Screening for Thyroiditis Before Breeding

• The TgAA assay can often detect the disease a year or two before symptoms appear, allowing breeders to make informed decisions regarding the choice of animals for breeding, ultimately reducing the prevalence of the disease.

• A simple TgAA screening kit can be purchased directly from Oxford Laboratories.

• In animals that develop autoimmune thyroiditis, autoantibodies to the thyroid (TgAA) are typically detected between 3 to 4 years of age. Dogs are typically negative at 1 year of age, but may become positive at even 6 years of age. Therefore, periodic testing is strongly recommended.

• We recommend that dogs be screened for TgAA at 1, 2, 3 4, 6, and 8 years of age. The majority of affected dogs will have a positive TgAA result by 4 years of age.

• If the result is positive, the dog should not be used for breeding. Unfortunately, since the disease may develop later in life, a negative at any one time will not guarantee that the dog or its offspring will not eventually develop thyroiditis. However, by periodic screening and selection of TgAA negative dogs for breeding, the incidence of this disease can be significantly reduced.

• Oxford Laboratories provides a certificate for dogs that test negative for TgAA. This may be used by breeders to assist their customers in the selection of puppies that are more likely to be free from genetic susceptibility to autoimmune thyroiditis. However, since the disease may develop later in life, we strongly recommend that dogs in a breeding program be tested annually and that customers be informed that a negative TgAA test does not certify that the puppy will never develop this disease – just that it has a much lower chance of it.

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