Abstract
BackgroundNew regulations by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office provide for the monitoring of breed health by Swiss breeding clubs. In collaboration with the Swiss Bernese Mountain Dog Club, the purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of death in purebred dogs registered by the club and born in 2001 and 2002.ResultsOf a total of 1290 Bernese mountain dogs (BMDs) born in 2001 and 2002 in Switzerland, data was collected from owners and veterinarians using a questionnaire designed for this study from 389 dogs (30.2 %). By the end of the study, 381/389 dogs (97.9 %) had died. The median life expectancy of all dogs was 8.4 years (IQR, 6.9–9.7). Female dogs had a significantly longer median survival (8.8 years; IQR, 7.1–10.3) than male dogs (7.7 years; IQR, 6.6–9.3) (P < 0.00). The cause of death was unknown in 89/381 dogs (23.4 %). For the remaining dogs, the most frequent causes of death were neoplasia (222/381, 58.3 %), degenerative joint disease (16/381, 4.2 %), spinal disorders (13/381, 3.4 %), renal injury (12/381, 3.1 %), and gastric or mesenteric volvulus (7/381, 1.8 %). However, large numbers of dogs were diagnosed with neoplasia without histopathologic or cytologic confirmation. Dogs with neoplasms had a shorter median survival than dogs with other disorders. The shortest median survival (6.8 years) was found for dogs with renal injury.ConclusionsFindings of this study confirm a high prevalence of neoplasia and associated low life expectancy in BMDs. The results underline a need for more widespread precise diagnostics and further research on malignant tumours in this breed to improve overall breed health.
Highlights
New regulations by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office provide for the monitoring of breed health by Swiss breeding clubs
No distinction was made between dogs that died naturally and those euthanised
Data was available for 36 dogs from the Swiss Bernese Mountain Dog Club’s internal surveillance and data solely regarding the date of death of 27 dogs was available from the Animal Identity Services AG (ANIS) database
Summary
New regulations by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office provide for the monitoring of breed health by Swiss breeding clubs. Previous studies have demonstrated a relatively low life expectancy and high incidence of neoplasia in the Bernese mountain dog (BMD) [1,2,3,4]. Larger breeds have been shown to have a lower average age at death than smaller breeds [1, 6, 8,9,10], the life expectancy of BMDs remains low when compared with breeds of similar size, such as flat coated retrievers (mean, 9.5 years) or German shepherd dogs (mean, 10.3 years) [1, 6]. Previous studies reported neoplasia as the cause of death in 28.1–55.1 % of BMDs [1, 3,4,5] compared to 14.5–16.5 % in the overall dog population [1, 6, 10]. In 1 study, examining the cause of death in a BMD population in Denmark in 2010, neoplasia (42.1 %) was the most
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