Health and Certifications
General Info

General Info | CERF | Bouvier Reports
OFA: Overview | Cardiac | Elbows | Hips | Thyroid

SAS (Sub-Aortic Stenosis) Project ~ CLICK HERE!


New! OFA 1st Quarter 2002 report. Includes assigned OFA numbers for Hips, Elbows, Thyroid, Patellar Luxation and Cardiac for the months of January, February, March. Requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in. Get it here if you don't yet have it installed on your computer.
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coming soon ~ ability to search OFA statistics exclusively for Bouviers.

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Overall, the Bouvier des Flandres is quite hardy and does not seem to be disposed with as many health and genetic problems as perhaps some other breeds. However, as with any large breed, there is a concern of canine hip and elbow dysplasia. Other health concerns known to have surfaced in this breed include thyroid imbalances, some congenital heart diseases, and some eye diseases including glaucoma.

SCBdFC strongly supports and encourages "Five-Star" and "Six-Star" testing of all breeding stock. This consists of:

  1. x-raying hips for signs of dysplasia, arthritis or degenerative joint disease;
  2. x-raying elbows for signs of dysplasia, arthritis or degenerative joint disease;
  3. regular thyroid testing;
  4. regular cardiac exams which check for congenital heart diseases, including cardiomyopathy, heart murmurs, and SAS (sub-aortic stenosis);
  5. regular eye exams including testing for PRA and other inheritable eye diseases; and
  6. glaucoma angle testing.

Hips, Elbows, Thyroid and Cardiac can be registered with OFA. Eye exams checking for inheritable eye diseases can be registered with CERF. There is currently no registry that tracks Glaucoma for our breed and some breeders and owners feel that Glaucoma is becoming a growing concern for Bouvs. It is highly recommended that you test your Bouvs for Glaucoma, and use the "Glaucoma Angle Test" as it helps to determine not only if your dog does or doesn't have glaucoma, but if it ever will get glaucoma.

The two highly recognized organizations which function as voluntary diagnostic services and registries for these types of conditions are the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals, and the Canine Eye Registration Foundation. For more info, please refer to our other pages in this section:

O F A (Orthopedic Foundation For Animals)
complete info on Hips, Elbows, Thyroid, and Congenital Heart Diseases


C E R F (Canine Eye Registration Foundation)
complete info on inheritable eye diseases

To research cardiologists, here's a List of ACVIM Board-certified Cardiologists.

There's also a wealth of "eye" information at The Veterinary Opthalmology Information Centre.

Also, Arden Shaw is voluntarily keeping a "Health Test Honor Roll List". (This list does not list all Bouviers who are health tested, but is a wonderful effort to help support health testing of our breed.) For more information, you can print Arden's articles which are in PDF format:

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Health and Certifications
General Info

General | CERF | Bouvier Reports
OFA: Overview | Cardiac | Elbows | Hips | Thyroid

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