Abstract
BackgroundCorneal ulcerative disease (CUD) has the potential to adversely affect animal welfare by interfering with vision and causing pain. The study aimed to investigate for the first time the prevalence, breed-based risk factors and clinical management of CUD in the general population of dogs under primary veterinary care in England.ResultsOf 104,233 dogs attending 110 clinics participating within the VetCompass Programme from January 1st to December 31st 2013, there were 834 confirmed CUD cases (prevalence: 0.80%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.75–0.86). Breeds with the highest prevalence included Pug (5.42% of the breed affected), Boxer (4.98%), Shih Tzu (3.45%), Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (2.49%) and Bulldog (2.41%). Purebred dogs had 2.23 times the odds (95% CI 1.84–2.87, P < 0.001) of CUD compared with crossbreds. Brachycephalic types had 11.18 (95% CI 8.72–14.32, P < 0.001) and spaniel types had 3.13 (95% CI 2.38–4.12, P < 0.001) times the odds for CUD compared with crossbreds. Pain was recorded in 385 (46.2%) cases and analgesia was used in 455 (54.6%) of dogs. Overall, 62 (7.4%) cases were referred for advanced management and CUD contributed to the euthanasia decision for 10 dogs.ConclusionsBreeds such as the Pug and Boxer, and conformational types such as brachycephalic and spaniels, demonstrated predisposition to CUD in the general canine population. These results suggest that breeding focus on periocular conformation in predisposed breeds should be considered in order to reduce corneal disease.
Highlights
Corneal ulcerative disease (CUD) has the potential to adversely affect animal welfare by interfering with vision and causing pain
The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence, risk factors and clinical management for CUD as diagnosed by veterinary practitioners in the general population of dogs attending primary-care practices enrolled in the UK VetCompass Programme in order to give a picture of the occurrence, diagnostics and outcomes of the condition in this setting
Individual breeds with the highest CUD prevalence included Pug (5.42% of the breed affected, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.11– 7.00), Boxer (4.98%, 95% CI 3.89–6.26), Shih Tzu (3.45%, 95% CI 2.70–4.33), Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (2.49%, 95% CI 1.89–3.20) and Bulldog (2.41%, 95% CI 1.46– 3.74) (Table 1)
Summary
Corneal ulcerative disease (CUD) has the potential to adversely affect animal welfare by interfering with vision and causing pain. Findings from referral studies may be useful for referral practitioners, these results are likely to be poorly generalisable to general primary-care caseloads and have limited applicability for quantifying disorder levels in broader dog populations [11]. It is important for ophthalmologists, general clinicians and welfare scientists to access clinical research results from primarycare practice in order to offer informed advice relevant to the general primary-care CUD caseloads even if, and especially where, the standards of care differ from the norms in referral practice [12]. Welfare scientists can benefit from access to primary-care prevalence data that can assist with disorder prioritisation across all dogs and from access to breed risk factor data that can assist with focused prioritisation within individual breeds [12,13,14]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
