Prevalence of Disorders Recorded in Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices in England

Abstract

Purebred dog health is thought to be compromised by an increasing occurence of inherited diseases but inadequate prevalence data on common disorders have hampered efforts to prioritise health reforms. Analysis of primary veterinary practice clinical data has been proposed for reliable estimation of disorder prevalence in dogs. Electronic patient record (EPR) data were collected on 148,741 dogs attending 93 clinics across central and south-eastern England. Analysis in detail of a random sample of EPRs relating to 3,884 dogs from 89 clinics identified the most frequently recorded disorders as otitis externa (prevalence 10.2%, 95% CI: 9.1–11.3), periodontal disease (9.3%, 95% CI: 8.3–10.3) and anal sac impaction (7.1%, 95% CI: 6.1–8.1). Using syndromic classification, the most prevalent body location affected was the head-and-neck (32.8%, 95% CI: 30.7–34.9), the most prevalent organ system affected was the integument (36.3%, 95% CI: 33.9–38.6) and the most prevalent pathophysiologic process diagnosed was inflammation (32.1%, 95% CI: 29.8–34.3). Among the twenty most-frequently recorded disorders, purebred dogs had a significantly higher prevalence compared with crossbreds for three: otitis externa (P = 0.001), obesity (P = 0.006) and skin mass lesion (P = 0.033), and popular breeds differed significantly from each other in their prevalence for five: periodontal disease (P = 0.002), overgrown nails (P = 0.004), degenerative joint disease (P = 0.005), obesity (P = 0.001) and lipoma (P = 0.003). These results fill a crucial data gap in disorder prevalence information and assist with disorder prioritisation. The results suggest that, for maximal impact, breeding reforms should target commonly-diagnosed complex disorders that are amenable to genetic improvement and should place special focus on at-risk breeds. Future studies evaluating disorder severity and duration will augment the usefulness of the disorder prevalence information reported herein.

The companion dog as a model for human aging and mortality

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Epidemiology of hyperadrenocorticism among 210,824 dogs attending primary‐care veterinary practices in the UK from 2009 to 2014

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Using genome-wide measures of coancestry to maintain diversity and fitness in endangered and domestic pig populations

“…Conservation and commercial breeding programs, therefore, are not so different in their approach of managing their populations, although their ultimate goals differ. Inbreeding depression (Charlesworth and Charlesworth 1987) is a common phenomenon in captive populations of many wild species like wolves (Laikre and Ryman 1991) and also in many breeds of domesticated species like dogs (Leroy 2011;O'Neill et al 2014). Thus, breeders are aware of the need to maintain diversity while also preserving genetic variants that confer desired, distinct phenotypes.…”