Health
Longhaired Whippets are known to sometimes carry for two undesirable genetic mutations (see below). In any breed the intense inbreeding necessary to select for a recessive trait such as long hair can concurrently select for other undesirable recessive traits, especially those that are (by chance) linked to the desirable traits being selected.
Longhaired Whippets are potential carriers of a recessive genetic mutation in the MDR1 gene, which makes them sensitive to certain drugs, such as a common dewormer known as Ivermectin. There are several other commonly used drugs that these carrier status dogs should not take such as Zofran and Imodium. Carrier status for MDR1 can be established through a simple cheek swab tissue test. In addition, the eye disorder Choroidal Hypoplasia (also known as Collie Eye Anomaly ) sometimes occurs in this breed, as well as in several other breeds, predominantly of the herding class. A genetic test for this recessive trait is available as well. In some breed clubs in Europe it is forbidden to cross -/- to -/- (with - indicating the mutant allele and + indicating the wild type allele) and -/- to +/-. In addition, these clubs do not recommend crossing -/- to +/+ and +/- to +/-. All Longhaired Whippet breed clubs in North America as well as Europe are working hard to eliminate both the MDR1 and CEA mutations from this breed by conducting genetic testing and making genetically informed breeding choices.
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