Golden Retriever Update - Summer 2022 - 2

SUMMER 2022
GOLDEN RETRIEVER PIGMENTARY
UVEITIS RESEARCH
INCLUDES RISK SCORE MODEL TO AID EARLY TREATMENT
Breeding healthy Golden Retrievers is
an important goal. When a successful
dog is bred multiple times and then
develops an inherited disease later in
life, it is worrisome. Will the dog's offspring
develop the disease or carry the
gene(s) that causes the illness? This
scenario has played out many times in
Golden Retrievers that developed the
eye condition pigmentary uveitis.
First described in 1996 by the American
College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists'
Genetics Committee,1
the disorder has
been diagnosed exclusively in Golden
Retrievers and Golden Retriever crossbreeds,
thus it is commonly referred to
as Golden Retriever pigmentary uveitis
(GRPU). A late-onset, progressive disease,
GRPU typically occurs in dogs 8 to 9 years
of age and older after they have been bred.
The inability to identify affected dogs
during their reproductive years has
contributed to the widespread penetrance
of GRPU in Golden Retrievers
across the U.S. and Canada. Initially,
about 45 percent of dogs eventually
went blind due to secondary glaucoma.
However, with early detection and
treatment, this number has decreased
to about 17 percent, says Wendy M.
Townsend, DVM, MS, DACVO, associate
professor of veterinary ophthalmology
at Purdue University.
Based on clinical data, 23.9 percent of
dogs greater than 8 years of age that
Dr. Townsend has examined are affected.
" Due to the late onset of GRPU, a dog
may be bred multiple times or produce
multiple generations before being diagnosed, "
says Dr. Townsend, a Golden
2

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vop.12293 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vop.12293 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vop.12293

Golden Retriever Update - Summer 2022

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