Causes of death and reasons for euthanasia in necropsied dogs and their relationship with sex, age group and breed: a retrospective study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of disease groups leading to death or euthanasia in dogs, as well as their dependence on factors such as sex, age group, and breed. The necropsy records from the Animal Pathology Department of the Federal University of Espírito Santo were reviewed from January 2016 to December 2020, resulting in 315 protocols. The groups of cause their death were based on the primary pathological process. The sex, age group, and breed of the dogs were associated with the groups of causes of death. As a result, the most frequent causes of death were: inconclusive (25,7%), infectious and parasitic diseases (22.2%), degenerative diseases (17.5%), neoplasms (15.9%), disorders caused by physical agents (8.9%) and other groups (9,8%). Only age group had an influence on death classifications (p < 0.0001), with puppies being positively associated with infectious and parasitic diseases and negatively associated with neoplasms and degenerative diseases. Elderly dogs had a negative association with infectious and parasitic diseases and a positive association with neoplasms. In conclusion, the deaths in this study occurred prematurely, especially those related to infectious and parasitic diseases.