Also on another side note, are these tests you do annual? Ginger is 15months old and had her first "annual" check up, but the vet didnt pay much mind to checking her heart.....
Hello Estee!!
First of all I am glad to see you have been hunting around and gotten some results!!
To answer your question above, and please remember I am in the UK so cannot speak for the U.S way of doing things, however here we go!
Eye Tests, I usually do these between 1 and 2 years of age, any earlier than a year old can throw up a "false" result as the eye is still actually growing, over here they look for MRD (Multi-Focal Retinal Dysplacia) this basically is where the retina of the eye has become detatched from the back of the eye, NOT good! The other thing they are checking for is HC or Heriditary Cataracts, BOTH of these conditions are usually there from a year of age onwards, if your dog is passed clear of these conditions at, let's say 18 months old, then they will never develop these conditions and therefore annual testing is not necessary, there are other conditions that can show up a few years on, so I generally test between 1-2 years of age, then again at 5-6 years of age in case anything else is showing up. Of course you can get "Old age" catatracts but these are not considered to be heriditary!
Now onto the far more serious topic of heart testing!
As a breeder I routinely test ALL of my breeding stock annually, FURTHERMORE, when one of my girls comes into heat she is taken to the vet on day 1 of heat where she is swab tested for any nasties that could affect her, the stud dog and most importantly of all the health of her hopeful future litter, then she will go see my cardiologist and ANOTHER certificate issued which will show that as recently as day 1 of heat she was heart clear! This is MY way of doing things, others will have their own ways I am sure. I do this whether she was seen 1 week ago or 11 months ago, should one of my girls show a potential problem then the mating quite simply does not go ahead, I am not prepared to take chances with her life and those of any pups she may have had!
These are of course my breeding dogs, once they reach the age of 5 we usually x-ray as well to see if there is any enlargement of the heart and they are checked every 6 months thereafter.
Basically you would be best having your dog checked annually by a board certified cardiologist, your vet will usually be able to refer you to one, this will give a good history to work from should any problems arise!
This is not as doom or gloom as it sounds, just simple preventative screening, sorry if it sounds otherwise!!
I hope you have many happy healthy years with your dogs, one and all!!
I also hope this is of help to you??