The RKC health team have advised that changes are being made to the way in which grades are recorded for pectinate ligament abnormality (PLA)/ goniodysgenesis under the scheme from January 2026.
They write: ‘following feedback from breed communities and in particular the flagging of discrepancies between grade 0 and grade 1 dogs, we held a meeting with the BVA, the scheme’s Chief Panellist, and representatives from PLA breeds back in September, and report that as of January 2026 there will be changes made to the scheme to address this feedback. This involves the merging of grade 0 and grade 1 dogs, because the panellists consider that growing evidence suggests there is no meaningful difference between these two categories, moving us to a 3-point system.
We have been assured by the BVA that the certificate will be updated to reflect this, and further that additional information (e.g., a handout) will be available to owners at the time of assessment to detail this change. We will also update our website with overarching advice with respect to this.’
Image courtesy of Louise Scott
