• We purchased 2 basenjis from Hestekin Hills and found out today that our red/white male has Fanconi syndrome. its a sad day in our household right now. However the vet has let us know that we have caught it early enough that there isnt any kidney damage at this point. We are searching for all the information on the syndrome that we can get our hands on. thank you and we look forward to chatting with you all.


  • There is a Fanconi Yahoo group that only accepts owners of Fanconi dogs. There are also several forum members that are living with Fanconi dogs.

  • Houston

    So sorry to hear about this..my thoughts are with you.
    There is lots of suppport on here, even a dedicated thread for Fanconi diagnosed dog's owners..I think you need to ask the moderators to get on it, it is closed to the public.
    You should ask your vet about the The Gonto Protocol..here is a link describing it.
    http://www.zandebasenjis.com/protocol.htm
    here is another one..http://www.basenjicompanions.org/health/fanconi/gonto.html

    again, my thoughts are with all of you.


  • @PeppandEd1:

    We purchased 2 basenjis from Hestekin Hills and found out today that our red/white male has Fanconi syndrome. its a sad day in our household right now. However the vet has let us know that we have caught it early enough that there isnt any kidney damage at this point. We are searching for all the information on the syndrome that we can get our hands on. thank you and we look forward to chatting with you all.

    I am so sorry to hear that….how old is your boy? Hopefully your boy will do OK on the protocol. There are some others on here that have Fanconi Affecteds... I am sure they will share their information with you. And the Yahoo Fanconi List is a great place to join with others that are facing having a Fanconi dog.

    Have you contact Hestekin Hills and told them? Also, you say that you have two, have you considered having the other one DNA tested? You can read about the DNA test at www.basenjihealth.org

    Would you share the pedigrees on your two? There are others on here I think with dogs from that same kennel.


  • I am so sorry to hear your b has this. You will get lots of support on this list and the fanconi list.
    Hugs.


  • I noticed the breeder was on a puppy mill list: http://www.nowisconsinpuppymills.com/thorpauction-dogstats.html.

    The site has some good info on it.


  • @PeppandEd1:

    We purchased 2 basenjis from Hestekin Hills and found out today that our red/white male has Fanconi syndrome.

    I am so pissed right now I am literally shaking. First and foremost, I am terribly sorry this tragedy has struck your family. Second, I'm not sure when you got your Fanconi affected male, but as I've heard many things about Hestekin, I revisited the website after reading your post. Here's what I found that has my blood literally boiling on their page entitle "Just Why Do Purebred Puppies From A Reputable Breeder Cost So Much?" (http://www.hestekinhills.com/pq.htm):🙂

    **
    2. Health and temperament tests are done to determine if my dogs are even worthy of being bred. Tests are very expensive, but well worth the price of increasing the chances for the puppies to live a longer healthy active life. We do provide a written health guarantee for our puppies, so it is very important that we are breeding healthy dogs to get healthy puppies. We do tests like having hips, elbows, eyes and hearts checked which run about $200.00 per dog. If any of my dogs are questionable as to my findings or my vets findings, we would then have to send the reports and films into OFA or the GDC for clarity and that adds another $50.00 or more per dog.

    Remember, if anyone had 'failed' any of these tests, they would have been spayed or neutered, and just lived their life as a beloved pet. Also, if that had happened, I would still be out my initial above spent money. A breeder is always gambling with any money spent.**

    Have you contacted Hestekin? Do you still have your "written health guarantee"? Of course, if you got your boy before the Fanconi DNA test, you may have little recourse. But if you got her after the DNA linkage test became available, I would sue the pants off that woman.

    And I'm speaking out of barely suppressed rage right now, so if my comments seem a little hasty or "sue happy" I apologize, but I am infuriated and sickened by this, especially when taken in the context of their ridiculous website.


  • I know first hand that overwhelming sensation that takes over when you first discover that your pride and joy gets diagnosed with Fanconi. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Hang in there and with the right treatment you may be as lucky as we were and get many enjoyable years together. We tend to think that our Marleys "good" life started at diagnosis because for 7 years she got so spoiled with attention and affection because we never knew how much time we had. We should all live our lives that way. Keep us all up to date because we are all hoping for the best.


  • Hey PeppandEd…. sorry to hear about your diagnosis - but it's good you caught it early - my Tayda was diagnosed with Fanconi in Nov of 2008 and it's been quite a journey to get myself educated. She is doing great now on the protocol - It is a manageable disease and luckily there is lots of help out there for us. Please do come over to the yahoo Fanconi group - and I am available if you have any questions about anything...


  • Thank you all for the words of encouragement and support. I am at work right now so i don't have the papers in front of me but Ed's parents are flower and Budlight Bud. I will look when i get home and post both of my B's parents name. I have not contacted Teresa on this as of yet, however my wife is pretty upset and I would imagine in a fit of rage she may be contacting her. Ed is 6 1/2 years old and is doing well. talking to the vet it seems we have caught it early enough that there hasn't been any or minimal kidney damage so we are thankful for that. We will be getting the results of the rest of the urine analysis and blood work in the next couple of days so we are keeping our fingers crossed. I have no doubt that he will lead a good life, we feel pretty confident that since we did catch it early that he will live a full life and hit the B500 running along with his Aunt Pepper… 🙂 We have a DNA test that we are going to do as well but since we already know Ed has it we are going to use the test for our tri Pepper. We used our test strips on her and she came up clean but we want to make sure that she is good and clear. Again, thanks for the words of encouragement and we will keep all of you posted.


  • Certainly your boy was born before the DNA test for Fanconi, however when the test was made available in July of 2007, Hestekin Hills should have tested all their breeding stock, instead of just a couple of dogs. Budlight Bud's sire Budlight King was tested and Clear, guess they figured they didn't need to bother to test him or anything he was bred to… And Budlight Bud's dam is a Hofer bred bitch and there is much reported Fanconi in the Hofer lines.

    Glad that you are going to test your girl, that way you know.

    It would be good if you filled out information of the CPP site on your boy and note that he is Affected, then this information is known. Is he AKC registered? It would be good also if he is to advise Sally Wallis to note his pedigree that "per" owner, he is affected. You can visit Sally's site at www.pedigrees.zandebasenjis.com

    Again, good luck with him and remember that Dr. Gonto is always available to you and/or your Vet for help with the protocol, etc. He is a wonderful source and happen to help anyone with an affected Basenji.


  • Welcome to the forum, very sorry to hear about Ed's diagnosis, you will most certainly get plenty of support here. Hope Peppa's test is good.
    Have you any pics you could post of your two?


  • I have tried to upload a picture for my profile and add some pics to an album but i get a security token error and unable to put any up. I let the Admin know so hopefully soon. We are breaking down the protocol with our vet since Ed is so early in the syndrome, the supplementation is going to be much less than the entire protocol which is good. we are VERy nervous since we want to do everything right for him. Again thanks for all the kind words. Just an update on the Pedigrees if anyone has any information they can pass along: Eds was Hestekin Hills Flower and Sire was Budlight Bud, Peppers was Hestekin Hills Love My Mindy and Budlight King.


  • you sometimes get the security token message if your pics are too big.


  • I am very sorry about Ed's recent fanconi diagnosis. While he was born before the ability to test, if Hestekin Hills was what I consider a legitimate kennel, you might not have had to deal with this as no reputable breeder, IMO, would have been breeding the dogs that were being bred and certainly not together.

    If the pedigrees you were given on both your dogs is correct - and I am suspect about pedigree integrity when I see a dominate (?) black and white being born from a tri x brindle breeding - then Pepper should be, worse case scenario, a carrier as her sire is dna p. clear and her dam is tested as dna p. carrier. That said - the picture of her dam on Sally's database is hard to see (too small) to know if she is a dominant black or a recessive fula black to say for certain. If the former - the pedgiree is highly suspect IMO. If the later then I would be more apt to have faith in the pedigree's given.

    That said - if Pepper is, at worse, a carrier and she is spayed and never to be bred, I wonder if the DNA on Ed would not be more beneficial to the lab who is still trying to find the direct marker. I would think the more DNA from affected's they can get, the closer they might get to that direct test. Just a thought.

    Good luck to you and Ed (and Pepper).


    Vapir No2 Vaporizer


  • Do let us know how your b is doing on the protocol. Some b's do just fine on it.


  • @PeppandEd1:

    I have tried to upload a picture for my profile and add some pics to an album but i get a security token error and unable to put any up. I let the Admin know so hopefully soon. We are breaking down the protocol with our vet since Ed is so early in the syndrome, the supplementation is going to be much less than the entire protocol which is good. we are VERy nervous since we want to do everything right for him. Again thanks for all the kind words. Just an update on the Pedigrees if anyone has any information they can pass along: Eds was Hestekin Hills Flower and Sire was Budlight Bud, Peppers was Hestekin Hills Love My Mindy and Budlight King.

    Since Dr. Gonto developed the protocol for Fanconi, it is always good, especially for your Vet to make contact with him if this is his/her first Fanconi affected dog in the practice. Dr. Gonto is a great and wonderful resource…. any questions on the protocol, he is more then happy to explain and assist your Vet in the treatment plan.


  • @sinbaje:

    I am very sorry about Ed's recent fanconi diagnosis. While he was born before the ability to test, if Hestekin Hills was what I consider a legitimate kennel, you might not have had to deal with this as no reputable breeder, IMO, would have been breeding the dogs that were being bred and certainly not together.

    If the pedigrees you were given on both your dogs is correct - and I am suspect about pedigree integrity when I see a dominate (?) black and white being born from a tri x brindle breeding - then Pepper should be, worse case scenario, a carrier as her sire is dna p. clear and her dam is tested as dna p. carrier. That said - the picture of her dam on Sally's database is hard to see (too small) to know if she is a dominant black or a recessive fula black to say for certain. If the former - the pedgiree is highly suspect IMO. If the later then I would be more apt to have faith in the pedigree's given.

    That said - if Pepper is, at worse, a carrier and she is spayed and never to be bred, I wonder if the DNA on Ed would not be more beneficial to the lab who is still trying to find the direct marker. I would think the more DNA from affected's they can get, the closer they might get to that direct test. Just a thought.

    Good luck to you and Ed (and Pepper).

    Good thought Linda, about Ed and him being affected. I would think that they need a blood draw for that… however, if willing (Ed's owners) to do so, I will contact the person that can answer that question and see if this is something that would be useful to find the direct test.


  • Many dogs with Fanconi can have a long life. I am taking care of my third
    Fanconi affected and she turned 11 in December and is doing fine. It helps if they were diagnosed early. It also helps if they get on the protocol as soon as being diagnosed and if they are good eaters and pill takers.

    Teresa Hestekin is a USDA "B" licensed dealer. This means she can both breed and sell directly to petstores. You can look up her inspection reports at www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/efoia/index.shtml then click on Inspection Reports and License and Registration List

    I would ask Teresa Hestekin if the dam of Budlight Bud, Brindy is still alive, since Brindy's dam, Singer was tested probably Indeterminate. I rescued Singer, a brindle, from a dog auction. Also ask her where she sold Dynamite Tom at and to whom, the sire of Flower. He eventually became a BRAT rescue I believe in the Spring of 2006 after being owned by another breeder.

    I am certain that Mindy should be a Trindle as Hofer Pete, her sire is definitely a Tri as I saw him at the dog auction and he is a half brother to my Hofer Zipper, who had Fanconi but did not die from it. I am not sure if Hofer Kittie, Mindy's dam was at the auction but her sire, Hofer Ramsie was definitely a Brindle as I saw him. Hofer Ramsie died in November 2002 of a kidney disease, either Fanconi or Diabetes, as he did have glucose in the urine according to his vet that I spoke with.

    There is a photo of Mindy on the Pedigree Database and her coat does not look good and I do not know what color one would register her as. It is not a good picture though as it looks blurry to me.

    Many of the dogs that came from the Hofer lines and then were sold to the Choates, WL Kennel, and bred are registered wrong with regard to color. There are many dogs that should be registered as trindles are registered as tris. Dynamite Tom was owned by the Choates.


  • @dcmclcm4:

    You can look up her inspection reports at www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/efoia/index.shtml then click on Inspection Reports and License and Registration List

    Just watched "End of America" and then got to this link and saw the scary warning when you click on Inspection Reports…. Not so curious anymore. This link is mildly terrifying. I feel like I'm signing my soul away to the government.

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