Gesundheitsstatus von im Deutschen Retriever Club eingetragenen Retrieverrassen in Deutschland - Resultate einer Besitzerumfrage aus dem Jahr 2017

Health status of retriever breeds registered in the German Retriever Club in germany, results of an owner survey from 2017

The study surveyed the disease prevalence in the six retriever breeds registered in the German Retriever Club (DRC). After a literature review of the most frequent diseases of these breeds, data were collected by means of standardized questionnaires which were send to owners of all Retrievers registered in the DRC and could be completed online after registration on their club website. Thus, not only breeding dogs but also family, hunting and therapy dogs of all ages were included in the survey population. For statistical evaluation, the data were transferred to Excel and evaluated with SPSS 25 to determine the current health status of the specific breeds.
The achieved sample size in this cross-sectional study was 896 Retrievers, including all six Retriever breeds. The median life expectancy was 12 years and determined by 125 dogs that had died by the end of the study. Females lived two years longer than males. Median life expectancy of neutered dogs was higher (13 years) when compared to unneutered dogs (9 years). Significant differences between the breeds were observed, e.g. Flat-Coated Retrievers had the lowest median age of only 10 years.
For the study, only disease events which, based on the information provided by the owner, had been diagnosed by a veterinarian, were included in the analysis. On a median, dogs in Four study developed one disease (range 0-10 diseases) throughout their lifetime. Males suffered more frequently from three to four diseases (multimorbidity) when compared to females.
The three most frequently recorded diseases were: otitis externa, hot spots and kennel cough. The most common causes of death were tumors, age, and diseases of the locomotive system and gastrointestinal tract, which ultimately led to euthanasia.
As described in the literature, the more frequently occurring in retrievers were also reported in our study, for example goniodysplasia (1.0%), cataract (2.5%), ichthyosis (1.5%), seizures (1.8%) and hypothyroidism (6.6%).
On the other hand, several diseases described in the literature as frequently occurring could only be documented very rarely (<1%) or not at all in this study: progressive retinal atrophy (0.4%), collie eye anomaly (0.1%), retinal dysplasia (0.2%), various autoimmune diseases (0.1-0.4%), myasthenia gravis (0.2%), subaortic (0.5%) or pulmonary stenosis (0.3%) or incomplete ossification of the humerus condyle (0.1%).
With regard to hip joint and elbow dysplasia, the present study showed a decrease for all retriever breeds when compared to previous studies, this is evidence for a successful breeding strategy.
Other diseases increased compared to previous studies in retriever breeds, such as osteoarthritis (8.4%), water tail (8.0%), conjunctivitis (6.6%), cataract (2.5%) and cryptorchidism (1.3%).
The data collected in this study highlighted significantly higher incidences for certain diseases in individual retriever breeds: Curly-coated retrievers had a significantly higher incidence of otitis media. Flat-coated retrievers of eye diseases such as follicular conjunctivitis, distichiasis and goniodysplasia. Labrador-retrievers were significantly more likely to suffer from lameness, otitis and limber tail syndrome and Nova-scotia-duck-tolling Retrievers from distichiasis, spondylosis, prostate diseases and herniated discs. It is striking, but not statistically significant, that Golden Retrievers were almost the only breed to suffer from otitis and ichthyosis, and together with Labrador Retrievers, seizures were documented more frequently in these two breeds.
The study shows that males were significantly more likely to suffer from kennel cough, arthrosis, food-related allergies, atopic dermatitis, cauda equina syndrome and hypothyroidism. Females, especially neutered ones, were significantly more likely to develop cystitis.
Tumor diseases were recorded with a higher prevalence (21%) than in the comparative study of the retrievers with the data collection from 2004, whereby the dogs in the present study became older than in the comparative study (Brümmer 2008) and tumor diseases increase with age (Klopfleisch 2016). The most tumors (27%) were documented in Chesapeake Bay Retrievers followed by Flat Coated Retrievers (18%). In females, tumors occurred 14% of the time, while males had an 11% occurrence. Mammary tumors occurred almost exclusively in females, being the second most common tumor type documented in this study after lipomas. Castrated dogs were more likely to develop lipomas, breast, spleen, liver and lung tumors when compared with intact dogs. Dogs with tumors reached an age of 10-14 years: Retrievers with osteosarcoma and lung tumors reached 10 years of age, whereas dogs with lipomas, mast cell and mamma tumors reached a median age of 14 years.
For a breeding approval of Retrievers registered in the German Retriever Club, among other things, an examination for hip and elbow dysplasia is mandatory (DRC German Retriever Club 2019) is required. The results of this study show significant improvements in these diseases over the past years, which indicates the success of the breeding work.
For the health of the Retrievers, it is desirable to survey the prevalence of typical diseases for Retriever breeds in regular follow-up studies. By doing so, breeding regulations of the German Retriever Club can always be kept up to date and changes in frequency of diseases can be used as a benchmark for conscientious dog breeding.