Chow Chow — questions to ask before paying a deposit
A responsible breeder will have these readily available. Deflection is a red flag.
Hip and elbow dysplasiacan shorten life or cause chronic pain
Malformation of the hip and/or elbow joints causing pain, lameness and early arthritis; the breed's restricted hindquarter angulation (part of its standard gait) is a separate, related area of conformational risk noted by the FCI.
Ask to see: OFA (or OVC) hip and elbow evaluation, on both parents
Chow Health — OFA/CHIC Health Testing Requirements (https://chowhealth.org/mambo/chow-health-articles/ofa-chic-health-testing-requirements)
Patellar luxation
The kneecap slips out of its groove, causing an intermittent skipping gait or lameness.
Ask to see: OFA patella evaluation, on both parents
Chow Health — OFA/CHIC Health Testing Requirements (https://chowhealth.org/mambo/chow-health-articles/ofa-chic-health-testing-requirements)
Autoimmune thyroiditis
The immune system attacks the thyroid gland, usually leading to hypothyroidism; manageable with lifelong medication once diagnosed.
Ask to see: OFA thyroid evaluation from an approved laboratory, on both parents
Chow Health — OFA/CHIC Health Testing Requirements (https://chowhealth.org/mambo/chow-health-articles/ofa-chic-health-testing-requirements)
Entropion
The standard's small, deep-set eyes are named by the FCI's own judging guidance as a specific area of risk for eyelids rolling inward and rubbing the cornea.
Ask to see: No DNA test; an eye examination by a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist (already part of the breed's own CHIC panel) will catch this.
FCI Breed Specific Instructions (Nordic Kennel Union) (https://www.fci.be/nomenclature/docs/JUG-BSI-en.pdf) · Chow Health — OFA/CHIC Health Testing Requirements (https://chowhealth.org/mambo/chow-health-articles/ofa-chic-health-testing-requirements)
Gastric carcinomacan shorten life or cause chronic pain
A stomach cancer markedly over-represented in this breed compared with dogs generally; a national cancer-register study found an odds ratio around 23 times higher than other breeds. It usually appears in older dogs (median age around 10) with vomiting, loss of appetite and weight loss, well after most breeding decisions have already been made.
Ask to see: No test or screening protocol exists before clinical signs appear. Ask about stomach cancer in the line, particularly on the dam's side.
Breed predisposition to canine gastric carcinoma — Norwegian canine cancer register (PMC) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3617004/) · Risk and characteristics of gastric carcinoma in the chow chow dog (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340511938_Risk_and_characteristics_of_gastric_carcinoma_in_the_chow_chow_dog)