Rescue Impacted by Heart Conditions

Rescue groups in the midwest and beyond see puppies and adults surrendered because of SAS and other cardiac disorders. Coming from commercial producers (Puppy Mills) and backyard breeders alike, lack of testing of adults, lack of screening of puppies is leaving families with heartbreaking choices and frightening costs.

The NCA National Rescue Network has funded surgery and treatment for many of these dogs, stretching rescue resources and taxing supporters. Finding better treatments and genetic tests will help eliminate the frequency of these cases.

We have all heard the tale of the girl saving starfish from the beach one at a time, and often that is the model for rescue, hands-on, saving each dog that comes to us. But sometimes we need to look at the bigger picture and see how many dogs lives could be changed if we found more answers to the thorny problem of cardiac disorders in our gentle giants. Please consider lending your support to "Help A Heart" this month during heart health month.

A History of Searching for Answers

Beginning in 1997, the very first Charitable Trust grant to the AKC Canine Health Foundation was a $16,000 grant to study the Inheritance & Molecular Genetic; Evaluation in Newfoundlands & Golden Retrievers with Subvalvular Aortic Stenosis (SAS)

Since that time the NCA Charitable Trust has invested more than $156,000 in Research Grants involving Canine Sub-Aortic Stenosis in Newfoundlands in conjunction with the AKC Canine Health Foundation and the Morris Animal Foundation.

In 2022 a request for research proposals was promoted through Morris Animal Foundation. This resulted in a study being funded at Michigan State University.

Led by Dr. Vilma Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan, Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Small Animal Clinical Sciences and the project’s Principal Investigator, the study will employ advanced tools to discover genetic determinants of SAS in Newfoundland dogs. If successful, findings could be used to genetically screen dogs for this disease and inform breeding decisions.