CERF/OFA and eye exams

[WRL]

The thread on Dwarfism got me thinking its time for some of the dogs to get re-examined. Soo.....I just received the blurb from CERF. I have some questions if someone has done the exam and sent in the forms. 1) Do you have to designate a "CERF" or "OFA" form when you do the exam? 2)If you do a CERF form, is OFA still taking them or ?? 3)Say you have a dog with a CERF breeder option (punctate cataract for instance). How is that handled? If someone has a new "OFA" form and can scan it and post it that would be great (and a certificate from OFA after the fact that would be cool too) . Thanks

[Rainmaker]

OFA has a good FAQ that answers all of this and an example of their form as well. http://www.offa.org/eye_ecrfaq.html I did my last bunch through OFA, the certificate is the same format as the hips/elbows.

[WRL]

Great thanks.

[Julie R.]

Alas my all in one (scanner/printer) is ailing or I'd scan one of mine, but I just got 4 done in Nov., 3 were renewals and one was new. Got them all done at a local clinic that also offers hip/elbow OFA xrays and some other health tests twice a year. Same ACVO vet we've always used; we really like her and she has treated some eye injuries for me in the past as well. Since I had 4 dogs and was scrambling to get the paperwork filled out, the only difference I noted in the forms we filled out was that you no longer have to block in all those annoying little circles for registration # and DOB. I mailed them all into CERF but the certificates I got back, all came from OFA. I don't know how they treat breeder option dx because all 4 were clear.

[WRL]

Thanks Julie.

[Rainmaker]

The exam form isn't all that different except, like Julie says, those awful little fill in circle things are gone, thankfully, major irritation with multiple dogs. Sample is on here. http://www.offa.org/pdf/eye_flyer_web.pdf
Re; breeder options:
How will OFA assign eye certification numbers and how will they differ from CERF?
The OFA will assign eye certification numbers for dogs found free of observable inherited eye disease. Dogs with observable, but passing conditions (currently known as Breeder Option Codes), will be issued notated OFA eye certification numbers. Dogs with observed eye diseases of significance will be reported as ineligible for eye certification numbers. The OFA eye certification numbers will follow the same format as existing OFA numbers for other disease databases. The following example illustrates the anticipated format: LR-EYE-100/24M/VPI. In this example, the first two characters indicate the breed, in this case a Labrador Retriever. EYE indicates this is an OFA eye number. 100 would indicate this is the 100th Labrador assigned an OFA eye number. These numbers are issued sequentially within breed. 24M indicates the age in months at the time of evaluation, and the sex. VPI indicates that the dog was permanently identified via microchip or tattoo and the examining ophthalmologist verified the id during the examination. Other possible suffixes would include NOPI (no permanent identification provided), or PI (permanent id provided on the application but not verified by the examining ophthalmologist). Only dogs with verified permanent identification will have their normal results automatically shared with the AKC for inclusion on their registration and pedigree documents. Breeder option codes will be noted on the OFA report and on the OFA website.

[helencalif]

Just had a dog's eyes done last month. The vet uses CERF (not OFA) so the CERF form was used. I did not have the option of choosing which form. I have not seen an OFA form. I sent in the original CERF form to CERF, paid their $12 fee, and received a CERF certificate back from them.

I thought I would have to send in a copy to OFA and pay them a fee to put the CERF results on their website. I did not have to do that. When I looked at the OFA website, her CERF form results were there which means CERF sent OFA a copy of the results. OFA did not charge me a fee to list the results on their website. My dog was normal so no breeder option remarks were on written by the vet on her CERF form.

Helen

[Mike Peters-labguy23]

I think we will see more OFA than CERF in the future. I just had a couple dogs done and the clinic said they have to pay for CERF forms but do not for OFA and OFA forms are easier to fill out. I like having all clearances on one site myself.

[Sabireley]

Alas my all in one (scanner/printer) is ailing or I'd scan one of mine, but I just got 4 done in Nov., 3 were renewals and one was new. Got them all done at a local clinic that also offers hip/elbow OFA xrays and some other health tests twice a year. Same ACVO vet we've always used; we really like her and she has treated some eye injuries for me in the past as well. Since I had 4 dogs and was scrambling to get the paperwork filled out, the only difference I noted in the forms we filled out was that you no longer have to block in all those annoying little circles for registration # and DOB. I mailed them all into CERF but the certificates I got back, all came from OFA. I don't know how they treat breeder option dx because all 4 were clear.

Who do you use Julie? I need to get two of mine done.

Steve

[Montview]

I have noted a few labs with breeders' option codes on OFA and they seem to have a new, relatively obvious (I believe it was red and yellow or ?) "alert" type button attached to the page near their names. You can probably do a search for eye clearances through OFA and see what I'm talking about.

BTW, the fees appear to be the same when submitted through OFA, including "resubmission" ($7 like charged by CERF) fees, though they do recommend submitting a previous year's CERF form if resubmitting, just in case they don't want to allow the reduced resubmission fee.

EDITED: I'm not finding the "alert" button anymore, so they may have modified that. What I'm seeing is this (numbers removed for dog privacy reasons): LR-XXXX CERF Aug 5 2009 Aug 5 2009 * 29 TESTED: 07,09
LR-EYEXXXF-VPI EYES Jan 21 2013 Feb 5 2013 70 NORMAL W/BREEDER OPTIONS NOTED
E1:Cataract - significance unknown