@imbj:
Hi Pat,
Can you explain what "carrier" means to those of us who are not familiar with it and what are the implications and what we need to watch out/look for or do/don't do if we have B's that are "carriers"?
Thx…
For Sure… with the Fanconi Test Basenjis can be Clear of the Fanconi gene, Carrier of the Fanconi gene or Affected with the Fanconi gene. In breeding you would always want to only breed a Carrier to a Clear, in doing that you would only produce Clears or Carriers, but never and affected. If you go to www.basenjihealth.org there is a chart and here is another link to a chart showing what you would get breeding clears, carriers, and affected.
http://www.geocities.com/rugosab/FanconiTestPage.htm
As far as anyone with Carriers, your Basenji will not ever develop Fanconi, it just means they are carriers of the gene and if bred to another carrier or affected, they then could produce offspring that would be affected. Same with Clears, if your Basenji comes back as affected, you need to be very, very diligent with monthly strip testing and there has also been thoughts of doing blood gases to see if any changes to the blood values. This could be helpful in treatment of a Fanconi dog, as the biggest thing is to catch it early for the best chance that treatment will be effective.
And since our gene pool is small, it is never a good thing to throw out the baby with the bath water, as the saying goes. There are ways to preserve the gene pool and not lose many of the bloodlines that have Carriers and/or Affected.
