Dogs Worldwide

The domestic dog’s health is possibly one of the best-studied areas in veterinary medicine, and that’s not surprising considering the long and close relationship the animal has had with humans almost since time began and unfortunately dog health problems are all to common.

Infectious diseases are one of the major dog health problems that pet lovers face. These are important not just from a veterinary standpoint but also because of the risk to human health. An infectious disease is caused by the presence of organisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites. Most of these diseases are spread directly from dog to dog, while others require a vector such as a tick or mosquito.

Certain infectious diseases are a concern from a public health standpoint because they are zoonoses (transmittable to humans). The most well known example of this is rabies. Rabies is a viral disease commonly associated with dogs, although in recent years canine rabies has been practically eliminated in North America and Europe due to extensive and often mandatory vaccination requirements. However it is still a significant problem in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia and we are still battling to wipe it out completely.

Other canine viral diseases of note include parvovirus, distemper, infectious canine hepatitis, herpesvirus, and influenza.

Genetic conditions are a major dog health problem, particularly in purebreeds. For this reason many of the national kennel clubs require that dogs with certain genetic illnesses or who are deemed to be carriers cannot be registered. Some of the most common conditions include hip dysplasia, seen in large breed dogs, von Willebrand disease, a disease that affects platelets that is inherited in Doberman Pinschers, entropion, a curling in of the eyelid seen in Shar Peis and many other breeds, progressive retinal atrophy, inherited in many breeds, deafness, and epilepsy, known to be inherited in Belgian Shepherd Dogs, German Shepherd Dogs, Cocker Spaniels, and St. Bernards.

Unfortunately, since animals can’t talk, it’s often very difficult to detect what type of dog health problem your pet may be experiencing. For that reason we strongly recommend that you have a good health care plan in place for your dog, you should also make an annual appointment for him with your local veterinarian, prevention is always better than cure.

If serious injury or illness occurs, you will need a Vet who you trust and can rely on to care for your dog. It certainly helps if the Vet is familiar with your dog. When you are first “shopping around” for your veterinarian, consideration should be given to availability (office hours, after-hours response, etc.) and the ability to perform emergency surgery should the need arise. Hopefully you will not be presented with any major dog health problem but if you are knowing that you have a good vet will give you real peace of mind

Tags: dog's health

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 08:36 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.