Copper walking funny

[CFD200]

After hunting with my 11 mo. lab on Saturday I would say mine is one of 4% that is affected by EIC. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon she started to lose the hind leg control. I would rest her for about 10 minutes and she was fine. I did all of the suggested things from the Vet to rule out hypoglycemia. Does not sound there is a definite treatment for EIC or a proven test. I am hopeful that it is something that happens less as she calms down later in life. Although I had never intended to field trial her I hope I can continue pheasant hunting with her.

[LABS4ME]

Stress and hunting vs. field trialing are one in the same. It isn't isolated to field trialing. If your dog is showing signs now, she will show them in the future. Have you contacted the breeder? They need to know so they can remove the parents from their breeding programs. You may also want to discuss a possible replacement... You may want to go to the U to get confirmation if it is EIC.

Good Luck!

Ken

[CFD200]

Correct, but I would not be able to rest my dog for 10 minutes during a field trial. I am working on contacting the breeder. My wife has the information as she bought the dog as a Christmas present for the family. Maybe she should have stuck to the breed I had in the past: English Cockers. The only issue I have seen with them is Eyelid Entropy.

[duckbuster]

Hemi: This is what I was going to try to cut & paste tonight. My dog was one of the 500 tested this summer. Hers was done up at the Fargo field trial in August.

Thankfully she came back negative.

Right now to my knowledge there isn't anyone who is including this in a guarantee. Even though a dog comes back positive does not mean they will show signs of the trait.

[Dahitman44]

Thanks, guys.

Called this morning and going to set up an appointment and get a blood draw.

I will let you guys know what I find out.

Thanks

Hit

[311Hemi]

Hit....good to hear. I assume you got in contact with Katie?

It will be good to hear what they say out with the symptoms your described.

[Kallista]

Hemi...

Ok this is going to be long cause i am also posting what i have read, But to me it seems like they still don't know the treatment besides stop exercising the dog? so i am confused, i understand there might be some up to date reading on this, can you please point me to it? cause i think i need to be updated on this..

Another scary thing to watch our for with my lab..

But a working dog get things from working but now from the posts here it sounds like they are born with it and we are playing with their lives by working them

please help me try to understand this..

Here is what i have read...

EXERCISE INDUCED COLLAPSE IN LABRADOR RETRIEVERS

Susan M. Taylor, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM (Internal Medicine)

Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Updated April 16, 2003

A syndrome of exercise intolerance and collapse (EIC) has been recognized in young adult Labrador Retrievers.

A comprehensive study of this condition is underway involving collaborators from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) of the University of Saskatchewan, the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota and the Comparative Neuromuscular Unit at the University of California. The objectives of this study are to (1) describe the syndrome so that it can be recognized by dog owners, veterinarians and trainers, (2) to thoroughly evaluate affected dogs to try to establish an efficient means of diagnosis and to gain some insight into the cause of the collapse and (3) to determine the genetic basis for the collapse syndrome. This research is being supported by generous grants from the Morris Animal Foundation and the WCVM's Companion Animal Health Fund.

The following is a summary of some of what we have learned in the last 2 years about the syndrome of Exercise Induced Collapse in Labrador Retrievers:

WHO GETS IT?

The syndrome of exercise intolerance and collapse (EIC) is being observed with increasing frequency in young adult Labrador Retrievers. Most, but not all, affected dogs have been from field-trial breedings. Black, yellow and chocolate Labradors of both sexes can be affected. Signs become apparent in young dogs as they encounter heavy training or strenuous activity - usually between 7 months and 2 years of age.(average 14 months). In dogs used for field trials, this usually coincides with the age at which they enter heavy training. Dogs of either sex and any color can be affected. Littermates and other related dogs are commonly affected , but depending on their temperament and lifestyle they may or may not manifest symptoms. Affected dogs are usually described as being extremely fit, muscular, prime athletic specimens of their breed with an excitable temperament and lots of drive.

DESCRIPTION OF COLLAPSE

Affected dogs can tolerate mild to moderate exercise, but 5 to 20 minutes of strenuous exercise induces weakness and then collapse. Severely affected dogs may collapse whenever they are exercised to this extent - other dogs only exhibit collapse sporadically and the factors important in inducing an episode have not yet been well established.

The first thing noted is usually a rocking or forced gait. The rear limbs then become weak and unable to support weight. Many affected dogs will continue to run while dragging their back legs. In some dogs this progresses to forelimb weakness and occasionally to a total inability to move. Some of the dogs appear to be incoordinated and have a loss of balance, particularly as they recover. Most collapsed dogs are totally conscious and alert, still trying to retrieve. Others will appear stunned or disoriented during the episode.

It is common for the symptoms to worsen for 3 to 5 minutes even after exercise has been terminated. NOTE: A few affected dogs have died during exercise or while resting immediately after an episode of exercise-induced collapse so the dog's exercise should ALWAYS be stopped at the first hint of incoordination or wobbliness.

Most dogs recover quickly and are usually normal within 5 to 25 minutes with no residual weakness or stiffness.

Body Temperature

Body temperature is normal at rest in dogs with EIC but is almost always dramatically increased at the time of collapse (temperature >41.5C, >107.6F). We have shown experimentally, however, that clinically normal Labrador Retrievers doing this type of exercise for 10 minutes routinely had similar dramatic elevations in body temperature yet exhibited no signs of weakness or collapse. Dogs with EIC will pant hard during the time of collapse, in an attempt to cool off, but this is similar to normal dogs exercised in the same manner. The time it takes for dogs with EIC to return to their resting temperature after exercise is not different from normal dogs. Although temperature may play some role in EIC, and may contribute to the death of some affected dogs, inability to properly regulate temperature does not appear to be the underlying problem in dogs with EIC.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO COLLAPSE IN DOGS WITH EIC

Ambient Temperature. Actual ambient temperature does not seem to be a critical factor contributing to collapse, but if the temperature is much warmer or the humidity is much higher than what the dog is accustomed to, collapse may be more likely. Affected dogs are less likely to collapse while swimming than when being exercised on land. There are dogs, however, who have exhibited collapse while breaking ice retrieving waterfowl in frigid temperatures and there are dogs who have drowned when experiencing EIC-related collapse in the water.

Excitement. Dogs that exhibit the symptoms of EIC are most likely to have intense, excitable personalities, and it is apparent that their level of excitement plays a role in inducing the collapse. There are some severely affected dogs who, if they are very excited, do not require much exercise to induce the collapse. Dogs with EIC are most likely to collapse when engaging in activities that they find very exciting or stressful. This can include retrieving of live birds, participation in field trials, training drills with electric collar pressure and quartering for upland game.

Type of Exercise. Routine exercise like jogging, hiking, swimming , most waterfowl hunting and even agility or flyball training are not very likely to induce an episode in dogs with EIC. Activities with continuous intense exercise , particularly if accompanied by a high level of excitement or anxiety most commonly cause collapse. Activities commonly implicated include upland hunting, repetitive "happy retrieves", retrieving drills, and repetition of difficult marks or blinds where the dog is being corrected or anticipating correction.

VETERINARY EVALUATION OF AFFECTED DOGS/DIAGNOSIS

Severely affected dogs have undergone extensive testing before and after exercise at the WCVM. Nervous system, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal examinations are unremarkable in dogs with EIC as is routine blood analysis at rest and during an episode of collapse. These dogs do not experience heart rhythm abnormalities, low blood sugar, electrolyte disturbances or respiratory difficulty that could explain their collapse. Body temperature is remarkably elevated during collapse (up to 108F), but this has been found in normal exercise-tolerant Labradors as well. Testing for the neuromuscular disorder myasthenia gravis is negative. Metabolic testing of blood and muscle from affected dogs before and after exercise suggests that these dogs do have a defect in the chemical reactions necessary for energy production in their muscles and in their brain. Further investigation is ongoing.

At this time (until we develop a genetic test) EIC can only be diagnosed by ruling out all other muscle disorders and by observing characteristic clinical features, history and laboratory test results in affected dogs. Any dog with exercise intolerance should always have a complete veterinary evaluation to rule-out joint diseases, heart failure, anemia, heart rhythm disturbances, respiratory problems, low blood sugar , myasthenia gravis, other myopathies and other systemic disorders.

LONG TERM OUTLOOK

Symptomatic dogs are rarely able to continue training or competition. It seems that if affected dogs are removed from training and not exercised excessively the condition will not progress and they will be fine as pets. They are able to continue to live pretty normal lives, if owners limit their intense exercise and excitement. Many dogs will seem to "get better" as they age and slow down their activity and their excitement level. It is important that owners of dogs with EIC be made aware that the dog's exercise should be stopped at the first hint of incoordination or wobbliness as some affected dogs have died during collapse when their owners allowed or encouraged continuing exercise.

TREATMENT

As the actual biochemical defect underlying EIC is still unknown, it is difficult to recommend an effective treatment. Owners of some affected dogs have reported that if they feed their dogs a higher fat diet and/or keep more weight on their dog, that the episodes may be more difficult to induce. The best treatment in most dogs consists of avoiding intensive exercise in conjunction with extreme excitement and ending exercise at the first sign of weakness/wobbliness. A few dogs have, however, responded to medical treatment to the degree that they can re-enter training and competition. Each of the treatments listed below has been effective in a few dogs, but none of them has been 100% effective in all dogs.

Treatment as a metabolic myopathy

There is biochemical evidence that EIC is caused by a defect in oxidative metabolism within the brain and muscle. This means that dogs with EIC are deficient in a substance needed for normal energy production in these tissues. Carnitine is a compound normally found in high concentrations in muscle and brain that is necessary for transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria for energy production in these tissues. We have found that approximately 30% of dogs with EIC have lower than normal levels of muscle carnitine. A few affected dogs have had a positive clinical response to oral supplementation with carnitine (50mg/kg 2X/day), CoEnzyme Q10 (100mg/day) and Riboflavin (100 mg/day) - a standard cocktail for metabolic myopathies/neuropathies.

Treatment with 7-KETO

There is anecdotal evidence that a few severely affected dogs have responded positively to a nutraceutical called 7-KETO. This is a breakdown product of the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a steroid made by the adrenal glands and brain. The dosage used has been 100 mg 2X/day. The precise mechanism of action of 7-KETO in affected dogs is unknown, but it has demonstrated positive effects on energy production in the muscle and brain as well as acting as a neuroactive steroid, with effects on several neurotransmitter receptors in the brain.

Treatment with Phenobarbital

There are reports of a few severely affected dogs improving when they were treated with Phenobarbital (2 mg/kg every 12 hours). This drug is an anti-seizure medication commonly used to treat dogs with epilepsy. Phenobarbital decreases the intrinsic excitability of brain cells and decreases the spread of abnormal electrical discharges in the brain. The mechanism underlying its effectiveness in dogs with EIC is uncertain but is under investigation.

HEREDITY

Littermates and other related dogs are commonly affected, suggesting that EIC is hereditary. Clinically unaffected dams and sires can produce litters with more than one affected dog, suggesting either an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance (must be inherited from both parents) or inheritance as a dominant trait with incomplete penetrance (can be inherited from just one parent). A few clinically unaffected males have sired many puppies with EIC when bred to different complains. Pedigree analysis of greater than 100 affected dogs is underway in an attempt to determine the likely mode of inheritance.

Major difficulty currently exists in classifying individual dogs as definitively affected or unaffected by EIC. Some dogs may have the genetic makeup and metabolic abnormalities underlying EIC, yet they never collapse because they are not expected to perform strenuous exercise or they may perform the exercise without the mix of enthusiasm and excitement necessary to induce collapse. We will not be able to identify these dogs as being affected by EIC until there is a simple, specific test for the condition.

Blood samples are currently being collected for DNA isolation. DNA harvested from the blood of affected dogs and their relatives will be used to perform a full genome scan at the University of Minnesota to identify a genetic marker for EIC, and find the genetic mutation causing EIC. Once that goal is accomplished, DNA testing can be used to identify dogs that carry this gene as well as dogs that are affected before they start to show clinical signs.

Once the genetic mutation is identified a genetic test for EIC can be developed. A genetic test would allow veterinarians to definitively diagnose the condition using a simple blood test. As well, breeders could test their breeding stock to identify affected dogs and carriers. The test could also be used to test litters of puppies - obviously affected dogs should not be sold into working homes and known carriers should not be bred.

In order for the genome scan to be successful, large numbers of samples must be collected from affected dogs and their affected and unaffected relatives. The most useful families for molecular genetic analysis are those for which we have DNA samples from multiple closely related affected dogs (siblings or half-siblings) and their parents. Many more samples are needed to ensure the success of this study.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We have completed our experimental part of this research study and we are currently in the data analysis stage. We are, however, still interested in obtaining pedigrees and blood samples (to help us with our DNA analysis) from affected dogs and their relatives (whether the relatives are affected or unaffected).

Dogs enrolled in this portion of the study should have had at least 3 episodes of collapse with exercise/excitement. It is very important that we not include in this portion of the study dogs that do not really have EIC (ie they have some other reason for the collapse). All dogs enrolled in this portion of the study should have had a full veterinary evaluation to rule out other causes of collapse. This should include:

Physical examination: normal (no muscle atrophy or pain in back, joints or muscles)

Neurologic examination: normal (normal gait and reflexes)

Cardiovascular auscultation, ECG, thoracic radiographs and cardiac ultrasound: normal

Hematologic and biochemical evaluation of blood : normal

ACTH Stimulation test (to rule out Addisons disease): normal

If you have a dog who meets these criteria and appears to have collapse with exercise/excitement that fits the description of EIC, please send a description of your dog’s episodes together with a pedigree and the results of the above veterinary evaluation to:

Dr. Susan Taylor, DVM

Diplomate, ACVIM (Internal Medicine)

Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine

University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N5B4

Phone: 306-966-7093

FAX: 306-966-7174

e-mail: [email protected]

If we agree that your dog most likely has EIC we will then send you directions to take to your vet for blood collection and submission to help us with our DNA analysis.

[311Hemi]

Quote:

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Hemi...

Ok this is going to be long cause i am also posting what i have read, But to me it seems like they still don't know the treatment besides stop exercising the dog? so i am confused, i understand there might be some up to date reading on this, can you please point me to it? cause i think i need to be updated on this..

Another scary thing to watch our for with my lab..

But a working dog get things from working but now from the posts here it sounds like they are born with it and we are playing with their lives by working them

please help me try to understand this..

Here is what i have read...

---

What you have read is pretty much it. There is no cure and the testing will mainly be of benefit to breeders to keep carriers from being bred to carriers. It will also help those who dogs show symptoms have a better idea or know what it the cause of it. There are non-carriers, carriers, and affected dogs. Breeding two carriers of the disease will result in a 25% non-carrier pups, 50% carriers, and 25% affected pup. Affected pups are the only ones that show the symptoms, and carriers can still be bred to non-carriers. It will be up to the breeders to manage the dogs that are carriers and make sure they are not bred to other carriers in the future. Thats where this test will pay off.

There is that cocktail that is mentioned in that read....but I don't know of anyone that has used it to this point in any of the conversations/forums I am on.

"Affected" dogs are born with this disease, and only some of those affected dogs will show symptoms if they are affected enough. It is usually at time of extreme excitment/work that it happens, but can be as little as a few retrieves in the yard for severely "affected" pups.

[Kallista]

Ok so what what age is the best to get your dog tested?

The tests will come back by one of the 3 you and they mention?

Sorry for all the questions, but its important to me and this is the forum to ask lol

[duckbuster]

You can do it now. Age isn't a facor with the test I don't believe.

A friend of mine has a puppy from our litter and he was tested at the same field trial this summer as my female. He was 6 months old at the time.

GOOD LUCK

[311Hemi]

Age is not a factor, it only takes a cheek swap to check DNA.

Your correct in that the results will come back as non-carrier, carrier, affected. Non-carrier means your dog does not have the mutated gene, carrier means your dog has one copy of the mutated gene (but will not show symptoms), affected means your dog has two copies of the mutated gene and MAY show the symptoms associated with EIC. The disease is Autosomal recessive if you want to search to find out more on how it's passed along.

There is a test right now that the U of MN believes to be very accurate. This test is not official so any results given as of now will NOT be considered official. In order for the test results to be official you will need to have your dog retested once the "official" test is out. The official test will not be out until the study is complete and all data is analyzed, and the results are published.

Some of the latest info I have read from Katie:

From a month or so ago:

Quote:

---

This was posted on RTF last night

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hi, it's Katie from of the U of MN.

Yes, we have been travelling around the area collecting samples for our EIC study. We've been collecting samples to obtain an unbiased (as far as EIC affected) sampling of the Field Trial labradors to determine how common carriers are within the population.

We do believe that we have found the mutation responsible for EIC. This is not verified through functional studies (future research), and it has not yet been peer reviewed, as we are in the midst of writing the manuscript. This test is not considered a certified result at this point. Given this, we are confident in our test's ability to provide a VERY high likeliness of status.

We will NOT ever disclose results for any dog to the public in any way. We will NOT be the keepers of any public database for test results. This would be something setup either as a breed club moderated forum, or may be done if/when the test is contracted out (similar to CNM). We depend on breeders/owners to provide us with samples, and confidentiality is an important factor in people's decision to participate.

Further samples are only being accepted on a case by case basis at this time.

Thanks to all who have helped us get this far!

Katie Minor

---

A month or so ago:

Quote:

---

Katie Minor was at the club today and is supposed to be back on Sat, but she said she had almost every dog in the trial sampled so she might head back home early.

I was able to talk more in depth with her about the progress in the research.

The news is good. The test is here, it is reliable and the patent is pending. The only thing left before the test is brought to market is resolving a few legal issues, which is partially what this batch of samples is for. They need a larger sample size to validate the test.

The good news is the test is very reliable. The P-values were excellent and all the other statistical data are very good.

This is a reliabe test and might be available by Novemeber.

The owners of dogs sampled at recent trials such as this one will recieve a result on the EIC status of their dog. The MOI is Autosomal rec. as previously belived. The U of M is planning on maintaining a verifiable database similar to that for CNM, but they may pass that off to another group such as OFA or similar.

This research is not focused on a cure, but there is some interest from other groups who may take up that mission.

So, there is good news just ahead for those of us who are concerned with EIC. We will have a test that will allow us to breed knowing we are not going to produce EIC affected pups. It doesnt help those who currently have affected dogs, but it is good to know that the next one can be clear.

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10-13-07

Quote:

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The test is in the works to be patented. We've sent in the initial paperwork. I can't give an exact time table as there is much to be sorted out still as far as who is going to end up providing the test. I'll keep you posted.

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10-11-07

Quote:

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A few comments. I have heard of dogs that are EIC affected (confirmed by our mutation test) not collapsing until as late as age 10 (this is rare).

Two, body temp/air temp are not the cause of EIC, but high heat and humidity can make it more likely to occur.

Three, some dogs are so severely affected, that they collapse even in water, and some dogs have come very close to drowning if they do collapse while swimming.

Katie Minor

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[Dahitman44]

Still waiting to hear from the vet. I hope to hear something soon -- it is making me nervous.

I wish they would just draw blood and get going.

[311Hemi]

Dahitman,

If you have a chance can you email me at: zach****ej1 at hotmail . com

Remove the **** from my email address.