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Newest results from Langford for PK defic. - 70% clear, 28% carriers and 2% affected.
911 cats tested with 18 affected cats, 254 carriers and 639 normal.
http://bit.ly/zhsMMw

PK Def in the Bengal breed: test results to date 03/08/2012


http://www.langfordvets.co.uk/lab_pcr_pk.htm

Just got test results back from Langford, very quick turnaround am impressed.
Valentino is PKD normal & PKDef normal Yippeeeeeee
Now to check for HCM.

Hi Jenda, Yes, its a pity they haven't found a specific gene yet, but hopefully if more people test with more results etc they may be able to find one in the future. Valentino is only 5 months at the moment but I want to get him tested to help me make the decision about using him to breed with my queen or getting him neutered (breeder happy to put him on active if I pay difference between pet price & active price) He's booked in with my new vet who's a heart specialist & he's going to do an echo-cardiogram on him on Friday. If I do decide to keep him as my stud I would have him tested at 1 year & then once a year after that by a cardiologist. I have changed to this new vet after I went to him for a second opinion on a heart murmur that my original queen had. I emailed you for advice about my new queen being her littermate after I read the information on the health page of your website.
Thank you for your advice on both occasions.

I thought it might be you Alison . Unfortunately I think it will be a while yet before we have a gene test for Bengals and even then there are most likely a number of genes that can lead to HCM so screening will still need to be done. 5 months is a bit young for a HCM scan as the screening is not thought to be reliable until around 1 year old but it can't hurt to get him scanned anyway, the echo-cardiograms are hugely useful for checking up on the heart and monitoring for any possible issues not just HCM, it's just a shame they are so expensive as it puts a lot of people off .

I'm glad to hear that Valentino is PK-Def negative though, carriers can be bred from but it does make things awkward so it's good that that's one thing you don't have to worry about.

Hi Jenda. I've had a change of plan regarding using my little man as my stud. I haven't got anywhere with researching his pedigree, so I can't be certain that he is bringing the right genes into the mix. There's something that just doesn't sound right somehow but that could just be me having a suspicious mind. I'll be able to research it further when he's been neutered & I get his pedigree papers.
I'm glad I've had him tested though so I know he's a healthy little chap

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Lollo

Hi Lollo thanks for your replies. They told me that I'd get the pedigree when I got him neutered & that's what it says in the paperwork I got. I wasn't aware I should have got it then. I just thought it was witheld to stop unscrupulus people not getting the cat neutered & breeding, then having the pedigree information to pass on to unsuspecting buyers.
Anyway he's going to be a pampered little boy which was my plan when I chose him.
I've done a lot more research & reading (especially on this forum) since then so won't (hopefully) be such a dufus again

Does anyone know what to test for in symptomatic cats? I mean when you're trying to figure out the cause for a cat's symptoms?

My mom's bengal died today from something that might have been PKDef, or not. His parents are both carriers and he has a positive sister, so it's very much possible he was PKDef positive. But since most cats don't actually get sick and there's other diseases as well, it would be necessary to know what to test for in these situations.

My mom's bengal, Uula, had some scary kidney levels, his crea being 1316 (57-116) and urea 50,9 (2,4-8,8). This is not something you'd see in regular kidney deficiency, especially when Uula's crea was 228 just 1,5 months ago (he was going to go for a re-test in a couple of weeks to see if the levels had lowered by themselves. Nothing drastic should happen so quickly in kidney deficiency, so this was an acute kidney failure). He was also anemic and had high potassium, to mention some anomalies. But the crash might have been due to other causes like a kidney tumor, so we don't really know if PKDef was the initial cause or not. For Uula there was nothing that could have been done, but it would be nice to know if there is in fact some tests that could be taken to diagnose a symptomatic PKDef.

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Owned by two housecats and a bengal

When you say this is "FIP-like", can you elaborate? What symptoms of it are like those of FIP? I have a DLH cat who has shivers/muscular contractions when she lays down. It only happens at that point: laying/resting and before actually falling into a deep sleep. It was thought she might have FIP when she was checked out as a kitten, but the test came back negative (though I have heard the tests are useless anyway and often have false positives).

Anyway, she is now 1 1/2 yrs old, and other symptoms are starting to appear. I'm getting ready to take her to the vet yet again but am tired of getting nowhere with vets. I've found a number of people online whose cats have the same issue and get no answers from the vet. My cats brother also has the same issue. So far I'm noticing that all the cats have long hair. I have her videos on youtube if you care to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8UFsNmLayc

I'd appreciate someone on here indicating if this could be what you're seeing in your Bengals. Maybe it's way beyond the purebreds at this point! :( The vets are clueless and whatever this is, it seems to be a growing problem.