Health

Health Issues

Miniature Pinschers are healthy, energetic dogs with relatively few congenital health issues. In order to improve the health of the breed we follow breed specific recommendations for health testing of our dogs before they are bred. This, of course, is not a guarantee that puppies will not inherit health issues because the genetic causes of disease are not fully understood and because new mutations can occur spontaneously in each new generation.

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Health screenings are done to identify dogs with issues. Note that dogs with known defects are not necessarily removed from the breeding pool because doing so can reduce genetic diversity and increase the occurrence of previously rare or unknown disease. 

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The Miniature Pinscher Club of America (MPCA) has a web page with health information that lists the following current concerns in the breed.

• patellar luxation

• cervical (dry) disc

• Legg-Calve Perthes

• epilepsy

• thyroid

• heart defects

• eye problems

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) promotes the health and welfare of dogs by helping reduce the incidence of genetic disease. You can search their database to see the tests that a dog has had.

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The OFA created the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) that establishes recommended breed-specific health screenings. Dogs that meet the recommendations can be registered and get a CHIC number.

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The OFA-CHIC health testing requirements for Miniature Pinschers are:

• Patellar Luxation: OFA evaluation​

• Two from the following list

  • OFA Thyroid Evaluation from an approved laboratory​

  • Congenital Cardiac Exam

  • ACVO Eye Exam

  • OFA Legg-Clave-Perthes Radiographic Evaluation

  • Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) VI DNA test from PENNGEN

  • Advanced Cardiac Exam

  • Basic Cardiac Exam

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