Why should your dog's eyes be examined?
Loss of sight reduces the ability to communicate with the outside world. It is therefore important to regularly examine your dog's eyes to be able to detect diseases early on that can cause pain or loss of vision.
The annual health check at your vet includes a superficial examination of the eyes, but we also recommend that you carry out an eye examination of the dog when it is 1, 4 and 7 years old. An eye examination is a more comprehensive eye examination, both of the eye's surroundings and surfaces, as well as of the structures inside the eyes.
If you have a breeding dog, the dog's eyes should be examined annually as long as it is used in breeding. Dogs of certain breeds should also be examined before sale at 8 weeks of age. Are you going to buy a puppy? Then you should require the parents to be sighted during the last year.
What is eye lighting?
Eye examination is an examination of the eye's various structures. We examine the retina and the posterior segments of the eye using an opthalmoscope. In the front part of the eye, we use a slit lamp. We inspect the eyelids, the mucous membranes of the eye, the tear points, the third eyelid, the cornea, the iris, the pupil, the sclera, and the lens.
The examination can reveal eye diseases such as "cataracts", various disorders in the retina and front part of the eye.
A number of eye diseases first cause symptoms in animals in adulthood and are difficult to treat once the problems are detected. Eye examination of dogs is, together with genetic testing, an important measure to map occurrence and avoid breeding animals with hereditary defects.
On a general basis, it is recommended that all dogs, regardless of breed, have their eyes scanned as part of a control program for hereditary diseases. Eye lighting is also relevant for some purebred cats.
Which dog breeds should undergo ophthalmoscopy?
Eye scanning and DNA tests is important to reveal whether the dog is a carrier of a hereditary eye disorder that can be passed on to the offspring.
For the following breeds, there is a requirement from the NKK that the parent animals must be bright-eyed for a maximum of 12 months. before mating for registration of puppies:
- American cocker spaniell (from 01.04.2014)
- American Water Spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- Bichon frize (from 01.01.2013)
- Bichon Havanese (from 01.04.2016)
- Bolognese ("Meat" Sauce) (from 01.04.2016)
- Clumber spainl (from 01.04.2014)
- cocker spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- Coton de Tulear (from 01.04.2016)
- Miniature Pinscher (from 01.04.2016)
- Miniature Schnauzer (all color variants) (from 01.04.2016)
- English springer spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- field spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- Irish Water Spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- Norrbottenspets (from 01.01.2014)
- sussex-spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- Tibetan Spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
- Welsh springer spaniel (from 01.04.2014)
For foreign dogs: A copy of the dog's ECVO certificate must be attached to the registration report.
For Swedish-owned dogs: If the eye scan has been carried out in Sweden, but without an ECVO certificate, a copy of the Swedish eye scan certificate must be attached to the registration report; however, this result cannot be entered into DogWeb.
Eye lighting for dogs other than NOX and NKK
Are you going to inspect a dog that is not registered in the NOX or NKK register? Click here
