Casually solicited owner information......The European EBVs
; and an expression of some concern that any kind of study including a preliminary screening could be based on casually solicited owner information, especially for SM which as we all know, is extremely complex.
These concerns about casually solicited owner information also apply to the 'European EBV Project'.
This a a scheme that some UK show breeders are promoting, despite the fact we now have in in place an official standardised BVA/KC MRI scheme with a panel of neurologists and an appeal system.
I can appreciate the fact that European breeders who cannot use the UK BVA/KC CMSM Scheme and submit the information to the UK EBV scheme may see this as the best that they can do, and I applaud them for their initiative, but why would any UK breeder who is seriously concerned for their own cavaliers and are sincere in the wish to give the breed a healthier future, feel justified in using it instead of our own UK scheme?
No harm in supporting this initiative as well, as it will not cost them anything, but instead of our own UK scheme?
Over the years the scanning process has been refined so that the MRIs that are now providing the information to the UK EBVs are comparing like to like. They are done in the same way, for the same time, to the same strength, with the dog placed in the same position.
The European EBVs ask for "only official reports from competent veterinarian specialists"????
If the AHT felt they could only use the standardised information that will be coming from the BVA/KC scheme then how can anything based on a mishmash of health test results from all different countries give anything like such creditable results?
I ssuppose there are three reasons that would make the European EBVs attractive to certain UK breeders.
1) It would save them £100 on the cost of scanning (I wonder just how much they sell puppies for? )
2) Their results would stay unpublished. No one will know if they are risking the health of their puppies by using cavalier parents that are too young or badly affected with SM.
3) They can continue to claim they have scanned their cavaliers when in fact they have not done so.
Chestergate does a lot of low cost scanning but the results are not automatically submitted to the official scheme.
That does not stop the owners from doing so, they can pay £100 and submit their results to the official scheme. There will obviously be bias in what breeders decide to submit........but if the news is good why would a breeder hesitate in submitting it? They would want to see their cavaliers' 'clear' results shown on the KC website.
As soon as the first results go onto the KC website my advice to puppy buyers will be:
Responsible breeders who are honest and want to help the breed survive will submit their scans to the Official Scheme and you should be able to see those results published on the Mate Select programme.