This dog is a very tough and healthy breed,with few medical problems.Still...There is one thing you should be aware of,and that is eyesickness`!!!In Norway we don`t have many problems with this,beacuse our breed club work to defeat this,and most of our breeders are aware of this and don`t breed on sick dogs!The breeders should have their dogs eyes checked BEFORE they mate their small ones!And you as a buyier,should ask your breeder to show you the papers for the parents eye-check before you order a puppy,or at least before you bring your puppy at home!

The most important type of eyesicknesses:

Progressive Retinal Atrophy(PRA)

is a group of inherited diseases that cause degeneration of the retina in dogs and results in permanent blindness. The retina is a thin layer of nervous tissue that lies in the back of the eye and is reponsible for converting light into electrical impulses. The electrical impulse is then transmitted along the optic nerve to the brain, where the electrical impulses are interpretted as an image. The cells within the retina that are directly responsible for the conversion of light to an electrical impulse are called photoreceptors. There are two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. The rod rods are responsible for dim light vision, and the cones are responsible for bright light and color vision. Progressive Retinal Atrophy begins with degeneration of the rod photoreceptors. This may be noticed by pet owners as night blindness or decreased "confidence" in dimly lit areas. As the degeneration of rods progresses, the cones will begin to degnerate. Therefore, loss of vision in brightly lit environments will occur later in the progression of the disease. As PRA progresses slowly, many dogs will learn to partially accomodate for their visual deficits through their senses of hearing and smell. Because of this accommodation, it is not uncommon for some pet owners notice the visual deficits only after significant degneration of both rods and cones has occured.

None

Unfortunately, blindness from PRA is permanent and it has no cure.

Collie eye anomaly(CEA)

CEA - Collie Eye Anomaly - is an inherited condition affecting the eyes of a number of breeds of dogs.

In animals with CEA, there are abnormalities of the choroid and may also be changes in the sclera. The major change, which is present in all dogs with CEA, is 'choroidal hypoplasia', a pale patch in the back of the eye caused by abnormal development of the choroid layer. Affected dogs may also have abnormalities in the sclera, producing pits or 'colobomas' in or around the optic disk.

In the more severely affected animals with colobomas, there is a possibility that the retina may become detached, or that there may be bleeding from the blood vessels in the eye, either of which can cause blindness in the affected eye. These complications usually occur in the first couple of years of life. Mildly affected animals with only choroidal hypoplasia appear to have normal sight. The condition in mildly affected animals does not worsen over time.

The changes of CEA can be splitted up in 4 groups:

1.CRD - Chorioretinal dystrophy

2.Coloboma

3.Lens Luxation

4.Okular Melanosis

Cataract

Cataract is the same thing as opacity,and is heritable.The symptoms of cataract is an opacity in the crystalline lens.Causes of catartact can be old age,damage in the eye,diabetes,infection...The sickness can be secondary (f.ex to PRA).Cataract can lead to limit sight,or in worse cases total blindness.Don`t breed on dogs with this disease!

You can expect a miniatureschnauzer to live 10-15 years.

Dog insurance

Despite this breeds strong health,I recommend you to insurance your dog.I have insurance on my dogs in Agria Animalinsurance,and of course I recommend this insurance-company for you and your pet!As an owner to a pet,just be aware on the different types of insirances.Those who buy a puppy from my breed,have insurance on their puppy to dhe day after homecoming.If you,as a new owner of the dog,get the insurance within 10 days after homecoming,the insurance won`t stop,and you don`t get the quarranteen of 20 days.No mather what,I recommend my buyers to get an insurance of the dog before the puppy is 4 months old.If you do this,the insurance includes death or puth to death because of consideration of the animal(Agria Life),and treatment(Agria Maximum) becuse of: -Osteochondritis(OCD),-Hypoplasia of Dens(HD),and/or -Albowdisease(AD).The dog will not have any of theese symptoms when it gets its insurance.If the puppy has passed 4 months old,the insirance won`t cover OCD,AD or HD.Some info about the insurances in Agria:

*Agria Maximum

This is the insurance that takes care of the veterenary-expences becuse of sickness or accident with up to 30.000 NOK each insurance-year.This insurance does NOT deal with recovery or prescipted medication.It also have some exceptions for treatments that are included in Agria Optimal.This veterenary-insurance doesn`t cover diseases or accidents the animal already had when you got the insurance.

*Agria Optimal

This is the best veterenay-insurance Agria can offer,and it covers treatment up to 45.000 NOK each year,and recovery/training after curgical operations up to 5.000 and prescipted medication after acute illness or accident with up to 2.000 NOK each year

*Agria Life

This is the life-insurance,and it covers the puppy`s cost if it dies,get lost or has to be put to death because of a diseas or accident.

If you want to use your dog in breeding,I also recommend you to get a breed-insurance.Just be aware that you need two insurances in this company to have full cover on your pet,-one life.insurance and one vet.insurance!!!