Health Issues

There are lots of health issues associated with Labradors and Poodles and ultimately Labradoodles if people are not careful.

GPRA = Generalised Progressive Retinal Atrophy in simple terms 'night blindness'

CPRA = Central Progressive Retinal Atrophy 'daytime blindness'

HD = Hip Dysplasia, the hip is made up of a ball and socket joint, clearly anything that goes wrong with this close association of one bone with another, in this case the femur (thigh bone) and the pelvis (hip) leads to disability

ED = Elbow Dysplasia

OCD = Osteochondritis Dissecans. This disorder occurs when calcification does not follow cartilage growth. The cartilage continues to grow, becomes thicker than normal, and vessels from the bone marrow are unable to penetrate

SA = Sebaceous Adenitis is a hereditary skin disease, visible symptoms are thickening skin, scales, excessive production of dandruff (hyperkeratosis), patchy hair loss, and often secondary infections accompanied by a musty odor

While SA may be an autoimmune disease, it is recessive in its mode of inheritance, requiring defective genes from both sire and dam. Currently it appears to be a simple autosomal recessive, meaning it is transmitted by a single gene from each parent and not sex linked. Such genetically produced diseases cannot be cured, but they can be treated and can be bred away from. For further information on SA please visit this link

ADDISONS DISEASE (Hypoadrenocorticism) is a rare but serious disorder of the endocrine system caused by the gradual destruction of the cortex of the adrenal gland, most commonly by the body's immune system. (Cancer, haemorrhage, or certain drugs can also cause adrenocortical destruction.) The result is a decrease in production of glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids - adrenal hormones that are necessary for a wide range of body functions. Deficient production of these hormones produces a diverse array of clinical signs, many of them vague.

Both Standard Poodles and Labradors are breeds that appear to have an increased risk for this rare disorder.

When purchasing a Labradoodle puppy you must ask the breeder what the results are for health testing, ask to see the health certificates for proof of hip and eye results, examples are shown.

Hips are scored from 0 to 53 on each hip, 0:0 is perfect and 53:53 is a disaster

The Breed Mean Score (BMS) for Labradors and Standard Poodles is total 15

Miniature Poodle BMS is total 16

It is not common practise to hip score Miniature Poodles but when breeding to a Labrador

or a Labradoodle, it is in my opinion imperative.

Eyes are tested anually, so please ensure that you see an up to date certificate. It is important that you have confidence in a breeder, it should be as important to the breeder where their puppies go, as it is for you where you get your puppy from.

ALL OF OUR LABRADOODLES WILL BE HIP SCORED, ELBOW SCORED AND WILL HAVE AN ANNUAL EYE TEST.

Certificate of hip scoring- original is Green Cert. Eye test. original is white Certificate of elbow scoring. original Yellow