engleski

Retrospective Study of Locomotor System Pathology in Croatian Shepherd Dogs - the preliminary results

The Croatian Shepherd Dog (CSD) is one of the seven national breeds of Croatia. Historically CSD was used as the herding dog and guard of property. In the last decades, due to its performance, CSD has proven to be very successful in sports such as agility and flyball. The aim of the study was to find the incidence and distribution of locomotor system pathologies that can affect the work and sports abilities of CSD. This preliminary study included 60 dogs, who were admitted to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital University of Zagreb in the period 2017-2020. Data from the archives of the Radiology Department were used, inclusion criteria were referral for radiography of the vertebral column and/or appendicular skeleton. There were 45 males (75%) and 15 females (25%), mean age 7.1 (0.5-15) years. The etiological classification of diagnoses included traumatic, degenerative, and neoplastic groups as causes of changes in the locomotor system. The results show that traumatic (49.2%) and degenerative (41.3%) etiology were the most described pathology of the locomotor system, with lower incidence of neoplastic (4.8%) respectively. The traumatic etiology included mostly long bone fractures (64.5%), followed by intervertebral disc protrusions (12.9%), luxations (9.6%), and soft tissue contusions (12.9%). Degenerative changes found were mostly spondylosis of different degrees (40%), sacralization (33%), and degenerative joint disease (26.6%). Hip dysplasia was noted in 2 dogs and one dog had elbow dysplasia. The neoplastic etiology group consisted of three dogs diagnosed with long-bone osteosarcoma. This preliminary study indicates that CSD is not predisposed to common orthopaedic genetic disease, confirming their good potential as sport competition dogs.

Croatian Shepherd Dog, Locomotor System, Pathology, Radiography

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