Why should your dog's eyes be examined?
Vision loss impairs the ability to communicate with the outside world, so it is important to have your dog's eyes examined regularly to detect early signs of disease that can cause pain or vision loss.
The annual health check at your veterinarian includes a superficial examination of the eyes, but we also recommend that you perform an ophthalmology examination of your dog when he is 1, 4 and 7 years old. An ophthalmology examination is a more comprehensive eye examination of both the surroundings and surfaces of the eyes, as well as 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. If you are buying a puppy, you should require that the parents have had their eyes examined within the last year.
What is eye lighting?
Ophthalmology is an examination of the various structures of the eye. We examine the retina and the posterior segments of the eye using an ophthalmoscope. In the anterior part of the eye, we use a slit lamp. We inspect the eyelids, the mucous membranes of the eye, the lacrimal puncta, 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 of the retina and the front part of the eye.
A number of eye diseases first cause symptoms in adult animals and are difficult to treat once the problems are discovered. Eye screening of dogs, together with genetic testing, is an important measure to map the incidence 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 Spaniel (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)
- cocker spaniel (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 examination was performed in Sweden but without an ECVO certificate, a copy of the Swedish eye examination certificate must be attached to the registration application; however, this result cannot be entered into DogWeb.
Eye lighting for dogs other than NOX and NKK
Are you going to eye test a dog that is not registered in the NOX or NKK registry? Read more about ECVO eye lighting here.
