Like EVERY breed, Dalmatians do suffer from various diseases. The forming of Urate Stones is one condition that is specific to Dalmatians. While other breeds may also form urinary stones, even Urate Stones, Dalmatians have a specific genetic defect that affects the metabolism of uric acid that affects 100% of the breed, with the exception of a very special line of Dalmatians.
Only two other living species share this same defect - humans and apes. Not every human forms urinary stones (or gout, its alternative) and neither will every Dalmatian form Urate Stones.
The percentage of Dalmatians which are affected by Urate Stones is unknown, but various studies have theorized anywhere between 10 to 30 percent of Dalmatians develop urinary stone disease during their lifetime. This may not seem very much, but if it is YOUR Dalmatian which has to be treated for Urinary Stone Disease, then it will appear to be much more significant.
In 1973, Dr. Robert Schaible started a very special breeding program to try to introduce the gene for Normal Uric Acid back into the Dalmatian breed, and thus eliminating the breed specific high uric acid which can lead to Urinary Stone Disease. He crossed a purebred Dalmatian with an American Champion Liver & White Pointer - Ch Shandown's Rapid Transit. From those puppies from this original breeding he crossed back to AKC registered purebred Dalmatians, spot urine testing every generation to ensure that he kept only those puppies which showed low uric acid in their urine.
In 2005, a specific single gene was discovered that controls normal canine uric acid metabolism, residing on canine chromosome number three. All Dalmatians in the Dalmatian Low Uric Acid project are now DNA profiled to ensure they have the gene for Normal Uric Acid.
This very special breeding program is now up to 14 generations from the original, and once only cross to the Pointer. Every successive breeding since then has been to AKC Registered Dalmatians, and the LUA (low uric acid) Dalmatians have 99.98% Dalmatians in their pedigrees. Their DNA is 99.8% the same as AKC registered Dalmatians. These facts suggest that the LUA/HUA Descendants cannot be distinguished genetically from AKC registered Dalmatians.
In July 2011 The Dalmatian Club of America undertook a vote as to whether the LUA Dalmatians should be registered as purebred Dalmatians by the American Kennel Club and this vote passed. The AKC agreed with the DCA membership, and are now currently developing procedures to register all the Dalmatians in this specific breeding program.
This now makes it very possible for Dalmatian Breeders to breed out this life threatening condition from the breed.
For more information about this special breeding program and the Low Uric Acid Dalmatians, visit this website:-
www.luadalmatians.com
For more information on the prevention and treatment of Urinary Stones, please visit this website:-
www.thedca.org/stones.html
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