Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Common health problems in UK dogs seen by vets in 2016
By D. O'Neill et al.·Published in BMC Veterinary Research·2021·View original on Semantic Scholar →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Prevalence of commonly diagnosed disorders in UK dogs under primary veterinary care: results and applications
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at health problems in dogs in the UK and found that common issues include dental disease, ear infections, and obesity. Out of over 22,000 dogs examined, about 12.5% had periodontal disease, 7.3% had ear infections, and 7.1% were considered obese. The research also noted that age, sex, and whether a dog was neutered could influence the likelihood of these health issues. This information can help pet owners and veterinarians focus on preventive care and catch problems early.
People also search for: dog dental disease treatment · ear infection in dogs symptoms · obesity in dogs causes
Abstract
Although dogs are a commonly owned companion animal in the UK, the species experiences many health problems that are predictable from demographic information. This study aimed to use anonymised veterinary clinical data from the VetCompass™ Programme to report the frequency of common disorders of dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK during 2016 and to explore effects associated with age, sex and neuter status. From an available population of 905,543 dogs under veterinary care at 886 veterinary clinics during 2016, the current study included a random sample of 22,333 (2.47 %) dogs from 784 clinics. Prevalence for each disorder was calculated at the most refined level of diagnostic certainty (precise-level precision) and after grouping to a more general level of diagnostic precision (grouped-level precision). The most prevalent precise-level precision disorders recorded were periodontal disease (prevalence 12.52 %, 95 % CI: 12.09–12.97), otitis externa (7.30 %, 95 % CI: 6.97–7.65) and obesity (7.07 %, 95 % CI: 6.74–7.42). The most prevalent grouped-level disorders were dental disorder (14.10 %, 95 % CI: 13.64–14.56), skin disorder (12.58 %, 95 % CI: 12.15–13.02) and enteropathy (10.43 %, 95 % CI: 10.04–10.84). Associations were identified for many common disorders with age, sex and neuter. The overall findings can assist veterinarians and owners to prioritise preventive care and to understand demographic risk factors in order to facilitate earlier diagnosis of common disorders in dogs. The information on associations with age, sex and neuter status provides additional contextual background to the complexity of disorder occurrence and supports targeted health controls for demographic subsets of dogs.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/33593363