| Feline Health Issues |
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| Progressive Retinal Atrophy ( PRA) |
| A Comparison of Abyssinian PRA vs Persian PRA |
| While both the Abyssinian and Persian breeds have a recessive retinal disease called PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) in their gene pools, there are a few distinct differences between their forms of PRA. Which also suggests that these are different mutated genes. Abyssinian- Late onset form (autosomal recessive)- the vision problems begin between the age of 1.5 - 2 years of age. The cat is usually completely blind between 2-5 years of age. Early onset form (autosomal dominant)- the first sign of the disease is an increase of pupil size to moderate daylight between 2-3 weeks of age. Persian- Early onset form (autosomal recessive)- the vision problems begin very early, usually by as young as 4 weeks old.The kitten is totally blind by the age of 12-16 weeks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "autosomal recessive" - inherited recessive gene. A mutation in one gene. Requires 2 copies of the gene to produce the condition (one copy from each parent). Some offspring will inherit the gene and become "carriers". Some offspring will not inherit the gene at all. "autosomal dominant" - inherited dominant gene. A mutation in one gene. Requires only 1 copy of the gene to produce the condition. One of the parents will also have the condition to be able to pass it onto an offspring. Some offspring will not inherit the gene and will NOT be able to pass the gene onto future generations. |