Cranial cruciate ligament disease is perceived to be prevalent and is misunderstood in field trial sport

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Cranial cruciate ligament disease (CCLD) is the most prevalent orthopedic problem in canines, affecting 3% to 5% of dogs, causing stifle instability, mobility dysfunction, and pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the American Kennel Club field trial community’s knowledge of CCLD and estimate its perceived prevalence within this population. SAMPLE 401 field trial participants responded, with 701 field trial canines reported. METHODS A survey instrument was emailed to a population of Retriever field trial participants to collect information on perceptions and experience with CCLD and current canine participants. Analyses included descriptive statistics, multiple logistic regression, and χ2 tests (significant at P < .05). RESULTS The majority of respondents appropriately identified the connection between genetics and CCLD (69%). There was under-recognition (23%) of the degenerative nature of the disease, with 61% inappropriately identifying trauma as the major cause. Respondents also indicated that a CCLD diagnosis in a dog’s sibling or offspring affected their breeding decisions less than a diagnosis in their parents, indicating a misunderstanding of genetics. More than half of respondents indicated prior experiences with CCLD. The reported occurrence of CCLD was found to be 12% (72/610) in field trial Labrador Retrievers. CLINICAL RELEVANCE There is a lack of knowledge in the field trial community regarding CCLD. This population showed a higher owner-perceived occurrence of CCLD compared to data collected from medical records. Further investigation is warranted to validate the true prevalence of CCLD in field trial Retrievers.

Risk factors for the development of stifle injuries in canine agility athletes

“…Male dogs neutered before 10 months and female dogs spayed before their first heat cycle had markedly higher reported rates of stifle injury compared to all other sex/neuter groups that had generally similar odds of stifle injury. There was a notable decrease in odds as handler age increased, with the highest odds of injury observed among dogs of the youngest handlers (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) and the lowest among dogs of handlers aged 65 years and older (OR: 0.35). For the teeter contact, dogs that were either not trained to perform a specific behavior at the end of the teeter or dogs…”

“…However, the complex etiology of CCL disease specifically makes it challenging to determine whether stifle injuries reported during training and competition were truly acute, traumatic injuries, or progression of previous chronic partial tears that were a result of other underlying risk factors. A study evaluating the cause of CCL injury in field trial dogs found owners to be inaccurate in their understanding of and assessment of how the injury occurs (i.e., traumatic vs. degenerative) ( 19 ). Therefore, we cannot say if any of the injuries reported were truly traumatic while actively participating during agility, or in fact whether they might have occurred regardless of the dog’s participation in agility activities.…”

Correlation of spontaneous radiographic cranial tibial translation with complete cranial cruciate ligament rupture and medial meniscal tears in dogs

“…In our study, the prevalence for complete CCL tears was high (86.7%) as the cases used in the study were identified because they had surgery for a CCL tear. The overall prevalence of CCL tears among all dogs has been reported to be between 3-5% which would lower the positive predictive value of this technique [2,27]. However, the specificity is unchanged by prevalence of the disease and the technique remains highly specific for complete CCL tear when identified.…”