Karmi N, Safra N, Young A, Bannasch D, Validation of a urine test and characterization of the putative genetic mutation
for hyperuricosuria in Bulldogs and Black Russian Terriers.
Dogs
with hyperuricosuria most commonly present with symptoms of recurrent urinary tract inflammation, which include frequent urination, blood in the urine, and straining to urinate.
The same mutation causes
hyperuricosuria in Black Russian Terriers, Bulldogs and other breeds [2, 3].
If you are buying a bulldog puppy, you need to make sure that the parents have been screened under the scheme for this disease — its
called hyperuricosuria or HUU.
Dogs with mutations in both copies of the SLC2A9 gene are predisposed to have elevated levels of uric acid in the urine, hence the
name hyperuricosuria.
Genetic testing of the SLC2A9 gene will reliably determine whether a dog is a genetic Carrier
of hyperuricosuria.
Researchers at the University of California at Davis
studied hyperuricosuria and found that breeds more likely to inherit the tendency for this condition include Dalmatians (males especially), Bulldogs, and Black Russian Terriers.
Because not all affected dogs will have clinical signs associated
with hyperuricosuria, genetic testing should be performed before breeding.
So do several blood - clotting diseases (von Willebrand's disease, hemophilia A, and factor XI deficiency), a neurological disease (hypomyelination) that causes tremors in puppies, and a disease (
hyperuricosuria) that predisposes a Weimaraner to forming urinary stones.
English bulldog breeders around the world ordered 2482 tests from VGL UC Davis involving coat color between 2012 and 2016 compared to 62 tests for
the hyperuricosuria mutation.18
There is a test for
hyperuricosuria (urate bladder stones).
The hyperuricosuria is not the only cause of urate urolithiasis, and conditions such as portosystemic shunts and hepatic microvascular dysplasia also may predispose dogs to this disease.
HUU test A DNA test for
the hyperuricosuria mutation is now available and may be used by breeders to decrease the mutant allele frequency in breeds that carry the mutation.