What is the exact risk of a carrier developing PLL?
A. The ideal way to calculate the exact number of carriers that develop PLL would be to clinically monitor a large number of carriers over their whole lives and record how many develop PLL and how many dont. This is obviously a long-term process; in the mean time we have estimated the risk using the information we have for the several thousand DNA samples that have been donated to our PLL research over the years. Q. Why does the AHT advisethat all carriers have their eyes examined by a veterinary ophthalmologist from the age of 2, whereas genetically affected dogs should have their eyes examined from the age of 18 months? A. We have some preliminary evidence that the carriers that develop PLL may do so at a slightly older age than genetically affected dogs, which have two copies of the mutation.
