Regarding CERF exams
CERF stands for canine eye registration foundation. The cost of exams per dog is a minimum of $22.00-$25.00 per dog. According to that, each dog certified must also have a microchip (for identification purposes), at an additional cost of $25 (average) per dog. Plus, an additional $10 per dog for the CERF registration and certificate. So, the cost would range about $60 per dog for the certification. If you have 10 dogs, that's a cost of $600 total. Obviously, the more dogs you have, the higher the cost.
In addition, there are only 2 vet clinics in the entire state of Missouri that do this exam, as it must be done by a veterinary ophthalmologist, AND the exam is only good for one year, and so must be repeated EACH year. Occasionally, Purina in St. Louis will also put on a CERF exam clinic. However, they have a limit of 50 dogs registered for examination at their clinic.
CERF itself makes the following statement on their website: "While yearly examinations do not guarantee that the dog is not a carrier of genetic ocular disease, they do ensure that within the last year, the dog was examined and no genetic ocular disease was diagnosed."
You can see the opinion of Michael Zigler DVM, Cert.V.Ophthal. along with how the eye exams are performed by clicking this LINK TO EYE CERTIFICATION INFO. (This is used as a mirror site only and is not meant to be an infringement of any copyrighted material. It is used for informational purposes only and contains all original links.) To return to our website, please hit your BACK button.
Here is a link to the CERF website and the CERF newsletter from February, 2003, which is entitled, "
CHANGES TO "OCULAR
DISORDERS PRESUMED TO BE INHERITED IN PUREBRED DOGS" 2000-2002
GENETICS COMMITTEE, A.C.V.O."
This is a listing of breeds and ocular disorders associated with each breed, including whether the disorder is presumed to be inherited or not. Interestingly enough, the majority of eye disorders are NOT presumed or defined as inherited. I also looked for statistics regarding eye disorders and the incidence by breed, but was not able to find such a chart on their website.
Our dogs range in age from puppies to 9 years old. None of our adult dogs have manifested any signs or symptoms of eye disorders. Obviously, doing the CERF registration each year on each dog would greatly increase the price of our puppies. Any breeder has to use their best judgment when breeding animals. If the adult animal has any signs of genetic disorder, whether it be as simple as an overbite or underbite, or as complicated as undescended testicles, any orthopedic problem, or eye problems, that animal should not be bred to produce puppies who might inherit any of those disorders.
12/02/03