Your Purebred Puppy, Honest Advice About Dogs and Dog Breeds

Sensible advice for raising your Border Collie puppy so he lives a long healthy life and seldom needs to visit the vet. Learn about the most common health problems and issues in Border Collies, the best dog food diet for feeding Border Collie puppies and adult dogs, the truth about vaccinations, spaying and neutering, and natural health care.

How To Raise a Healthy Dog

The Best Dog Food For Feeding Your Border Collie

The Second-Best Dog Food

Vaccinations and Booster Shots: Are They Needed?

The Type of Veterinarian I Recommend

Spaying and Neutering: Pros and Cons


11 Things You Must Do Right To Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy, my best-selling dog health book

Border Collie dog breed

Border Collie Health Problems and Raising a Border Collie Puppy to be Healthy

By Michele Welton. Copyright © 2000-2011

How To Raise a Healthy Dog
Feeding the Best Dog Foods
Vaccinations: Needed or Not?
Spaying and Neutering: Pros and Cons

The most common health problems in Border Collies:

Hip dysplasia is the most common orthopedic disease in Border Collies. The Orthopedic Foundation of America evaluated the hip X-rays of 6870 Border Collies and found 11% dysplastic. That's high for a medium size dog, and the true rate is higher because most of the obviously bad X-rays were not sent in for official evaluation. In comparison, the rate for Collies is 3% and the rate for Australian Shepherds is 6%.

Another orthopedic disease found regularly in Border Collies is osteochondritis.

The most common eye disease is collie eye anomaly. It is estimated that about 2.5% of Border Collies in North America are affected with CEA, with another 25% being carriers.

Other eye diseases in Border Collies include cataracts, progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), lens luxation, corneal dystrophy, and coloboma.

Epilepsy (seizures) is being reported more and more often in Border Collies – this is a growing concern.

Allergies cause itchy skin and can lead to bacterial skin infections (pyoderma).

According to the Michigan State University Thyroid Database, up to 17% of Border Collies have hypothyroidism (low thyroid levels).

Other health issues that occur in the Border Collie are heart disease (patent ductus arteriosus), cerebellar ataxia, lysosomal storage disease, and inherited deafness in Border Collie puppies with a lot of white on their head.

Border Collies and other collie-type breeds often react adversely to certain drugs such as ivermectin (in heartworm prevention products such as Heartguard), Imodium A-D, flagyl, and certain anesthetics. If your dog has a mutant gene called mdr1, he cannot pump these drugs out of his brain, which results in neurological toxicity. Don't give any of these drugs to your Border Collie unless he has been tested for this mutant gene. It's a simple DNA test offered by the Washington State University Veterinary School.


Can you prevent health problems from happening to YOUR Border Collie?

Yes, often you can.

  1. Some health problems are genetic, which means inherited from parents. Genetic health issues are common in Border Collies today because of unwise breeding practices. My book, Dog Quest: Find The Dog Of Your Dreams, shows you how to find a Border Collie puppy who is genetically healthy.
  2. Other health problems are environmental – caused by the way you raise your dog. My best-selling dog health book, 11 Things You Must Do Right To Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy shows you how to prevent environmental health problems by raising your Border Collie puppy (or adult dog) in all the right ways.

Here are my dog health tips for raising a healthy Border Collie puppy or adult dog:

Obedience instructor and author Michele Welton How To Raise a Healthy Dog – My Philosophies
Read my advice on sensible feeding and health care so that your Border Collie lives a long, healthy life and seldom needs to see the vet. An excellent goal, yes?


Real homemade dog food The Best Dog Food For Feeding Your Border Collie
The best diet for feeding your Border Collie is real food. Real chicken, turkey, beef, bison, venison, fish....This is not "people food" and I'll tell you why.


Natural dog foods for your Border Collie. The Second-Best Dog Food For Your Border Collie
If you can't (or won't) feed what your Border Collie really needs, the best I can do is to point out what to look for – and look out for – when choosing a brand of kibble or canned dog food.


Information on booster shots for your Border Collie. Vaccinations and Booster Shots: Needed or Not?
How many vaccinations does your Border Collie puppy really need? Does your adult Border Collie need yearly booster shots? The vaccination guidelines have changed. Find out what many vets aren't telling you.


Information on choosing the best vet for your Border Collie. The Type of Veterinarian I Recommend
Does your veterinarian belong to the AVMA or the AHVMA? They're not the same at all, and which one you choose can make a world of difference to the future health of your Border Collie.


Information on spaying or neutering your Border Collie. Spaying and Neutering: Pros and Cons
Advantages and disadvantages of spaying your female Border Collie or neutering your male.