Abstract
BackgroundCanine patellar luxation is one of the most common orthopaedic disorders of dogs and is a potential welfare concern because it can lead to lameness, osteoarthritis and pain. However, there are limited epidemiological data on the disorder relating to the general population of dogs in England. This study aimed to investigate the VetCompass Programme database of dogs attending primary-care veterinary practices in England to report on the prevalence, risk factors and clinical management of diagnosed patellar luxation cases.ResultsThe study included all dogs with at least one electronic patient record in the VetCompass database from September 1st, 2009 to August 31st, 2014. Candidate patellar luxation cases were identified using free-text word searching of the clinical notes and VeNom diagnosis term fields. Univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression modelling was used for risk factor analysis.The overall dataset comprised 210,824 dogs attending 119 clinics in England. The prevalence of patellar luxation diagnosis in dogs was 1.30 % (95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.21–1.39). Of the 751 incident cases, 293 (39.0 %) received medical management, 99 (13.2 %) received surgical intervention and 28 (3.7 %) were referred for further management.Multivariable modelling documented 11 breeds with increased odds of patellar luxation compared with crossbred dogs, including the Pomeranian (odds ratio [OR]: 6.5, 95 % CI 4.0–10.7, P < 0.001), Chihuahua (OR: 5.9, 95 % CI 4.4–7.9, P < 0.001), Yorkshire Terrier (OR: 5.5, 95 % CI 4.3–7.1, P < 0.001) and French Bulldog (OR: 5.4, 95 % CI 3.1–9.3, P < 0.001). Dogs with bodyweight below their mean for breed and sex had a 1.4 times odds of diagnosis (95 % CI 1.2–1.6, P < 0.001). Dogs aged ≥ 12.0 years showed 0.4 times the odds (95 % CI 0.3–0.5, P < 0.001) compared with dogs aged < 3.0 years. Females had 1.3 times the odds (95 % CI 1.1–1.5, P < 0.001), neutered dogs had 2.4 times the odds (95 % CI 1.8–3.2, P < 0.001) and insured dogs had 1.9 times the odds (95 % CI 1.6–2.3, P < 0.001).ConclusionsPatellar luxation warrants inclusion as a welfare priority in dogs and control strategies that include this disorder should be considered as worthwhile breeding goals, especially in predisposed breeds.
Highlights
Canine patellar luxation is one of the most common orthopaedic disorders of dogs and is a potential welfare concern because it can lead to lameness, osteoarthritis and pain
In this study of 210,824 dogs attending 119 veterinary clinics in England, patellar luxation affected 1.3 % of dogs overall. These dogs were managed in different ways; 39 % were treated with medication, 13 % had surgery and 4 % were referred for specialist veterinary management
Of the 6,340 candidate animals identified for patellar luxation, 1,998 (31.5 %) were manually checked to verify their case status and 854 dogs met the case definition for patellar luxation (42.7 % of candidate animals were confirmed as cases)
Summary
Canine patellar luxation is one of the most common orthopaedic disorders of dogs and is a potential welfare concern because it can lead to lameness, osteoarthritis and pain. Some studies have suggested that larger breeds, and in particular the Labrador Retriever, may increasingly be affected [7, 17, 26] Many of these studies, were based on relatively small cohorts (often 150 or fewer dogs), voluntary submissions or referral caseloads and, these study populations may be less representative of the true overall demographic than caseloads seen by primarycare practices. The former studies may reflect biased inclusion of certain subsets of patellar luxation caseloads such as larger body-size, insured, purebred or more severely affected dogs [23]. Systematic collection and interrogation of a large merged database of primary-care clinical data would counter many of these limitations by enabling evaluation of patellar luxation within a large group of both affected and non-affected primary care dogs and would be more representative of the general population of dogs [24]
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