Tag archives: samples

Nothing brightens the schedule like seeing an 11:20am slot given to Mrs. Doe who is bringing in a three-day old litter for assessment, tails and dewclaws.  The whole clinic reminds you all morning that puppies are coming in.  Then the magic hour arrives and in comes Mrs. Doe with a laundry basket covered in a towel that is making a surprising level of grunts and squeals.  Wow! Thirteen little fuzzballs in varied states of activity from litter-surfing to dreamless slumber that makes you a little jealous.  You go through the exam; each one is fully formed with no gross congenital defects.  While prepping your tools for dewclaw removal and tail docking, Mrs. Doe asks that you save the remnants so she can have the litter tested with Paw Print Genetics for known disease-causing mutations in this breed.  Hmmm, what does this entail?

Typically, we recommend to clients who choose to submit cheek swabs to wait until they begin weening the pups off mom. This allows them to separate the puppies from their mother to reduce possible contamination by the mother’s milk that may remain in the puppies’ mouths.  Given that testing takes ...

Our Paw Print Genetics (PPG) clients frequently share with us some of the great ideas they utilize to help in their quest to produce happy and healthy litters. Recently, one of our wonderful clients (for this blog, I will call her Carol) gave me an awesome tip regarding her method for drying out umbilical cords, docked tails, or dew claws that she intends to send to PPG as samples for DNA extraction and genetic testing.

Carol’s method involves pulling out her old trusty muffin tin and using the paper liners typically used for baking. Carol prepares one paper liner for each puppy by writing the specific puppy’s name (most commonly corresponding to the puppy’s collar color)  as well as the Paw Print Genetics ID number that is generated on the PPG website when a dog is added to an account.  She then places each liner into one of the metal cups in the muffin tin.

As her veterinarian collects each sample, Carol carefully deposits each sample into the labeled liner corresponding to the correct puppy. To prevent DNA contamination between puppies, she requests that the veterinarian clean the tools and change gloves before collecting the sample on the next pup ...

Canine genetic testing is somewhat of a mystery for non-scientists who are just starting to learn more about the ins and outs of the genetic world. I was recently given the opportunity to tour Paw Print Genetics’ state of the art laboratory and was amazed at what is possible to achieve with the sample after the simple act of swabbing a dog’s cheek.

During the tour, it dawned on me that one of the most important parts of the process of genetic testing is the moment when the cheek cells are being collected. Although the process itself is not complicated, it is still important to make sure to collect as many cells as possible and avoid collecting foreign matter that might interfere with the testing or confound the results. The cells that are being collected are dead skin cells, comparable to how we shed skin from our arms. It is a painless process for the dog but  might make them a little uncomfortable so having a friend help  collect the cells would be a good idea.

Optimal collection of cells  is achieved when the inner cheek surface is brushed for a slow count of 30 using the cyto-brushes provided by ...