NCA Charitable Trust ‘22 Health Survey
Why the Health survey is important?
How does the CTMB use the results?
“Health is the Ultimate Wealth” Mahatma Gandhi
The 2022 Newfoundland Health Survey created by Newfoundland Club of America Charitable Trust Management Board (CTMB) and administered by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) has just closed with data collected on 1264 dogs. Before I attempt to answer the above questions, let me first thank each of you for taking the time to enter the health information on your dog(s) in the survey. 75% of the dogs entered were alive at the time of the survey and an even split of males and females.
The purpose of the health survey is to identify areas of health concern and disease in a given population of Newfoundland dogs. If we see an area that is of great concern we can ask why? Then target this area to alert Newfoundland owners and breeders of a potential problem, use education about a disease or health concern to inform owners and use this information to target our research dollars towards the diseases and health concerns that are affecting our dogs.
The results of the 2022 health survey can be found on the OFA website www.OFA.org under Newfoundland dogs and then click surveys. The survey is closed with 1264 dogs entered. The % of dogs affected do not always equal 100% in the categories as not all people respond to all questions, so that needs to be taken into consideration when you are looking at the results. I would encourage each of you reading this article to go to the survey results and spend a few minutes looking at the health issues affecting our dogs.
Some of the highlights of the survey - 88% of respondents reported that the dog showed no signs of aggressive behavior being outgoing, friendly, confident and curious; 67% of owners reported their dog had no significant health problems. While these are good numbers some trends in 2016 surveys are evident the number of respondents indicating their dog as having excellent health dropped from 77% to 67%. Conversely the overall temperament assessment increased from 70% to 88% a significant improvement.
The health conditions identified by percent affected in the survey are as follows:
· 29% (up from 24% in ’16) affected by orthopedic problems with hip dysplasia, cruciate disease and elbow dysplasia most common, 6 dogs affected with Forelimb Anomaly (CLRHL)
· 25% (up from 18% in ’16) suffered from allergies most often were atopy and food allergies
· 21% (up from 16% in “16) affected by skin disease with the top causes listed as atopy, food allergies and pyoderma.
· 11% (unchanged ’16) were affected by some form of cancer or tumor with osteosarcoma, lymphoma and hemangiosarcoma cited most often.
· 13 % (up from 9% in ’16) indicated an eye disorder with entropion, Cherry eye and dry eye being most common however, senile and juvenile cataracts were also listed.
· 11% (up from 8% in ’16) listed chronic ear infection and otitis externa most often diagnosed.
· 10% (up from 6% in ’16) had gastrointestinal disease including diarrhea, pancreatitis and bloat.
· 6% (up from 5 % in ’16) had cardiac disease including SAS, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and other misc. heart disease.
· 8% neuromuscular disease with epilepsy, cervical neck pain, disc disease, degenerative myelopathy and 5 dogs listed with myasthenia gravis disease.
· 6% reproductive problems with Pyometra most common.
The CTMB looks at past health surveys to see trends and changes in the most commonly listed disease areas. I recently reviewed the 2001 health survey results and compared it to the recently completed 2022 survey. Some noticeable health changes have occurred in the last 21 years.
· Cancer is increasingly affecting our dogs increasing from 6.7% to 11% of dogs affected
· Hypo-Thyroidism has dropped from 7 % in ’01 to 1.8% in ‘22
· Orthopedic problems continue to plague our breed, however hipdysplasia has decreased by 50%, while cruciate ligament disease has increased from 3.9% to 9.4%
· All cardiac disease is unchanged at 6%, however SAS has decreased from 3.8% to 1.5%
· Bloat decreased from 3.8% to 1.6%
· Allergies, Allergic dermatitis have increased from affecting 11.5 % in ‘01 to 25% of dogs in ‘22
· Cystinuria affected 2.6% of dogs in ’01 with no reported cases on our survey in ‘22
The health of our Newfoundlands is constantly changing and the Health Survey helps to guide the CTMB as to where we need to concentrate our research funds. See the Chairman’s Report and the Research Advisory Committee Report in the Annual report to see our current research areas of interest. As we strive to improve the research in critical areas affecting Newfoundland dogs please consider a donation to the Newfoundland Health Challenge or one of our GoFundMe campaigns supporting current SAS and Cruciate Disease research.
Clyde Dunphy DVM CTMB Chairman
Lori Littleford Research Advisory Committee
