I have a male pup from FC AFC Distagon. I know he is PRA-A1 and his mother is also PRA-A1. I was hope to use him as a stud later on and was wondering if I should bother with the PRA blood test being that I have the information on both his parents??

You can advertise him as PRA A by parentage, if both sire and dam had the Optigen test and were PRA A. (was unclear from your post if your dog's dam or Tiger's dam was PRA A). However, you should still have his eyes examined by an ACVO board certified vet and get the CERF certificate (they need to be re-examined annually) because PRA is not the only heritable eye condition. They can also get cataracts, distichiasis, entropion, etc.

Just a point of clarification

A dog diagnosed as entropic will still get a CERF number. And I believe the same is true with distichiasis as well as several other eye defects.

T.Mac

I agree that we should get our dogs CERFed even if they are PRA-A or PRA-A1. I also agree that dogs with a variety of eye problems can still get CERF numbers. Certain AVCO vets won't give a CERF to a dog with any ocular abnormality, while other vets are much more forgiving. What I find most helpful in the CERF results is that "breeder option" diagnosis codes are now publically available. These "breeder option" abnormalities are ones that CERF and the vet doesn't believe are so important that the dog should be denied a CERF number (e.g., distichiasis). Having this information allows stud owners and owners of bitches to evaluate the details of a possible mating.

Thanks to the way the database is set up on the OFA web site (which includes CERF number for animals with any OFA clearance), it is possible to get some idea of which if any eye problems are showing up in a pedigree. Of course this isn't quite that simple because pedigree information on the OFA site isn't perfect and because a small number of AVCO vets are said to provide clearances without noting diagnosis codes, but it's a lot more info than we had even 5 years ago!

Claire