The Flatcoated Retriever Club of Scotland

 

Animal Health Trust

 

Blood sample Submission for Flatcoated Retriever Research

 

We are pleased to let you know that the AHT are willing to store DNA from blood of the Flatcoated Retriever for future investigations.  At this time storage is a free service, in the same way that cancer tissue samples are used for research so will the DNA samples. There is a possibility in the future that this will complement the cancer research done by Jane Dobson.  As with a tissue sample the responsibility and cost of taking a sample are yours the owners.

 

Cathryn Mellersh writes. At the Animal Health Trust we currently offer to extract DNA from blood and store it here free of charge, providing it is made available to us for research purposes.  For each blood sample we accept we ask for a copy of a five generation pedigree, so we have a record of exactly who the dog is, and also copies of any vet diagnoses / eye certificates / hip scores etc that the dog might have.  We have thousands of DNA samples in storage and it is vital we get all the above information for us to keep tract of who’s who.  It is very disappointing to be sent a sample which can’t be used because we don’t know enough about the dog it was taken from.  We collect the blood in 5ml EDTA tubes and ask that the blood be sent, at room temperature, straight to us.” 

 

We have a form online available (see below) to be printed off, which needs to be filled in and sent with the blood with the 5 generation pedigree and health records to the address on the form by your Vet.

 

Cathryn continued

“We get asked a lot about what happens concerning DNA samples and test results, once a test is developed.  We never publish the results of any individual result.  If we were to publish the general result in the scientific literature we would never include any individual details, so particular dogs could never be identified.  The owners of dogs that had contributed to the research would be informed of their results, but what they do with the information is up to them.  It is up to the breed what they do when a test is available, regarding whether testing is made compulsory, etc.  All we would do is to offer the test as a service, but of course the dogs that had contributed to the research would in effect be tested for free.”

 

This is a service that we may not reap the benefits from in the lifetime of our current dogs. It’s based on long term research.  At this time it is for us as owners to decide if, or what dog’s blood is collected.   All Flatcoat owners can use this service.  It would be advisable if you have a stud dog or brood bitch, or if one have several generations of one family.  Possibly it would be worth talking to your Veterinarian if your Flatcoat is under treatment for a health condition.  It is a very simple procedure. 

 

 

Form to be completed with pedigree and health details

Animal Health Trust Form

(requires Adobe Acrobat)

 

 

Visit the Animal Health Trust website at

www.aht.org.uk