the parents. These must be done after the animal is twelve months old and there are only two places in WA accredited to give results.
Murdoch University and Dr Wyburn.

Thyroid levels and function are of vital importance to the health of your dog and can have serious impact on health and reproduction.
Dogs must have blood tests for thyroid at different times of the year, to be classified as normal thyroid function.

Make it your business to find out how any breeders previous litters have turned out. If a breeder is uncomfortable giving you contact details of current owners of their stock, then maybe warning bells should start ringing.