Free from PRA (PRD)!

We are proud to announce that cats in our cattery Viosna*PL are free from genetic disease called in short PRA or PRD. Full name of it in English is Progressive Retinal Atrophy or Progressive Retinal Degeneration. It’s caused by genetic defect and was diagnosed in many breeds of dogs and cats. In cats it’s most common to apear in siamiese, thai, korat, abisinian, somalian and others (in different breeds it can be inherited in a different way). That’w why we decided to make sure that this disease won’t appear in our cattery. Results for all our cats – Whisper, Elmirka and Helen came back negative. This means that none of them has the genes responsible for PRA disease. They won’t pass this defect to their offsprings, because they don’t have it!

Progressive retinal atrophy is a congenital defect that causes gradual degeneration of photoreceptors in the eye. At first the animal has trouble seeing in bad light (so called ‘moon blindness’) and the sight gets worse in time. In early stages of it organism compensates it with mydriasis (more dilated pupils) but as the disease gets more advanced it isn’t enough. The animal starts to lose sight and becomes blind.

PRA can be diagnosed by opthalological exam, because there may be few other causes for similar symptoms. To make sure that we’re dealing with PRA – genetic tests can be done to find the gene responsible for the disease.

Because PRA progress is gradual, most of the animals suffering from it, get used to living “in the dark”. And if right conditions and owners love are provided, he/she can live as long as healthy animals.

Unfortunately there are no available methods to stop or slow down PRA progress. The only way to prevent this disease is to control breeding cats and dogs and eliminate those who may pass on the faulty gene.

Considering all the information above, we are very glad that our cattery Viosna*PL is free from PRA and that our cats and their offspring won’t be suffering from progressive retinal atrophy.