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People: Dan O'Neill, David Church, David Brodbelt

Dates: October 2010 - 2013

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of disorders recorded across purebred and crossbred cats and dogs attending primary-care veterinary practices in England in order to assist prioritisation of disorders of greatest welfare impact.

siamese catRelevance of project: Although associations between purebred dog-breeding and health disorders have been reported for over half a century (Hein 1963, Hodgman 1963, Knight 1963, Willis 1963), the purebred dog health issue was catapulted into the public consciousness in August 2008 when the BBC aired the Pedigree Dogs Exposed documentary that alleged major health problems in modern pedigree dogs (BBC 2008). Three subsequent landmark reports concurred that purebred dog breeding practices did impose welfare costs on dogs but that a lack of reliable prevalence data was constraining efforts at effective reform (APGAW 2009, Bateson 2010, Rooney 2009). The reports universally concluded that primary veterinary practice clinical records were the optimal data source for disorder information that was representative of the general population of dogs (Nicholas 2011).

This PhD study, supported by the RSPCA, aimed to develop VetCompass as a companion animal health surveillance system and to report the prevalence of common disorders affecting cats and dogs in England. This information would increase our understanding of the priority disorders of cats and dogs, both overall and at a breed level, and would inform evidence-based strategies for the use of limited resources to improve dog welfare.

Funding body: RSPCA

Academic Collaborators:  and (University of Sydney

Current project status: This study has now been completed and the PhD degree has been awarded.

    

References

APGAW (2009) A healthier future for pedigree dogs. The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, London

Bateson, P. (2010) Independent inquiry into dog breeding. University of Cambridge, Cambridge

BBC (2008) Pedigree Dogs Exposed

Hein, H. E. (1963) Abnormalities and defects in pedigree dogs-II. Hereditary aspects of hip dysplasia. Journal of Small Animal Practice 4, 457-462

Hodgman, S. F. J. (1963) Abnormalities and defects in pedigree dogs–I. An investigation into the existence of abnormalities in pedigree dogs in the British Isles. Journal of Small Animal Practice 4, 447-456

Knight, G. C. (1963) Abnormalities and defects in pedigree dogs–III. Tibio-femoral joint deformity and patella luxation. Journal of Small Animal Practice 4, 463-464

Nicholas, F. W. (2011) Response to the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three reports and their recommendations. The Veterinary Journal 189, 126-128

Rooney, N. J. (2009) The welfare of pedigree dogs: cause for concern. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 4, 180-186

Willis, M. B. (1963) Abnormalities and defects in pedigree dogs—V. Cryptorchidism. Journal of Small Animal Practice 4, 469-474

Research papers

O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC
(2014) Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
This paper explores longevity and common causes of death in 118,016 cats attending 90 veterinary practices in England. Typical life-expectancies of popular breeds of cat are also reported.

O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC
(2014) Veterinary Journal.
This study describes the disorders most commonly diagnosed in a sample of 3584 cats attending 91 veterinary clinics in England. Differences between the disorders recorded in crossbred and purebred cats were explored.

                

jack russell terrier

O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC
(2014) Canine Genetics and Epidemiology.
This paper reviews the history and development of canine health surveillance systems and what their strengths and weakneses are. It also describes some of the new ways this is now being taken forward to collect high quality health data to support clinical and genetic studies.

              

O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC
(2013) The Veterinary Journal.
This study analysed data from 102,609 dogs attending first opinion veterinary practices to estimate median longevity and highlight major breed differences in longevity. It also describes the most frequently attributed causes of death in different age groups of dogs.

O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC
(2014) PLoS One.
This study describes the most frequently recorded disorders in dogs seen by vets in England and provides a prevalence baseline against which to measure progress in canine health.

         

O'Neill DG, Elliott J, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC
(2013) Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
This study estimates the prevalence of and identifies the risk factors associated with CKD diagnosis and survival in dogs. Increased awareness of these factors should facilitate diagnosis and optimize case management.

         

Posters

The results of studies exploring the common disorders affecting dogs, common disorders affecting cats, canine life expectancy and feline life expectancy have been summarised in infograms, which explain the main results clearly to a wide audience.

What disorders most commonly affect our dogs?

This poster summarises the results of a study looking at the most common conditions diagnosed in dogs attending veterinary practices in England.

Developed in collaboration with the Medivet veterinary group and the RSPCA

How long do our dogs live?

A study exploring whether crossbred dogs live longer than purebred dogs is summarised in this poster. The most common causes of death in dogs and the average life expectancies of the most common breeds are also presented.

Developed in collaboration with the Medivet veterinary group and the RSPCA

       

                 

What disorders commonly affect our cats? 

This poster summarises the results of a study looking at the most common conditions diagnosed in cats attending veterinary practices in England.

Developed in collaboration with the Medivet veterinary group and the RSPCA

How long do our cats live?

This poster summarises the results of a study looking at the life expectancy of cats in England. The study aimed to compare the lifespan of crossbred and purebred cats and identify how long cats live and what they die of.

Developed in collaboration with the Medivet veterinary group and the RSPCA

Vet Compass Project Type: Cat, Dog

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