Treatment of severe cervical tracheal collapse with commercially-available extraluminal ring placement leads to an overall improvement in quality of life and good long-term results, with about one-third of dogs requiring continued medical management. Most dogs do not have clinical signs consistent with disease progression after surgery.

Objective The purposes of this study were to evaluate the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin (Hb) in healthy retired racing Greyhounds via cooximetry, and to establish reference intervals for blood gases and cooximetry in this breed. Design Prospective clinical study. Setting University Teaching Hospital. Animals Fifty-seven Greyhounds and 30 non-Greyhound dogs. Interventions Venous blood samples were collected from the jugular vein and placed into heparinized tubes. The samples were analyzed within 30 minutes of collection using a blood gas analyzer equipped with a cooximeter. Measurements and Main Results Greyhounds had significantly higher pH, PO2, oxygen saturation, oxyhemoglobin, total Hb, oxygen content, and oxygen capacity and significantly lower deoxyhemoglobin and P50 when compared with non-Greyhound dogs. Conclusion These findings support the fact that this breed is able to carry a higher concentration of total oxygen in the blood. As reported previously, this breed also has lower P50 and, therefore, high oxygen affinity. In light of recent findings suggesting that in certain tissues a high affinity for oxygen is beneficial, this adaptation may be of benefit during strenuous exercise.

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