DO YOU OWN A HEALTHY ENGLISH SPRINGER AGED 7 YEARS OR OLDER? Would you be willing to help two important research projects?
IT WILL COST YOU NOTHING BUT THE TIME IT TAKES TO GET YOUR DOG TO YOUR VET
DISEASE CAN STRIKE ANY ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL, BE IT SHOW, WORKING OR PET DON’T BE TOLD OTHERWISE!
So if you would like to make a difference, to benefit the Breed as a whole, please read on....
A research project to investigate the cause of Chronic Hepatitis in English Springers has been underway since April 2008, and is progressing well. Researchers Nick Bexfield and Penny Watson have now started investigating the genetic aspects of the disease to try to discover whether it has any inherited basis or tendency. To progress with this aspect of their work, they are appealing for pedigrees and blood samples from unaffected English Springers that are clinically normal. To be classed as 'normal', an ESS needs to be 7 years or older in age and never to have suffered from hepatitis.
An investigation into possible genetic causes of Mammary Tumours in English Springers is currently being carried out by the Oncology Research Group at The Animal Health Trust in Newmarket. Researchers Mike Starkey and Lisa Jeffery are appealing for samples and pedigrees from healthy English Springer bitches, aged 7 or older, that have never been affected with mammary tumours or any other type of cancer.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO....
Download and print the . Complete the form and sign it.
Provide ONE copy of your dog’s Five-Generation Pedigree.
Take the completed Consent Form and Pedigree with you and give them to your Vet.
Ask your Vet to take a sample from your dog as instructed on the Consent Form (5mls EDTA blood, 2mls
serum).
Ask your Vet to send the sample, together with your dog’s pedigree and the completed Hepatitis Project
Consent Form, to Nick Bexfield at Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital, Cambridge (full address details
are given on the Consent Form).
In order for your Vet to be allowed to take a blood sample from your dog, the Hepatitis researchers will
perform a “liver screen” on it, . They will send the results to your Vet, usually within 2
to 3 days.
Normally Vets are very co-operative in supporting scientific research projects.
FOR FREE
CHRONIC HEPATITIS RESEARCH PROJECT – Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital,
University of Cambridge
MAMMARY TUMOUR RESEARCH PROJECT – Animal Health Trust, Newmarket
IF YOU OWN A HEALTHY ESS THAT FITS EITHER OF THE ABOVE CATEGORIES, AND YOU WOULD CONSIDER PROVIDING COPIES OF ITS FIVE-GENERATION PEDIGREE AND ALSO ALLOWING SOME BLOOD TO BE TAKEN FROM IT BY YOUR VET FOR GENETIC ANALYSIS, WE WOULD VERY MUCH APPRECIATE YOUR HELP.
IF YOU OWN A HEALTHY MALE ENGLISH SPRINGER, AGED 7 YEARS OR OLDER, THAT HAS
NEVER SUFFERED FROM HEPATITIS - HIS SAMPLE CAN BE USED TO HELP THE HEPATITIS
PROJECT:
Please ask him/her to separate whole blood before sending.
FREE OF CHARGE
However, if your Vet wishes to make a charge for taking the sample, please ask him/her to contact Nick Bexfield direct (details on the Consent Form), and arrangements will be made for them to be re-imbursed.
IF YOU OWN A HEALTHY FEMALE ENGLISH SPRINGER, AGED 7 YEARS OR OLDER,
THAT HAS NEVER SUFFERED FROM HEPATITIS AND HAS NEVER BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH A MAMMARY TUMOUR OR ANY OTHER CANCER - HER SAMPLE CAN BE USED TO HELP BOTH THE HEPATITIS AND MAMMARY TUMOUR PROJECTS:
Download and print BOTH the
Complete both forms and sign them.
Provide TWO copies of your bitch’s Five-Generation Pedigree.
Take BOTH completed Consent Forms and BOTH Pedigree copies with you and give them to your
Vet.
Ask your Vet to take a sample from your dog as instructed on the Hepatitis Project Consent Form
(5mls EDTA blood, 2mls serum).
Ask your Vet to send the sample, together with BOTH completed Consent Forms and BOTH
COPIES of your dog’s pedigree, to Nick Bexfield at Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital, Cambridge
(full address details are given on the Hepatitis Consent Form). Nick will then forward half of the
EDTA sample to the AHT Mammary Project researchers, together with their Consent Form and a
copy of your bitch’s pedigree.
In order for your Vet to be allowed to take a blood sample from your dog, the Hepatitis researchers
will perform a “liver screen” on it, . They will send the results to your Vet, usually
within 2 to 3 days.
Normally Vets are very co-operative in supporting canine research projects.
** As in the UK a Vet is not permitted to take blood samples from a dog without a specific clinical reason for doing so, the researchers are offering to perform a liver screen on ESS in order for your Vet to get round this anomaly.
AND FINALLY.....
Please don’t forget that samples from dogs affected by either hepatitis or mammary tumours are still very much wanted by the researchers from both projects.
If you own an ESS that has been diagnosed with or is suspected of having hepatitis, we would ask you to contact researchers Penny Watson or Nick Bexfield direct, to enquire whether you can help the project. If your Vet is planning on performing a liver biopsy, it is important that you or your Vet contacts them before the biopsy is taken. Tel: 01223 337621 Email:
If you own an ESS bitch that has been diagnosed with a mammary tumour, and would like to help their project, please contact researchers Mike Starkey or Lisa Jeffery direct. Tel: 01638 751000 Ext 1214 Email: . Full details are given in the AHT’s “” sheet, which also includes information for your Vet on how to collect cheek swab or blood samples. If your Vet is planning to take a biopsy or remove a mammary tumour from your bitch, it is important that they read the leaflet or contact the researchers BEFOREHAND.
Your help is very much needed if these projects are to succeed – in the end it is all of us, together with our dogs, that stand to benefit from the research work being carried out on our behalf.
If anyone has any questions, would like any further information, or is unable to download or print either of the Chronic Hepatitis Consent Forms or the Cancer Project Leaflet, please contact the Health Co-ordinators.
In the meantime we very much appreciate your support.
ESS Breed Clubs Health Co-ordinators:
Lesley Bloomfield Tel: 01923 823579 Email:
Louise Scott Tel: 020 8427 3396 Email:
Please ask him/her to separate whole blood before sending.
FREE OF CHARGE
However, if your Vet wishes to make a charge for taking the sample, please ask him/her to contact
Nick Bexfield direct (details on the Consent Form), and arrangements will be made for them to be re-imbursed.
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