July 15, 1998: Testing Our First 8 Cats

Our first 8 cats were tested by Dr. Jon Shiroma, a board certified radiologist, at the Med-Vet Clinic in Columbus, Ohio on July 15, 1998 using a 7.5 mhz transducer and with 256 shades of gray.  In addition to a paper print-out of each cat's kidneys, Dr. Shiroma also made a videotape of the entire session for our records.   Our overall results from this first scanning session were quite good (1 cat positive (12.5%) and, 7 cats negative), with our only resident DM and 4 of our grands testing negative.  On the down side, the one positive cat is our foundation male, Marsamis Orient Express of LeBordo (Ori).  Since Ori's sire was previously reported to have tested negative by his current owner, Ori's dam is apparently the source of Ori's PKD.  Fortunately, Ori is only mildly affected, and according to Dr. Shiroma, will probably never show signs of the disease.

However, since Ori is positive, his many offspring still in our breeding program will need to be tested sooner rather than later, as should his offspring that have been placed in breeder and show homes.  The owners of these cats have already been notified of Ori's test results. 

August 29-30, 1998: Testing the Rest

We tested the rest of our breeding animals, plus two 7-1/2 month old kittens (littermates out of two positive parents), on Saturday, August 29, 1998 and Sunday, August 30, 1998 during a PKD Clinic held at the Med-Vet Clinic in Columbus, OH.  Both Dr. Shiroma and Dr. David Biller were present, and each tested some of our cats.  At this point, we have no plans to test kittens being placed in pet homes, nor do we plan to test adult neuters and spays.

The results of the August 29 testing, unfortunately, was much worse that the results of our July 15 testing.  Out of 18 cats tested at the August 29th Clinic, 8 were positive, 8 were negative, and the two 7-1/2 month old kittens showed no sign of cysts but will require retesting after 10 months of age to minimize the potential for false negatives.  The 8 positives included our most active and most productive queen, CH Purrmunn's Cristelle of LeBordo (Cristelle), as well as her two shaded cameo boys -- GRC LeBordo D'Arche (Archie) and GRC LeBordo Peyraguey (Peepers).  GRC LeBordo Rausan-Segla (Raisin), a black female, and GRC LeBordo Leoville (Leo), a red tabby male, also tested positive.  In addition to being CFA's best of color for the 1997-1998 show year, Peepers has been our show cat this year and was 24th best cat nationally and 2nd best cat in the Great Lakes region at the end of June, before loosing coat and reversing color.  Leo was national best of color during the 1996-1997 show season.

Perhaps the hardest 3 realizations to accept are:

• we have no negative males out of either Ori or Cristelle  (who were frequently bred together, but also produced well with other mates), and only two Ori daughters and three Cristelle daughters who are negative (one common daughter -- CH LeBordo De Salles, a smoke tortie)

• our shaded cameo breeding program was devistated -- five our our six shaded cameos (including both grands) are positive; the one negative shaded cameo is a female who produced only long-nosed pets in her only litter to date

• we have no negative red-factor males

On the up side:

• we did have three male grands (including two black smokes) and a tortie smoke female grand test negative on July 15

• a recently acquired black male grand tested negative (which was a pre-condition for completing the transaction)

• one female out of Ori and Cristelle, CH LeBordo de Sales, did test negative, as did her son, GRC LeBordo Ausone, a black smoke male who was CFA's 3rd Best of Division for the 1997-1998 show year

April 9, 1999: Retesting Cats at a Different Radiologist

In order to check out a different radiologist (in Cincinnati, which is closer, and with less expensive charges for just a few cats), Paul took six cats to see Marcia B. Whiteley, DVM, Diplomate, ACVR (all previously tested by Dr. Shiroma on July 15, 1998 or at the Columbus Clinic August 29-30, 1998).

Dr. Whiteley uses a 10 MHz portable setup which, unfortunately, cannot do both still photos and video tape at the same time.  So she scanned each cat twice -- once for the video and a second time for the still photos.  She was easy to work with, and allowed Paul to hold the cats and view the scans.

As expected, CH Purrmunn's Cristelle of LeBordo (Cristelle), GRC LeBordo D'Arche (Archie) and GRC LeBordo Peyraguey (Peepers) tested positive again.  And GRC LeBordo Ausone (Ozzie) tested negative again, as expected.

Unfortunately, and much to our surprise, CH LeBordo de Sales (Sally) (Ori x Cristelle) tested positive at 4 years and 9 months (2 very small cysts in left kidney, the largest 1.2 mm; no cysts in the right kidney), after testing negative in Columbus when 4 years old.   Actually, these very small cysts were not detected until the second time Sally was scanned by Dr. Whiteley.   Obviously, ultrasound is not perfect, even in older cats.

Dr. Whiteley also did a liver scan on Cristelle, and found a large (approx. 2 cm) cyst in Cristelle's liver.  It is an established fact that PKD positive cats (and people) often have cysts in other organs too.

April 10, 1999: Testing Adults Previously Too Young, and 3 of Sally's Kittens

On April 10, 1999, we had two young adult litermates (15 months) scheduled for testing at a clinic in Columbus.  Since Sally tested positive, we took three of her kittens (6 1/2 months) for testing too.

CH LeBordo Oliver, a black smoke (now "of Skidrose") and an unregistered blue-cream sister both tested negative, as did two of Sally's kittens -- a calico female, and a blue/white male (who we still have as one of our pets).  Unfortunately, a black/white male from Sally's litter tested positive, with four cysts ranging from 2.14 to 4.29 mm in the left kidney, but no cysts in the right kidney.  Interesting, and possibly significant, is the fact that both mother and offspring had unilateral cysts in the left kidney.

November 5, 1999: Testing Adults Previously Too Young, and 3 of Sally's Kittens

On November 5, 1999, Linda took 5 adults and one 6 month old kitten to Cincinnati for testing by Dr. Whiteley.  All six cats tested negative, but the 6 month old needs to be retested when older.

Three of the cats tested on this date were retests of cats previously tested by Dr. Shiroma: GRC Purz N Pawz Shadowdancer of LeBordo (Shadow), GRC Shelbie's 'Da Bomb of LeBordo (Bomber) and GRC Vickits Magna of LeBordo (JR).

November 21, 1999: Testing Adults Previously Too Young, and 3 of Sally's Kittens

On November 21, 1999, we took 4 adults for retesting, and 7 kittens to Columbus for testing by Dr. Shiroma.  Two of the kittens tested positive at 5 months of age.  All three adults and 5 of the kittens tested negative.  One of the negative kittens (a littermate of the two positives) had the following comment: "Suspicious, but not definitive for cysts - rescan at 1 year or older."  As per standard protocol, all of the other kittens should be rescanned when older than 10 months.

April 13, 2000:

On April 13, 2000, Linda took 8 young adults and one 7 month old kitten to Cincinnati for testing by Dr. Whiteley.  One adult tested positive, with bilateral cysts (one 3.2 mm in the left kidney, and one 6.1 mm x 4.5 mm in the right kidney).  All others tested negative.  One negative had a comment "possible abnormality in right kidney - recheck in 6 months".  Another negative had a comment "Left Kidney size 2.95 cm, Right Kidney size 4.09 cm -- both had hyperechoic corticomedullary junction."

Testing Closely Related Cats: Parents, Siblings and Offspring

We've already contacted breeders of the positive cats that we did not breed ourselves, as well as the owners of siblings and offspring of the positive cats we've bred.  While we feel that all persians should be tested, we strongly recommend that cats closely related to known positives (parents, siblings, and offspring) be tested as soon as possible.  Although we believe each breeder has to make their own breeding decisions, we also believe that basing breeding decisions on knowledge, rather than assumptions, will allow breeders to make better decisions. 

We recognize that ultrasound is not a 100% definitive test for PKD.  However, when done by properly trained and educated clinicians, we believe the current data from over 4,000 ultrasounds (May - Aug. 1998)  strongly suggests that there will be very few if any false positives.  And while we believe the rate of false negatives may be higher than the 2% reported in Dr. Biller's study, we also feel that eliminating even a majority of positives from a breeding program is a very positive step that can only benefit that program and the persian breed as a whole.

Our Detailed Test Results

Detailed results on all our testing is available, including scanned images of all our positive ultrasounds.