Does anyone have experience with a PRA diagnosis in an Optigen clear dog? I'm aware there are other forms of PRA beyond the prcd form which we test for. I'm just not familiar with them and am looking for input from others who have been in this unexpected situation. The dog is 5 years old, was Optigen tested clear in 2005 at 4 months, was ACVO clear at the same time and again at age 2.5 when he was OFA'd. We did an ACVO exam now because someone was interested in breeding to him - luckily he's never been bred. The ACVO vet is going to contact Cornell next week to discuss her findings. I'm just looking for other experiences.

ALWAYS SEEK ANOTHER OPINION. Definitely contact Dr. Gus Aguirre at Univ of Penn

Back in the 1980's, a dog I bred was diagnosed with PRA. Second and third ACVO's opinions cleared the dog. The dog carried chocolate and the 1st ACVO MIS-diagnosed the heavy swirls of pigment in the back of the eyes as PRA. It wasn't the first time this vet made that mistake. When I had my own related keepers checked, my Ophthalmologist recognized the distinctive swirls in the eyes and asked me if Dog "M" was their sire! I said he was and how did he know? He told me he had almost misdiagnosed the sire, who was a BYC English import, as he had never seen that presentation before. Luckily he researched it before he committed to a wrong diagnosis.

Another scenario - A friend of mine took a 6 year old annually CERFd bitch in for a routine clearance and was told the bitch had PRA, RD and cataracts. All were confirmed by other ACVO's. However, it ended up that a NON-ACVO Ophthalmologist (same one referenced above) looked in her eyes and said the bitch had Lyme disease. Once treated for Lyme, her eyes cleared up and she passed her CERF.

Sometimes something might look like a duck, walk like a duck and quack like a duck, but it is NOT a duck...

I hope your dog ends up NOT being affected.

You need a second opinion.

Before the test became available, a dog was diagnosed with PRA at a clinic. The owner took the dog to the university where they did the electroretinograph exam and determined the dog did not have PRA. The next year, the owner took the dog to the clinic again to see what the examiner would say. She did not reveal this was the dog he has diagnosed with PRA a year earlier. This time the dog was cleared. You can imagine what she had to say.

gda@vet.upenn.edu

Email Gus ASAP!

A couple of years ago i bred my PRA clear girl to a PRA clear male.(both parents clear by testing through optigen) Litter was clear by parentage. When one of the pups was about 7 months old it came into the clinic i worked at for an exam. Vet diagnoised PRA told the owners it was going to go blind. I asked the owners in front of the vet if i could take the pup to an ophthlomogist. They had no issue. I took the pup to an orphthlomogist who couldn't understand what the issue was. I finally told him what the vet said and he wrote the vet saying that labradors have a wide color range that is highly acceptable.
Sadly the vet still says this dog has PRA and will go blind. But he won't.
I did contact Optigen and they told me that i needed to get an ophthlomogist to diagnoise PRA and then they would test for free.
Call optigen yourself. They are very nice. They will help you.
I wouln't leave this up to anyone else. I would get involved and talk to people myself.

Surprised - is your Labrador, by any chance, a chocolate?

I have a ch. black bitch that has always CERF, she is optigen B. The last CERF a different opthamoligist, but he is the head of the Optha dept @ University, saw her and said she was suspicious for PRA , asked for her optigen results, and said that she has different colors and suspicious shapes in her eye that made him wonder about her. When I told him she was indeed Optigen tested, he backed off a bit. But still wants to see her in 6 months.
Could he possibly not know that this is not unusual in Labradors ? That's a scary thought.

No - he is a yellow son of a UK import. We are going to get more info and have him evaluated at Ohio State in addition to talking with the folks at Optigen. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and experiences. He doesn't live with me but with the co-owner. She's the one who took him in for the exam and really didn't know what to ask. The ACVO vet is relatively new and has just taken over the practice from another eye vet who had been in busines for decades......wish he was still in practice!

Be careful for sure and get a 2nd opinion. I brought my then 1 yr old yellow girl to a specialist ( well respected as a matter of fact in my area) for a complete exam. He told me she would be blind due to PRA within 6 months... I brought her to another specialist shortly after for a 2nd opinion, but didn't tell him any history.. He couldn't find anything wrong with her eyes. She saw him every 6 months for 4 years and he still could not find any retinal changes or anything else wrong with her eyes... She passed at almost 13 years old, and had NO vision issues at all.