Khattaf (imp. Syria)
x
Thurayah (imp. Qatar)


Born 7.6.2007
5 dogs & 1 bitch,
3 feathered & 3 smooth.


Colors white, masked red, masked sable, masked bl/tan, masked tricolour

I decided to mate Lublub, dam of my N-litter, with my lovely Syrian boy Khattaf, as I thought they would compliment each other well both structurally and temperamentally. The pups in Lublub's first litter could have better temperaments, and I hoped Khattaf's exceedingly outgoing and self-assured personality might bring that about.

Previously I have had my prospective breeding animals' hearts auscultated by a regular vet, now I decided to have a cardologist, Seppo Lamberg, do it. Lublub had no heart murmurs, but Khattaf had a minor, 1. degree heart murmur. The ultrasound showed no abnormalities, but in checking blood flow with the Doppler, a minimal leak of the left mitral valve, the cause of the murmur, was found. This worried me, so I consulted with the cardiologist, the Saluki breeding council and the vet in charge of the Saluki Health Project in the US. It turns out that 1/3-1/2 of randomly trested Salukis have heart murmurs, but only a fraction of these manifest symptoms or heart deficienciesof any kind. Mild valve leakage can have been caused by, for example, an infection, and as such is not necessarily congenital nor hereditary, though there are valve malfunctions that can be either or both and lead to heart disease. After these consultations and speaking to those who had reserved puppies from me, I decided to proceed as planned. In addition I decided that henceforth I would have all litters checked by my cardiologist prior to giving them to their new homes. This was done with the S-litter - at 7 weeks there were no heart murmurs.

Khattaf's heart was re-examined when the pups were about 15 months old, with auscultation, ultrasound and Doppler. The murmur had not intensified, the heart remained unchanged with no thickening of the valve, and the backflow miniscule. Thus the cardiologist concluded the heart murmur was of no practical or clinical consequence, though it should be remembered that any heart examination only shows the condition of the heart at that moment. Nevertheless welcome news :) Khattaf was also TgAA tested - the result was TgAA negative, so good news there too :) In 2012 Khattaf had another ultrasounds, everything unchanged so still healthy :) His eyes were checked 2015, they were okay too :)

Lublub was again an excellent mom - she is a joy to breed because she wholeheartedly enjoys the entire process, from the mating to the pregnancy, she's a good whelper and a devoted mom, and makes all of it look easy. Again she cleaned, fed and raised her pups beautifully and for as long as they were here. Khattaf too enjoyed the pups enormously and got a big kick out of playing with them. I had expected an all smooth litter, but got 3 feathered pups and 3 smooth.

Sirhan has a racing licence but his career has been hindered by injuries.

The S-litter have thus far they been quite healthy. One of the boys, Saroukh, had a dog bite on his leg that became infected, but healed well. Another, Sirhan, had trouble with his dew claws, but they haven't acted up again. The bitch Shasara will not be bred as she is too nervy. She is also afraid of fireworks.

Shadid had a cardiac ultrasound (healthy) in 2011 and was TgAA-tested (neg.) in 2010. uNfortunately he is sterile. Shasara has been heart auscultated (no murmurs). Shahin is the sire of Qashani L-litter born in 2012. He had a cardiac ultrasound the same year, all okay. Sirhan had a cardiac ultrasound in 2013, ok. I'm hoping Saroukh will sire a litter for me in 2015. His eyes were checked and he had a cardiac ultrasound, both in May 2015, all ok. The litter's parents have been DLA-profiled and the S-litter are all heterozygotes.