We have written about percutaneous coil embolization before; here is a first-hand report from the owner of a Deerhound who has undergone this procedure.
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Articles for Your Veterinarian
by Miranda Levin, Betty Stephenson, DVM, and John Dillberger, DVM, Ph.D.
The Health & Genetics Committee gets several emails like this a year, so we thought it would be helpful to post this article for owners and their veterinarians, many of whom might not have dealt with cystinuria before.
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by John Dillberger, DVM
Reprinted from the January/February 1998 Claymore
(Editor’s note: The list of sulpha antibiotics has changed since this article was first published; check with your vet when your dog is prescribed any antibiotic to make sure it is not T/S.)
Antibiotics are one of our greatest weapons in the war against human and animal diseases. These drugs have prevented untold suffering and death, and are rightly viewed as twentieth-century miracles. One of the most successful of these antibiotics is actually a combination of two separate bacteria-killers: trimethoprim and a sulfonamide (or sulfa drug for short). Read more
Deerhound Neck
by David J. Brunarski, DC, MSc, FCCS(C)1,2
1Brunarski Chiropractic. Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. 2McMaster University Chiropractic Working Group, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
Study Design: Questionnaire survey.
Background: “Deerhound neck” is a term coined by owners and breeders of Scottish Deerhounds to describe a syndrome characterized by the sudden onset of pain in the cervical region. Read more
by John Dillberger, DVM
The liver produces bile acids and secretes them into bile, which is stored in the gallbladder. When the dog eats a meal and the food begins to leave the stomach and enter the small intestine, the gallbladder expels some bile into the upper small intestine, where it mixes with the food. The bile acids help dissolve fats and fat soluble vitamins so they can be absorbed. The bile acids are absorbed, too. Read more
by John Dillberger, DVM
Reprinted from the September/October 2014 Claymore
In 2011 I wrote about research underway at Ohio State University (OSU) to investigate the cause of excessive post-operative bleeding that occurred in many Greyhounds one or two days after surgery. Evidence suggested that affected dogs formed normal blood clots, but that the clots dissolved too quickly. Acting on a hunch from Dr. Couto, veterinarians at OSU began using a human drug called epsilon aminocaproic acid (Amicar®) to reduce the risk of bleeding or treat the problem if it occurred.
Read moreby Betty Stephenson, DVM
Reprinted from the March/April 2014 Claymore
I graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in 1981, and our options for anesthesia were considerably more limited then than they are today. Inhalation anesthetics available were methoxyflurane and halothane with or without nitrous oxide, injectables were ketamine, xylazine, ultrashort barbiturates, and pentobarbital. While we might still use ketamine as part of a mixture for induction, it’s about the only one listed that’s still in common use in small animal practice. Most practices didn’t even have inhalants in those days. Now a small animal practice without it is in danger of being sued for malpractice if surgery is done there at all. Methoxyflurane gave way to halothane, and halothane to isoflurane as safer products became affordable for animals. Now many practices use sevoflurane, the next generation inhalant which is more quickly metabolized and excreted than its forebears. Soon newer and better drugs will replace these. And so anesthesia for Deerhounds will change with time, just as it changes for all breeds. Read more
Although seizures are not common in Deerhounds, they do occur. According to the most recent health survey, Deerhounds have an incidence of seizures (4%) that is similar to the incidence in the dog population as a whole (1-5%). There are many causes of seizures, not all of which are genetic. Although there are families of Deerhounds that appear to have more dogs with seizures than others, we don’t know whether that is because of genetics or all of the dogs are exposed to the same environmental cause.
If your Deerhound has a seizure, you should contact your veterinarian. Deerhounds are not more or less likely than other breeds to be affected by many of the conditions that can cause seizures, such as cancer (insulinomas and brain tumors in middle-aged and older dogs), trauma, allergies, infections, toxins, etc., at least as far as we know. However, there are some illnesses that should be ruled out when any Deerhound has seizures:
LIVER SHUNT is definitely a problem in Deerhounds, and it can cause seizures at any point in an affected dog’s life. Even if your dog has tested normal on a routine blood test for liver function, liver shunts don’t always show up on those: you need to do a bile-acid test, which is a special blood test, which includes two blood draws and a specific feeding protocol, to rule it out. Many breeders routinely test their puppies for this before they go to their homes, but not every breeder does, and some people use an in-house test that isn’t always reliable. This DEFINITELY needs to be on the rule-out list for any Deerhound with seizures, and the bile-acid test needs to be sent out to a lab.
TICK-BORNE DISEASES, including Lyme Disease, Anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, list seizures as a symptom. One breeder has reported seizures in three dogs, all of which tested positive for Anaplasmosis, a tick-borne disease that is common in many parts of the U.S. One dog would seize (and he eventually developed other neurological symptoms) every time his owner tried to take him off doxycycline, even years after his initial diagnosis and without his titer going up, so Anaplasmosis was implicated at least in this dog. These dogs might have had a genetically lower seizure threshold that was triggered by the Anaplasmosis, which has seizures as a listed symptom. Another Deerhound, from an unrelated line, had other neurological problems after developing Anaplasmosis. There are other tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, where seizures are a listed symptom, so all should be ruled out.
HYPOTHYROIDISM & ADDISON’S DISEASE: Although Deerhounds do not commonly get hypothyroidism, it does sometimes occur so is worth ruling out. Ditto for Addison’s Disease, which is sometimes seen in Deerhounds.
It is important to contact your dog’s breeder, not only because your breeder needs to know they bred a dog that has seizures, but also because if there are seizures already in the line the breeder might be able to give you some helpful information.
For some cases, consultation with a veterinary neurologist can be helpful.
For more information on seizures in Deerhounds, see John Dillberger’s article reprinted from the Claymore.
The SDCA Health and Genetics Committee recommends that the following health tests be done on Deerhounds:
Breeding Stock:
Echocardiogram: Inherited heart defects are rare in Deerhounds, but they do occur. It is recommended that every Deerhound used for breeding should have a cardiac ultrasound (echocardiogram) to make sure the dog is free from subaortic stenosis, septal defects, and other heart defects. Dogs with heart defects should not be bred, and the breeding that produced a heart defect should not be repeated. A cardiac ultrasound will also determine whether dilated cardiomyopathy or other heart disease is present at the time of the test.
Factor VII: The Factor VII status of all breeding stock should be known. Clear Deerhounds can be bred to any Deerhound. Carrier or affected dogs should only be bred to clear dogs. Owners of affected bitches should discuss with their veterinarian possible complications that could arise from breeding an affected bitch.
Portosystemic (liver) shunt: All breeding stock should be checked for a liver shunt with a bile acid test. If the dog wasn’t tested as a puppy, then a test should be run before breeding. Click here for more information on liver shunt testing.
Puppies:
Factor VII: Breeders should be able to give puppy buyers information on whether or not their puppy has the potential to be affected with this condition.
Portosystemic shunt: Breeders should screen all of their puppies for liver shunt using a bile acid test before they go to their new homes. Click here for more information on liver shunt testing.
Cardiac auscultation: All puppies’ hearts should be listened to by a veterinarian, using a stethoscope, to check for heart defects before they go to their new homes.
More information on all of these health problems may be found on the “Health Issues” pages of this web site.
February 2014
Testing Information
Factor VII:
The Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) maintains a list of labs that run DNA test for Factor VII in Deerhounds. Just select our breed and “Factor VII Deficiency” in the drop-down menus.
Bile-acid Testing:
Many labs do bile acid testing, so you can use any lab that runs the test unless you want to get CHIC certification (not to be confused with our CHIC DNA bank—they are two completely separate things) on your dogs. If you want to get CHIC numbers, bile-acid test results from IDEXX, Antech, and veterinary college laboratories will be accepted. Please note that only tests done by one of these laboratories will be accepted. Results from in-house testing done at private veterinary clinics, even if run using equipment and/or kits from IDEXX, will not be accepted.
More information on the Deerhound CHIC program can be found here.
Don’t forget: there is a promising new, non-surgical procedure to close shunts.
by John Dillberger, DVM
Reprinted from the May/June 2013 Claymore.
At the 2012 National Specialty, researchers from The Ohio State University (OSU) collected blood samples from 96 normal, healthy Deerhounds. They analyzed the samples to measure various parameters in order to establish what are called “reference intervals” (RIs). RIs provide a range of normal results for a particular blood test.
The OSU group will publish this work in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice. I my column this month, I summarize the OSU paper. I suggest that you keep a copy of the column for your own reference and also give a copy to your veterinarian. Read more