Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds and Beagles top the AKC’s current list of the most popular purebred dogs in the U.S. The 2012 results mark the 21st year that Labs have been the most popular so that’s not exactly new news but here’s an interesting sidebar to the annual rankings from DVM, a veterinary newsmagazine.
DVM compiled the top health concerns for the top of the list. The information was drawn from the Canine Health Information Center, a breed database sponsored by the AKC Canine Health Foundation and the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals.
According to DVM, the top 3 health issues that occur in the top 2 breeds are:
Labrador Retrievers: Hip dysplasia (12.1%), elbow dysplasia (11.1%), patellar luxation (10.3%)
German Shepherds: Degenerative Myelopathy (21%), elbow dysplasia (19.4%), hip dysplasia (19.1%)
Find the DVM article listing for the most common diseases found in the top 5 breeds here.
So, what does a list of common health problems for senior dogs across a variety of breeds look like?
This handsome fellow's name is Jake so of course, I call him Jake Ryan! Jake has no plans for a formal protest of the AKC's breed rankings but he does think the numbers are on his side. Jake Ryan's punk rock haircut in this photo is due to surgery that successfully removed two tumors. Yet another reason why this sweet senior is a winner!
The pet hospital chain Banfield combed its patient list to come up with the top 10 diagnoses lists of 2009. According to Banfield’s findings, here are the top 5 diagnoses in the geriatric group (dogs age 10 years or more):
63% of seniors had tartar buildup
20% of seniors had an ear infection
16% of seniors had nuclear sclerosis (cloudiness of the eye)
14% of seniors had skin tumors (no distinction was given between numbers of benign versus cancerous tumors)
12% of seniors were overweight
If you consider the two groups of statistics together, you can see why a senior dog who is predisposed to certain health issues due to his breed can be overloaded once problems that may be age-related come into play. So keep an eye out for the common ailments and curb them before they have a chance to complicate other issues and cause your senior dog more trouble than they’re worth!
Caring for Daley in his elderly years inspired me to start Daley's Dog Years. Here you'll find more than 700 posts related to health, wellness, and senior dog lifestyle. 
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Whenever I read about medical issues like these, I wonder how we might have missed such problems 30, 40 years ago. Maybe they weren’t as bad then? Or we just weren’t as clued up? How many are the result of (improper) breeding, you think?
Georgia Little Pea recently posted..A morning with Maurice.
Very good advice today!
houndstooth recently posted..Attack Of The June Bug