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Permalink Reply by Jeff, Karen, Violet and Magnus on May 20, 2009 at 6:23pm

If you are in Florida, I've heard the University of Florida's Vet Program will do the test.

Degenerative Myelopathy has been my fear also since I read corgi's are a breed considered at risk. I watch ours closely, checking their back nails for signs of irregular wear which I understand can be a first symptom. I've thought of having them genetically tested, but haven't follow on it yet.

Good luck in your search.

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Permalink Reply by K Atta on May 20, 2009 at 9:59pm

thanks for your input and good wishes!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on May 21, 2009 at 1:34pm

There's an extensive thread(s) here on DM. I'd expect ANY breeder to test dams & sires for DM (esp. since the test is offered free, I think); that's a question you should always ask. If they're not, that tells you something.
Do note that the "penetrance" of this gene seems low; MANY Pems are at-risk but few of these actually develop symptoms. In the PNAS paper, 66% (!) of their control group of Pems was homozygous at-risk -- but it didn't say whether this was a representative random sample of the population. So if you test your dog and learn it is at-risk, that might accomplish nothing more than unnecessary alarm.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff, Karen, Violet and Magnus on May 21, 2009 at 6:08pm

Thanks so much for this information! A co-worker of mine forwarded a paper to me several months which indicated high risk for corgi's. My heart stopped. I've been checking their feet faithfully since then - I guess I was scared to do the test. They are both 2 now and have been fine - and yes, their feet do smell like frito's corn chips. My husband calls them "frito feed".

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on May 21, 2009 at 8:06pm

DM thread

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Permalink Reply by Ann B., Scout and Summer on May 21, 2009 at 8:54pm

My corgi's breeder, Kathleen Mallery (Castell Corgis) in Parma, Idaho, tests her dogs. She has had a dog with the disease, so she is very aware of the danger. She is currently trying to breed one of her "carrier" females with a "clear" male, but there are very few available. She is trying to breed the gene out of her bloodline. She recently brought in a "clear" male from a Michigan breeder, but her one female who got pregnant lost the pups. We are looking for another corgi (puppy), and I have noticed that on many breeder's websites, DM is never mentioned. They test for hips, eyes, etc.

I don't know if my dog, Scout, is at risk or not--his father was at risk, but the Mom was not tested. I asked Kathleen what the incidence of the disease is in "at risk" dogs; she said she thought is was about 10%. But if you have had a dog with the disease, this is still too much!

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