Southern California Bouvier des Flandres Club, Inc.
Est. 1972

OFA - Orthopedic Foundation for Animals

http://www.offa.org/

The Mission of the OFA

To promote the health and welfare of companion animals through a reduction in the incidence of genetic disease

The OFA is guided by the following four specific objectives:

  1. To collate and disseminate information concerning orthopedic and genetic diseases of animals.
  2. To advise, encourage and establish control programs to lower the incidence of orthopedic and genetic diseases.
  3. To encourage and finance research in orthopedic and genetic disease in animals.
  4. To receive funds and make grants to carry out these objectives.

OFA Cardiac Database

http://www.offa.org/cardiac_about.html
Purpose

To gather data regarding congenital heart diseases in dogs and to identify dogs which are phenotypically normal prior to use in a breeding program. For the purposes of the database, a phenotypically normal dog is defined as:

  1. One without a cardiac murmur -or-

  2. One with an innocent heart murmur that is found to be otherwise normal by virtue of an echocardiographic examination which includes Doppler echocardiography

Elbow Dysplasia Types

http://www.offa.org/ed_types.html
The Three Faces of Elbow Dysplasia

Elbow dysplasia is a general term used to identify an inherited polygenic disease in the elbow of dogs. Three specific etiologies make up this disease and they can occur independently or in conjunction with one another. These etiologies include:

  1. Pathology involving the medial coronoid of the ulna (FCP)
  2. Osteochondritis of the medial humeral condyle in the elbow joint (OCD)
  3. Ununited anconeal process (UAP)

The Dysplastic Hip Joint

http://www.offa.org/hd_info.html

Hip Dysplasia is a terrible genetic disease because of the various degrees of arthritis (also called degenerative joint disease, arthrosis, osteoarthrosis) it can eventually produce, leading to pain and debilitation.

OFA Thyroid Procedures

http://www.offa.org/thy_proc.html
Purpose

To identify those dogs that are phenotypically normal for breeding programs and to gather data on the genetic disease autoimmune thyroiditis.