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Health


Kennel Balihara Ranch´s mission and vision is to breed loving, typical Swiss Mountain Dog puppies according to the FCI Standard which have a good potential of living long lives without handicapping illnesses.

At Balihara Ranch Kennel, we take the health of our Appenzelers seriously. We screen all our breeding Appenzelers for hereditary diseases such as HD, ED, we will start top screen also OCD, patella luxation .
Because:
a) a dog is a living creature and not a piece of machinery that can be guaranteed to be free of defects,
b) many of the diseases are genetically recessive and polygenic making predictability of occurrence an educated guess at best, we are no table to guarantee the health of our puppies. Nobody can guarantee it. Only one thing I can can do as breeder, is to make the BEST choice and selection of the healthy parents. And we do that. Our breeding dogs passed SKJ – FCI breeding and character tests – koerung, including all asked health tests. Remember, while breeding phenotypically sound animals will increase the odds for healthy progeny, it is not a foolproof guarantee that every single offspring will be healthy as well. This is due primarily to the recessive mode of inheritance and the polygenic nature of most genetic diseases affecting Appenzelers.

Compared with other pure breeds, the Appenzelers is still a relatively healthy breed – I could say the most healthy Swiss Mountain Dog breed. However, there are some health concerns that prospective Appenzelers owners should be aware of as they may affect the quality and length of the dog's life. Some of these conditions may also require lengthy, involved and often quite expensive medical treatment.

Life expectancy:
The realistic life expectancy for a Appenzelers is about 10 years. And while there are some healthy seniors above 12-14 around, Appenzelers owners should be prepared for the occasional untimely death of a young animal, but not so often as by other Swiss mountain dog breeds...

Heredity:
Some of the diseases are hereditary, i.e. the dog must have the genetic predisposition for a particular affliction to surface. Many are passed on recessively, i.e. a particular condition can lay dormant for several generations until the right genetic combination brings it up again. The mode of inheritance is often quite complicated and cannot be attributed to clearly defined factors.

The major health concerns in Appenzelers are:

Orthopedics:
OCD in the shoulders
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hip dysplasia
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Elbow dysplasia
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Patella Luxation:
Also called slipping kneecap or popping knee, this condition is mostly inherited but may in rare cases be caused by trauma. Conditions that predispose to dislocation of the patella are a shallow groove, weak ligaments and malalignement of the tendons and muscles that straighten the joint. The patella slips in- or outward. The signs may include difficulty straightening the knee, pain in the stifle (knee joint) and lameness. The diagnosis is confirmed by manipulating the stifle joint and pushing the kneecap in and out of position. Treatment involves surgery to deepen the groove and/or re-align the tendon. Like with other orthopedic conditions presumed to be hereditary, Swissys with non-traumatic patella luxation should not be bred. 
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Allergies:
An allergic reaction is an unwanted side effect caused by an inappropriate response of the immune system to various substances such as pollens, mold, dust or insect bites, certain foods, drugs and chemicals. Exposure to them triggers a reaction, usually through itching, sneezing, coughing, tearing, vomiting or diarrhea. The most frequently encountered allergies in Swissys are reaction to certain types of food, flea bites and pollen. Food allergies occurring at a young age sometimes disappear, i.e. the dog outgrows the allergic reaction eventually. Because the cause of an allergy is often difficult and sometimes impossible to determine, allergies can be very frustrating for the owner, and patience is often the only recourse!
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Cancer:
Age is the most important risk factor for the development of cancer in dogs, for it is the aging that permits the long-term events leading to tumor development and progression to occur. For most tumor types, the risk for cancer increases with increased age. There are many types of cancer occurring in dogs such as: various types of skin tumors or carcinomas - tumors of the bone such as osteosarcoma -tumors of the lymphoid tissues such as lymphosarcoma - tumors derived from blood vessel such as hemangiosarcoma. To date, Swissys do not appear to be predisposed to a certain form of cancer. And although a few cases of cancer in young dogs have been reported, so far it is clearly the older population that is subject to the various forms of cancer. 
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