Border Collies are susceptible to a few medical problems...

Hip Dysplasia
Hip dysplasia ("bad development") appears in people and many species of animals. In some breeds of dogs, it is the most common cause of osteoarthritis or degenerative joint disease. Research on hip dysplasia suggests that CHD is a more complex disease than was first thought. There are no simple answers or solutions to the problem. The complexity of CHD results in research findings that appear to be contradictory. However, many aspects of the disease have been repeatedly and independently documented and are generally accepted by the scientific community. Three important ones are:

Canine hip dysplasia is caused by the presence of many genes (polygenic). While no environmental cause has been found, many environmental factors contribute to its expression in a particular dog (phenotype).

The only current means for reducing the occurrence of CHD is by selectively breeding for normal hips.

Radiography is the accepted means for evaluating the hip status

Progressive Retinal Atrophy
Progressive retinal atrophy, or PRA as it is frequently termed, is a long recognized, hereditary, blinding disorder. The first modern description of this problem was in Gordon Setters in Europe, in the early years of the twentieth century, but since then PRA has been recognized in most purebred dogs.

PRA is a genetic disease of the retina. This tissue, located inside the back of the eye, contains specialized cells called photoreceptors that absorb the light focused on them by the eye's lens, and converts that light, through a series of chemical reactions into electrical nerve signals. The nerve signals from the retina are passed by the optic nerve to the brain where they are perceived as vision. The retinal photoreceptors are specialized into rods, for vision in dimlight (night vision), and cones for vision in bright light (day and color vision). PRA usually affects the rods initially, and then cones in later stages of the disease. In human families the diseases equivalent to PRA (in dogs) are termed retinitis pigmentosa

Collie Eye Anomaly
CEA is a defect in formation of the eye. Several aspects of the disease are recognized, but the crucial lesion (observed defect) is a pale patch seen ophthalmoscopically at the back of the eye. This lesion is called choroidal hypoplasia (CH), and is a local defect in formation of the blood vessels and adjacent tissues underlying the retina. All dogs affected by CEA have choroidal hypoplasia, by definition. More severely affected dogs may have pits (colobomas) affecting the retina and adjacent tissues. In the most severely affected eyes retinal detachments and haemorrhages may occurr, producing blindness. The disease is known to occurr in Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, Rough and Smooth Collies, Shetland Sheepdogs, and other breeds.

Epilepsy
Primary epilepsy: also known as idiopathic, genetic, inherited, or true epilepsy. There are no positive diagnostic findings that will substantiate the diagnosis. It is a case of ruling out every other possibility. The first seizure in a dog with primary epilepsy usually occurs between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. (Oliver, Seizures). However, a diagnosis of primary epilepsy is not proof of a genetic defect; only careful breeding studies could prove that. The breed, the age, and the history may suggest a genetic basis for primary epilepsy if there is a familial history of seizures.

Secondary epilepsy refers to seizures for which a cause can be determined, and there are many. In dogs less than one year of age, the most commonly-found causes of seizures can be broken down into the following classes: degenerative (storage diseases); developmental (hydrocephalus); toxic (lead, arsenic, organophosphates, chlorinated hydrocarbons, strychnine, tetanus); infectious (distemper, encephalitis, and others); metabolic (such as transient hypoglycemia, enzyme deficiency, liver or kidney failure); nutritional (thiamine, parasitism); and traumatic (acute injury). In dogs 1-3 years of age, a genetic factor is most highly suspected. In dogs 4 years of age and older, seizures are commonly found in the metabolic (hypoglycemia, cardiovascular arrhythmia, hypocalcemia, cirrhosis) and neoplastic (brain tumor) classes. (Oliver, Seizure). Dr. Jean Dodds has mentioned that seizures are also associated with hypothyroidism, which is a familial (inherited) autoimmune disease of purebred dogs.

Canine Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (Storage Disease)
Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (C.L.) in the Border Collie is a rare disease which affects the nerve cells of the body. It is also known as Storage Disease. It is an inherited disease. It is not contagious. Recent DNA research (November 1995) has identified the gene for the identical disease which occurs in humans, and is known as Batten's Disease. Once this gene is identified in Border Collies, we will be able to eliminate the disease from the breed in one or two generations.

In Australia the first known case of Ceroid Lipofuscinosis in Border Collies was found in 1980. Since then until April 1996, 27 cases diagnosed from 15 litters have been notified. The Border Collie Club of NSW Inc. has established a sub-committee to investigate the incidence of the disease in the breed. Notified cases are recorded and information is shared with sister Border Collie clubs. The names of proven identified carriers and their pedigrees have been published (with permission from the owners of the animals) to improve the knowledge of inheritance.

Deafness

Malignant Hypothermia

Anesthetics