This disorder is what caused me to spay your namesake, my Ch. Gaelforce Uptown Girl.  Pannus is an immune-mediated disorder that has genetic components.  Since the Scottie gene pool is small enough as it is, it is virtually impossible to outcross enough to ensure that any puppies of an affected dog will not inherit or pass on any tendency to the disorder, and since, left untreated, this disorder does lead to blindness, I felt it unethical to consider breeding my Ginger, and spayed her.  She was about 3.5 when she first showed the red-eyed symptoms, but regular antibiotic drops seemed to "cure" the problem.  But because I was concerned, I had her eyes CERF-examined by an opthamologist after she finished, and Dr.  Maxwell was sure it was pannus.  My Ginger is on dexamethasone drops, one per eye per day, down from twice a day in the first six months since diagnosis.  Dr.  Maxwell feels she will be fine, as her improvement was dramatic and rapid, BUT she will need to have dexamethasone drops in her eyes for the rest of her life!  I have thought about placing my Ginger since she's spayed, and I know she'd like being an only dog, therefore a guaranteed Queen ;-), but I always worry, what if her new owners did not give her her eyedrops?  Could I live with it if she wound up blind because her new family got lazy or cheap and wouldn't buy the drops?  I can't live with that fear, I *promised* my baby girl that Momma would NEVER let her go blind, so she's mine for life, and she repays me by sleeping right next to me every night, and sitting in my lap every evening, and coming right away when I call her at bedtime, for her eye drops.  She loves me and trusts me, and so I repay that love and trust as best I can, by making sure she's happy and comfortable.  I'm very sorry that your little girl has been afflicted with this disorder, I hope she makes a good recovery, enough to not lose any eyesight, and finds a loving and responsible pet home who will make sure she gets any treatments she needs for all her life.  One request I'd make of you, and indeed of ALL breeders, is to please start having your breeding animals CERF examined and the examination form submitted to the CERF for record-keeping and analysis of trends.  If we all start keeping track of eye disorders, perhaps we will find out how REALLY common or uncommon various problems are, and we can eliminate them through careful breeding!  CERF has hardly ANY data on our breed, and I am sure it is because we were all told, however many years ago we started in Scotties, that they didn't HAVE any eye problems, but sorry to say, folks, it just ain't so!  Like Cramp and CMO and vWD, eye disorders do exist, but maybe we can be proactive, and instead of denying the problems, we can nip any trends in the bud, and keep them from spreading throughout the breed!

Camille Partridge
partridc@ucs.orst.edu
Feb 25, 2000

I forgot to mention, pannus is immune-mediated, and also environmentally triggered!  Dogs living at high elevations or places where they get alot of UV light, or living in dusty, windy environments are more prone to it if they have the genetic predispositions.  It is almost 100% likely to be a polygenic disorder, influenced, most likely, by many pairs of genes.
The GSD people have known about it and been fighting it since the '60's, if not earlier, and I have no idea if they have lowered the incidence in their breed.  In some other breeds, such as Basenjis, it IS a very painful disorder, why it isn't in GSDs and Scotties I don't know.  As far as breeding strategies and ethics, my #1 would be not to repeat the mating that produced it.  #2 have the parents and any full siblings tested, if you own both parents.  #3 if you bred to an outside stud dog, inform the stud dog's owner.  Tell any owners of littermates or full siblings about the problem, and warn them about the signs to look for in their dogs.
Odds are quite low that it will show up in more than one puppy in the litter, of course.  I CERF'ed Molly and JJ and they are both fine, thankfully.  The most important thing to do about this, as any other disease in our Scots, IMHO, is to be OPEN and HONEST and start testing, so we can arm ourselves with the knowledge to fight it, and at least keep it from becoming more common, if not reduce the incidence.

Camille Partridge
partridc@ucs.orst.edu
Feb 25, 2000