New Member question

[Deborah P]

I found this forum while trying to research my cocker spaniel's health issues. I am Debbie and have had cockers for about 24 years. We adopted our 6 year old Peanut from a shelter, and were told he was a Merle and because of his eyes, the breeder relinquished him. He has 2 pupils in each eye, and one eye does not have an iris all the way around the pupil. One eye is blue, the other brown. I can't really tell the difference between Merle and Roan....I was hoping someone here was more of an expert. The vet now thinks he has exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Has anyone else had this issue? It's hard to find anything online about this.

 

[manuel]

Welcome. I googled these pages for you: Cocker Spaniels With Merle Coat Pattern , Merle (dog coat) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Take a look at the wiki page and see if your cocker is matching those physical traits. I'll read up on it myself reply with any helpful information I can find. In the meantime, someone else may reply.

 

[Polly]

There are Merle Cocker groups on both yahoo and facebook if you are so inclined.

 

[manuel]

I did some further reading and difference between the coats is confusing. One difference I did note was the partial pigmentation on a merle dog's nose. See the nose section on this link: Dog Coat Colour Genetics This link is very informative BTW.

 

[Chrissy]

It's not that difficult once you read a little information about the genes involved with roan and merle. To get started, here are some links.
Merle Cockers -Fact or Fiction
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[manuel]

It's not that difficult once you read a little information about the genes involved with roan and merle. To get started, here are some links.
Merle Cockers -Fact or Fiction
Log into Facebook | Facebook

Thanks for the links and your reply Chrissy. I'll check out that site once I get a chance.