If you’re looking to buy a dog, a vet has warned of the family-favourite breeds everyone should reconsider owning due to its life-threatening heart conditions.
Ben, a vet surgeon from the UK, said there are four varieties that are at a high risk of heart problems — including the much-loved Cavalier king Charles spaniels and golden retrievers.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The four dog breeds at high risk of heart disease.
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“Cavalier king Charles spaniels are awesome little dogs, but they have terrible hearts,” Ben explained in his video.
“By the age of 10, up to 90 per cent of cavaliers have mitral valve disease, which is a condition where one of the valves in the heart starts to degenerate and become leaky.
“This is usually detected initially with a heart murmur but eventually can lead on to the dog going into heart failure, developing a cough and breathing abnormalities and unfortunately it is a cause of death for a lot of cavaliers.”
Depending on the stage of the dog’s heart condition, Ben said there’s medication that can help “slow down the progression” of the disease.
“So if you have a cavalier with a murmur, definitely worth a chat with your vet if you haven’t had one already,” he said.
Ben said Dobermans have serious heart conditions as shocking statistics uncovered more than 58 per cent of the German breed over the age of seven are prone to dilated cardiomyopathy.
“This is a disease where the muscle in the wall of the heart starts to weaken, leading eventually to heart failure,” he explained.
The vet said the breed as a high risk of arrhythmias, otherwise known as an irregular heartbeat, and sudden death.
“Unfortunately often there are no signs of a problem and the dog can just drop dead in the park,” he said.
If you have a Doberman, Ben advised talking to your vet about having them screened from the ages of two or three.
“If it’s caught early, medication can be given to delay the onset of any problem,” he said.
Ben said the boxer dog breed are most commonly affected by several different types of heart conditions, which are “considered high risk unfortunately”.
“One is a congenital problem called aortic or subaortic stenosis where a narrowing develops when blood exits the heart to the rest of the body,” he explained.
“Most cases are mild and there are no clinical signs, we might just hear a murmur on examination at the vets. But in severe cases, it can lead to collapse when exercising and even sudden death.
“Fortunately it’s something that breeders are well aware of and in some countries including France, the prevalence has been shown to be decreasing significantly because the breeding dogs have been screened.”
He said the breed also has a three per cent prevalence of pulmonic stenosis, which is a narrowing of the exit from the heart to the lungs.
“They are also at a higher risk of dilated cardiomyopathy, the same condition affecting the Dobermans.”
Finally, the vet named the family-favourite golden retriever on his list due to its extremely rare, life-threatening condition called pericardial effusion, which causes compression of the heart.
Ben said one veterinary referral centre found a third of dogs they saw with the condition were golden retrievers.
“It’s a condition where fluid builds up in the sac around the heart, often it builds up slowly, gradually leading to a point where the heart can’t pump blood very effectively,” he explained.
“This can manifest as the dog becomes weaker and weaker and eventually collapse.”
As the condition is extremely rare, Ben said he has only ever met two dogs with the problem during his career — and interestingly, they were both golden retrievers.
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