Results of a Web‐Based Health Survey of Retired Racing Greyhounds

Abstract

Background: Adoption of retired racing Greyhounds has become increasingly popular during the past decade. To date, research has focused on the physiologic and clinicopathologic peculiarities of Greyhounds but there is little published information on disease prevalence in the breed.Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of disease in retired racing Greyhounds. Animals: In this study, 747 Greyhounds were used. Methods: A standardized survey method was used, and survey responses were collected by an Internet survey. Owners could answer a survey for every Greyhound that they had owned since January 1, 2005.Results: Of the 692 eligible participants, 441 (63.7% response rate) completed surveys for 747 Greyhounds. The mortality rate for Greyhounds within the 2-year period was 15% (113 of 747 died). The most common cause of death reported was cancer (66 dogs, 58%), and the most common type of cancer listed as the cause of death was osteosarcoma (28 dogs, 25%). The most commonly reported groups of diseases or disorders were skeletal (232 dogs, 33%), skin (197 dogs, 28%), digestive (132 dogs, 18%), cancer (94 dogs, 13%), and endocrine (85 dogs, 11.9%). Forty-five percent of Greyhounds diagnosed with cancer and 6% of the overall population had osteosarcoma.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: The results of this study can be used by veterinary researchers to continue to investigate the most common diseases in this population. As more retired racing Greyhounds enter the pet population, the results of this study will help educate veterinarians and owners about the most prevalent diseases in the breed.

Prevalence of physiological heart murmurs in a population of 95 healthy young adult dogs

“…Previous studies showed a high incidence of PHMs in adult boxers (Höglund et al 2004, Koplitz et al 2006, Bussadori et al 2009): this study included one adult boxer that was not diagnosed with PHM. Additionally, athletic dogs predisposed to PHMs were not enrolled (Stepien et al 1998, Fabrizio et al 2006, Lord et al 2007, Bavegems et al 2011. Conversely, some breeds of dogs were over-represented in this study, such as Yorkshire terriers, German shepherd dogs, French bulldogs, Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers.…”

“…Physiological heart murmurs may occur because of alterations in other organ systems such as anaemia, fever or systemic arterial hypertension (also referred to as 'functional' murmurs in this context); and in dogs under the age of 6 months (also referred to as 'innocent' murmurs) (Bonagura 2002). Although murmurs in mature dogs are frequently indicative of pathological conditions (Bélanger and Côté 2010), PHMs during adulthood have been described in some breeds, such as boxers (Höglund et al 2004, Koplitz et al 2006, Bussadori et al 2009) and athletic dogs (Stepien et al 1998, Fabrizio et al 2006, Lord et al 2007, Bavegems et al 2011. Physiological heart murmurs have also been described occasionally in adult dogs of other breeds; it has been assumed that these PHMs may be attributable to an increased sympathetic tone, possibly secondary to anxiety (Pedersen et al 1999).…”

Breed-Predispositions to Cancer in Pedigree Dogs

“…Interestingly IGF1 and its associated regions are a major contributing locus in size diversity in dogs, accounting for about 50% of the genetic variation in size [95]. Osteosarcoma is particularly prevalent in retired racing Greyhounds, possibly implicating stress or trauma in the aetiology of the disease in this breed [83, 96]. A familial incidence has been observed in Saint Bernards [91] and more recently a study modelling the transmission of osteosarcoma in a population of over 1000 Scottish deerhounds estimated heritability at 0.69 and modelling suggested that a major gene with dominant effect would explain the pattern of transmission [42].…”

Genome-wide analyses implicate 33 loci in heritable dog osteosarcoma, including regulatory variants near CDKN2A/B

“…Both human and canine OS most commonly arise at the ends of the long bones of the limbs and metastasize readily, usually to the lungs [9]. Unlike human OS, canine OS is a highly heritable disease with some large and giant dog breeds at >10× increased risk, notably greyhounds (mortality from OS = 26%), Rottweilers (17%), and Irish wolfhounds (IWH, 21%) [10-12]. While size and hormonal factors influence risk, variable rates among the larger size breeds suggest breed-specific risk factors [13].…”