OFA
The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, works along side the breed parent club in order to determine common health issues in the breed and what testing requirements should be. These requirements are the minimum health testing recommended. Once the minimum is completed, a dog will receive their CHIC number.
See löwchen requirements here.
Hip Dysplasia
Hip dysplasia is fairly common in löwchen. If severe enough, it can require surgery. However, it is fairly rare for löwchen to require corrective surgery for hip dysplasia due to their small size.
Read more about hip dysplasia, grades and causes here.
Elbow Dysplasia
Elbow dysplasia is not something typically found in löwchen, but it is worth mentioning, because it can happen. Unfortunately, Jax's dam was diagnosed with severe elbow dysplasia on one side at 6 years old. Thankfully, we had already tested him and he has normal elbows.
Read more about elbow dysplasia, grades and causes here.
Luxating Patellas
Luxating patellas are a very common issue in löwchen. There are four grades of luxating patella and each dog is rated normal OR graded 1-4 based on severity. Grade 1-2, the dog can usually get by without surgical intervention.
Often times, you may even see dogs with low grade luxating patellas bred, despite the failing result. It is not ideal, but sometimes dogs with low grade patella issues are needed to keep the gene pool diverse.
This is not an issue that we have faced yet, but if we are faced with this dilemma in the future, we will take into account what the dog has to offer the breed vs the risks of breeding bad patellas. I cannot say with certainty that we would never use a dog with bad patellas, but we will do what we can to avoid it. If for some reason in the future we do incorporate a dog with bad patellas in our program, we believe that it is best to be honest with all health issues present in our program.
Read more about luxating patellas, grades and causes here.
Eye Conditions
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Distichiasis: Eyelashes growing within the eyelid margin, causing eye irritation.
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Persistent Pupillary Membranes: Persistent blood vessel remnants in the anterior chamber of the eye which fail to regress normally by 3 months of age.
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Cataract: A partial or complete opacity of the lens and/or its capsule. In cases where cataracts are complete and affect both eyes, blindness results. The prudent approach is to assume cataracts to be hereditary except in cases known to be associated with trauma, other causes of ocular inflammation, specific metabolic diseases, persistent pupillary membrane, persistent hyaloid, or nutritional deficiencies. Cataracts may involve the lens completely (diffuse) or in a localized region.
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Vitreous Degeneration: A liquefaction of the vitreous gel which may predispose to retinal detachment and/or glaucoma.
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Retinal Atrophy - Generalized: A degenerative disease of the retinal visual cells which progresses to blindness. This abnormality, also known as progressive retinal atrophy or PRA, may be detected by electroretinogram (not part of a routine eye screening examination) before it is apparent clinically. With limited exceptions, most PRAs are recessively inherited.
Sources linked below.