Pet health registries gather large amounts of data about pet health, then organize, analyze, centralize, and disseminate this information to facilitate research into animal disease and increase the understanding of pet health issues. Here are a few important animal health registries.
Problem-Specific Registries
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA): The OFA collects, catalogs, and disseminates information about orthopedic and genetic diseases of animals, with a goal of helping lower the incidence of orthopedic and genetic diseases in pets through better information and research. Veterinarians can submit radiographs (X-rays) to the OFA for assessment by a board-certified radiologist, and pets with healthy bone structure receive OFA certification and are listed in the registry. OFA certification helps maintain breed integrity and avoid perpetuating genetic diseases. Responsible breeders certify their breeding animals with the OFA.
Canine Health Information Center (CHIC): The Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) is part of the OFA and focuses on maintaining information about health issues prevalent in dog-specific breeds. The OFA and CHIC work with companion animal organizations to formulate breed-specific health screening protocols and collect results of these screenings into a national registry. More information means healthier pets.
Companion Animal Eye Registry (CAER): CAER collaborates with OFA. CAER was established by pet owners and breeders working with board-certified veterinary ophthalmologists to investigate inherited eye disease in dogs. Centralizing information into a national registry consolidates valuable data and promotes more efficient medical research, diagnosis, and treatment of ocular disorders. To be listed on both OFA and CAER registries, a dog must have an existing OFA record and current CAER examination. CAER registers dogs that are certified free of hereditary eye disease and also collects data on normal dogs to identify disease trends in certain breeds.
Breed-Related Registries
Canine Breed-Specific Registries: There is a breed-specific registry for almost every dog breed (e.g., Poodle Health Registry, Jack Russell Terrier Health Registry, etc.). These registries focus on illnesses and genetic diseases that affect specific breeds. Breed-specific registries gather lots of information by including diagnoses made by any licensed veterinarian, as opposed to only board-certified veterinarians.
Cat Phenotype and Health Information Registry (Cat PHIR): This registry is a voluntary cat health database that includes pure and mixed-breed cats, with the goal of helping identify links between feline traits and diseases. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports the management of the database and storage of DNA samples. Cat owners are encouraged to submit samples from healthy and sick cats, and the samples are stored until they are needed for a specific research project. This registry cannot be accessed by private individuals, but medical advances made with the cooperation of Cat PHIR benefit the entire feline community.
Private Health Registries
Many cat and dog owners microchip their pets so they can be identified if they become lost. There are national registries that read and house data from all brands of microchips. The National Pet Microchip Registry is one such national registry that allows owners to enter their contact information and pet medical information for any pet identified by any brand of microchip.
When a lost pet is rescued, a universal scanner identifies the number of the embedded microchip and the registry facilitates the quick return of the lost pet. The national database may also provide the interim foster parent with important health care information. For example, if a cat is diabetic, the database may include prescription information for much-needed insulin. If a dog is deaf, the temporary caregiver can be alerted to his special needs.
The Importance of Health Registries
On an individual basis, registering the health needs of your dog or cat with a national database could save their lives if they were ever separated from you. Providing immediate, appropriate medical care could be crucial.
On a broader scale, accumulating health information about dogs and cats into large databases promotes research into a variety of health issues, allows identification of disease trends, documents genetic information, and promotes the health of the pet community overall. These databases further our knowledge and improve the health of our pets. Sharing information with pet health registries can help pets and pet owners everywhere.
