Generally, no. These are complex diseases influenced by many genes, each with a small effect, and factors such as growth, weight, diet and exercise. Current knowledge does not allow a genetic test to reliably predict whether an individual animal will develop them, so we do not include them.
• Hip dysplasia: diagnosis involves X-rays, and many breed clubs require assessment by an official body. Maintaining a healthy weight and controlled growth helps reduce risk. Some diseases in our test include ‘dysplasia’ in their names, such as skeletal dysplasia, but these are different conditions with a known genetic cause.
• Allergies and atopic dermatitis: vets diagnose these using the clinical history and symptoms after excluding other causes. Allergy tests are mainly used to guide treatment.
• Cancer: most tumours result from DNA changes acquired during life, although in some breeds inherited predisposition involving many genes also contributes. Few cancers have a known single-gene inherited cause. We analyse one in dogs: renal cystadenocarcinoma and nodular dermatofibrosis (FLCN gene), described mainly in German Shepherds. Apart from this condition, the test does not assess cancer risk.
Advanced does analyse monogenic inherited diseases, in which a specific variant has a substantial effect, although for some conditions not every animal carrying the variant becomes ill.