The Degenerative Myelopathy (SOD1A) results for your dog or your breeding program carry important implications for the health and well-being of your dog and future generations.
Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) is a progressive neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord in certain dog breeds, particularly in older dogs. It leads to the degeneration of nerve fibers, resulting in hind limb weakness and difficulty in walking. The condition gradually worsens over time, and unfortunately, there is no cure for DM. It is essential to note that DM typically does not cause pain, but it does significantly impact a dog's mobility and quality of life.
If your dog's test results show one copy of the SOD1A mutation associated with DM, it means that they carry a single copy of the mutated gene and are considered a "carrier" of DM. Carriers usually do not exhibit symptoms of the condition but can pass the mutated gene to their offspring. It is crucial to be aware of your dog's carrier status, especially if you plan to breed them.
If you are considering breeding your dog, it is highly recommended to avoid pairing two carriers together. Breeding carriers together will produce some puppies that inherit two copies of the mutated gene, which significantly increases their risk of developing DM.
To make informed breeding decisions, you should ideally mate your carrier dog with a dog that has tested negative (zero copies) for the same DM mutation, therefore reducing the risk of DM in their offspring.
DM also displays a phenomenon known as “incomplete penetrance” which means some dogs that inherit two copies of this variant will never develop DM. That being said, however, the OFA has recently updated its list of breeds where DM has been confirmed as a diagnosis. We are working to update our information to reflect these changes. You can learn more about this here: https://ofa.org/degenerative-myelopathy/
You can learn more about the SODA1 variant and how DM results should be applied to a breeding program in a breed-specific manner by viewing our Breeder Resources!
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