Well, after all these very pleasant puppy stories I wrote on this blog so far, today it is time for a more serious report. But as we do have the claim to be reputable breeders, we see it as our duty no to draw a veil of silence over these less pleasant aspects of breeding. In this case we have to speak about a congenital defect called Persistent Pupillary Membranes (PPM).
These PPMs are remnants of a fetal structure covering the pupil before an animal is born, supplying the developing lens with blood. This pupillary membrane completely absorbs but is still partially present and continues to disappear in neonatal dogs. Sometimes this absorbtion isn't complete when the puppies open their eyes and small strands can be seen across the pupil. If these strands do not disappear by the age of four to five weeks, they become PPMs.
Wahya obviously has PPMs - we got the confirmation yesterday when she was examined by a specialised veterinary.
She has theses PPMs on both eyes, however it is nearly invisible on the right side, situated only around the pupil. In the left eye it also crosses the pupil as seen on the picture above. But also on this eye it is a rather small variant and won't cause any considerable visual disturbances. It is even possible that it will almost disappear during her adolescence.
We are very glad that there is no secondary cataract, which is a possible consequence of this problem, at least if the strands have a connection to the lens. But Wahyas PPM strands only reach from iris to iris, without any connection to lens or cornea.
Some words about inheritance of PPM
In some breeds like Chow Chows, Mastiffs, Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Yorkshire Terriers and especially Basenjis PPM is a know hereditary defect. However in other breeds it rather seems to be a sporadically occurring problem.
We have dealt a lot with inherited diseases before making this litter and we have never heard about this problem in Saarlooswolfhonds so far. Therefore it is very unlikely that it is a hereditary problem in this case.
However, if you dear reader have any further information about this defect in the SWH-population, please contact us!
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