Labrador Retriever Forum
Had a pup diagnosed with ectopic ureter. Vet says it is hereditary and neither parent should ever be bred again. Vet is not a breeder. Same bitch had a previous litter with a different stud dog with no issues. Do breeders consider this a reason to retire a breeding dog?
Your vet is mistaken. What you don't want to do is repeat the breeding, to one another, if it is believed to be genetic.
It is a crap shoot. This could be the first and last time you ever have this. However, it does run in some lines, in which case you could just as easily have it again with your girl or her get.
I Had one turn up in a repeat mating. ( First litter no problems) The puppy was a male which I am told is not as common as in the girls. I didn't even notice it as there was no dampness or staining ( yellow puppies) Sold as a pet he was diagnosed at 3 months old. I had him returned to me and after a lot of discussion with both my vet and a specialist we decided on no surgery. He is now over a year old and is a happy active working Labrador. I think it is a just a roll of the dice unfortunately some vets don't like breeding of any kind and are very quick to label every problem as inherited. Good luck with your baby.
Don't listen to your vet.
Find another more knowledgeable vet to use, nonsense!
This was not my vet. It was a male pet pup, diagnosed at 7 months old by their own vet. I discussed with my vet (a breeder) and she agrees with all of you. No reason to retire a great girl based on this one occurrence. Still trying to sort out how to handle the pup. I have offered to take him back, but they don't want to give him up. So, we are working on a solution. Thank you all for your input.
Regarding ectopic ureter; I had a beautifully bred yellow boy from solid and known lines, and he had a ectopic ureter that went undiagnosed. My vet classified him as a "bed-wetter" at 4 months old because he was occasionally leaking urine. He would rarely leak over the years but became very sick at age 4 1/2 years with an intense bladder infection. He developed IMHA (Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia)which took him down in 5 days despite my best efforts and 3 blood transfusions. The working theory is that he had chronic, undetected bacterial infections due to urine leaking into his system (an Ultra-sound revealed one kidney almost gone), and those chronic infections threw his immune system into over-drive, hence the IMHA. We're not certain if the theory is accurate, but it came from a reputable internal medicine vet. My point is; if I had another dog with a ectopic ureter, I'd check periodically for silent bladder infections and ultra-sound the kidneys/bladder occasionally to see if they're working normally.
Will the breeder who started this thread please contact me privately about ectopic ureters?
I got one girl with ectopic ureter out of my lines which go now to the 5th generation. In all these years and after several litters, she has been the only one with EU. I didn't breed the pair together again or the affected female. Yes, it is considered genetic, so the vet is not wrong when he gives that advise. It is up to the breeder to take the risk.
I am not convinced that ectopic ureter is a heritable condition.
Over the years, I have had 3 puppies with ectopic ureters. Two made it through and one was lost at 3 weeks. The two that made it also had the surgery to correct it.
I was told years ago that it only came down through the dam, but new info states that it is a recessive, so both parents need to carry the gene.
These pups were from three different sets of parents, but the same line on the bitch side.
http://www.greudna.org/EU-Information-page.html
excerpt from the link above (a golden retriever article...but still relates):
'The ectopic ureter defect is suspected to be a recessive trait, needing both partners to produce the defect. It is also speculated that there may be 5 or 6 genes involved making it a polygenetic condition. For 30 years, breeders have tried to trace the defect in the pedigree lines and most agree that the condition goes back to several kennels in the UK around the 1930s to 1960s. Because the early suspect carriers were mostly Champions and all popular breeding dogs, it is believed that the early carriers may be behind the entire Golden Retriever population. Only through DNA testing will be able to determine if a dog is a carrier of genes that can lead to ectopic ureter.
Think of it like a 1,000 piece puzzle. A puppy is made up of those 1,000 pieces (genes) and there are 6 pieces missing. As long as the 6 missing pieces are not in the puzzle, the puppy is fine. However, if the parents together have the 6 missing pieces and the puppy gets those pieces then they are "affected" which results in the defect. It's rather like a game of Russian Roulette as genes are carried by all ancestors and the current parents can be made up of any of the ancestors from the past hundred years.'
