Meliora Drents

We recently completed Iris’s final health test – an eye examination – shortly after the Drentsche Patrijshond was added to the OFA’s Canine Health Information Center. Let’s talk about what these things are for and what they mean!

OFA Eye Exam (aka, CAER)

The eye exam was extremely simple. We made an appointment with a local ophthalmology-specialty veterinarian. When we arrived, they gave Iris a couple of eye drops to dilate her pupils, then we waited 15-20 minutes for them to take effect.

For the exam, I had to gently hold her head still while the ophthalmologist turned the lights off and used two special devices to check Iris’s eyes for any abnormalities. Then we filled out the official form to send in to OFA for public record and we were on our way. We took some silly pictures at home of her super-dilated pupils, but they were almost back to normal about 4 hours later and completely normal by morning.

It’s worth noting that the OFA Eye Exam is a phenotype evaluation – meaning, it is looking for any abnormalities presenting at the time of exam. It does not tell you whether or not your dog will be free from diseases of the eyes forever – hence, it is typically recommended that the eye exam be repeated yearly for a breeding dog. But, we are happy to say that Iris’s eye exam results were normal!

Canine Health information Center (CHIC) Program

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) created the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) Program by partnering with participating breed parent clubs to research and maintain information on the health issues prevalent in specific breeds. Breed parent clubs work with OFA to establish a list of recommended health screenings – and any dog who completes all of those health screenings and has the results posted publicly in the OFA database qualifies for a CHIC number.

For the Drent, the DPCNA recently recommended to OFA that hips, elbows, eyes, and von Willebrand Type 1 genetic status should be the health screenings done to earn a CHIC number (update as of May 2025: the ADPA recommends hips, elbows, and eyes for the CHIC program for the breed, with vWD1 genetic status as an optional test instead; however, due to resistance from the DPCNA, the OFA has suspended the CHIC program for the Drent). With her eye exam done, Iris now has all of those tests complete and results publicly available in the OFA database – and has done additional health screening on top of that, to include Hyperuricosuria genetic status, DNA Data Bank contribution from our participation in a study on hip dysplasia, a Buccal Mucosal Bleeding Time test, and an general health exam completed by her regular veterinarian, an animal chiropractor, and a reproductive specialist veterinarian.