In honor of the Winter Olympics! Photo by Sven and Eva Svendsen.
This past year was one in the trenches with our research projects, but all of our work should yield a lot of information next year. Here’s where we are with our projects:
DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY (DCM)
Dilated Cardiomyopathy/Holter Study Report: This study includes three parts: in the first, people put a Holter monitor on their dogs for 24 hours. In the second, people use a Kardiamobile (a personal ECG device) on their dogs. And, finally, when their dog dies, the owner has heart tissue samples sent to the study. You can read more about the study at https://deerhoundhealth.org/research/cardiomyopathy-research/
The big news about this project is we have recruited 75+ dogs—only ~20 dogs to go! Thanks to so many people who have volunteered for this study, we have made huge progress on our goal of Holtering 100 dogs and hope to finish next year!
So time is running out—if you have a dog age 4 years or older with no symptoms or diagnoses of heart disease, please sign your dog up. No experience is necessary—we provide complete instructions and videos on how to put on the Holter, and someone is only a phone call away in case you run into trouble. Of the people who have done it so far, they have all agreed that the hardest part of the whole thing is reading the instructions! Once they’ve read them, it’s a snap to put the Holter on.
As for the dogs that have been Holtered, so far, not one dog has been bothered by the Holter or vest. As you can see from our picture gallery on the project page (https://deerhoundhealth.org/research/cardiomyopathy-research/), the dogs sleep, hang around, and play while wearing the monitor.
As we have gotten more than halfway through the study, we’re starting to notice some trends. The first data we’ve examined is the data from the Kardiamobile.
Everyone who has already received “the box” and done their Holters knows that the biggest PITA of the whole process is doing the Kardiamobile tracings. We are happy to report that it appears to be worth it! Dr. Ilana Levinzon, who works with Dr. Sleeper, made a presentation at the 2025 ACVIM Forum annual conference on the effectiveness of the Kardiamobile in detecting arrhythmias in Deerhounds. We hope that the Kardiamobile can be an effective tool for Deerhound owners so they can catch potential problems early without expensive trips to the cardiologist. You can read more about the study on the research study page.
We haven’t analyzed the Holter data yet, but so far it suggests ventricular arrhythmias are much more common in normal dogs than expected.
The necropsy study is also yielding unexpected results, with evidence that normal cardiac muscle is being replaced with fat and/or fibrous tissue in some affected dogs. A similar pattern of muscle replacement is seen in the cardiomyopathy of Boxers (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy) and some other breeds.
Based on these preliminary results, we have expanded the necropsy study and are accepting heart tissue samples from ANY DEERHOUND, including those that are not part of the study and have died from any cause. Samples can be collected by a regular vet if the dog isn’t necropsied: sample instructions can be found here: https://deerhoundhealth.org/samples-needed/cardiomyopathy-samples/. The more samples we get, the faster we will understand Deerhound heart disease.
Dogs diagnosed with heart disease: Remember also that the Board has approved Holter monitoring dogs with heart disease. Although the original study is limited to dogs with no symptoms or diagnoses of heart disease, the study committee (Dr. Meg Sleeper, our consulting cardiologist; John Dillberger; and Miranda Levin) decided it would be interesting to also see Holter reports from dogs with heart conditions. Affected dogs get one free Holter session, and subsequent sessions are $200. Dogs with heart conditions are still considered outside the main study and do not get any reimbursement for echoes, nor are they required to do any specific follow-up testing for the study (because they are already under the care of a cardiologist who determines diagnostics, treatment, and follow-up).
So please help us learn about Deerhound heart disease: Sign your dog up for the study by contacting me—my contact information is below—and get a free Holter report on your dog. And please send heart tissue samples from your dog when it passes, no matter what the age or cause of death.
Testing: Testing to identify heart defects and DCM are recommended health tests for Deerhounds. Breeding stock should have a cardiac ultrasound (echocardiogram) before breeding, and all puppies should have their hearts listened to (auscultation) by a veterinarian before they go to their homes. For more information, please see the SDCA Guidelines for Health Testing:
The club will offer cardiac ultrasounds at the 2026 specialty; sign up information will be posted on the Deerhound Health and SDCA websites.
CYSTINURIA
The big news for 2025 is that Penn’s new in-house quantitative test for urinary amino acids is now available!
What is so exciting about this test?
Researchers have known that there are threshold levels for cystine, above which dogs (and people) are at high risk of forming stones. From the literature, dogs with cystine to creatinine ratios higher than 179 nmol/mg or with a total of 700 nmol/mg for the four amino acids for which Penn tests (Cystine, Ornithine, Lysine, and Arginine, or COLA) are considered cystinuric. However, until recently, commercial veterinary labs did not quantify COLA levels in dogs. Now Penn has a unique test that measures all four COLA levels as well as creatinine (which is used to calculate the ratios needed). Then PennGen is using those numbers to delineate normal from abnormal in tested dogs.
If a dog’s results are higher than 179 nmol/mg for cystine or 700 nmol/mg for COLA, your dog is probably at higher risk of forming stones.
How Is This Test Different from the Nitroprusside Test?
The Nitroprusside (NP) test, which Penn has been running for years, is a qualitative test: it simply says yes, there is cystine in the urine, or no, there isn’t. But it doesn’t tell you how much, so there is no way to know just how close a dog is to forming stones. The new test is a quantitative test—it tells you exactly how much of all four amino acids there are in your dog’s urine, so you will have a much better idea of what the risk is of your dog forming stones.
Additionally, the research tells us that the total level of COLA—all four amino acids—may be just as important as the level of cystine in the prediction of stone formation. The NP test only told you about cystine.
Please Keep in Touch
While we are very excited to have this new test, we still have a lot to learn. The ratios we are using have been determined across many dog breeds, and we know that there is a lot of variation in different types of cystinuria. We are assuming that the stone formation cutoff is similar in Deerhounds, but we need to study more Deerhounds to know what is normal and abnormal for our breed.
Therefore, we want to follow your dog over time and ask, if you run this test on your dog, to please keep in touch. If your dog develops cystine crystals or stones in the future, please let us know, and, if possible, send us another sample, as that would be helpful information for the study. And we hope you will continue to test your dog with this new test so we can follow him over time.
What If My Dog Tests Positive?
If your dog has a cystine to creatinine ratio higher than 179 nmol/mg and/or a total of 700 nmol/mg for the four COLA, we would advise you to watch your dog urinate daily so you can catch a problem early and discuss with your vet having regular urinalyses and/or ultrasounds done so you can monitor for cystine crystals and stones. If you decide to neuter your dog, neutering does prevent cystine stone formation in our breed, so you will no longer have to worry.
SDCA Cystinuria Study Still Recruiting Affected and Neutered Dogs for Study
In our effort to learn more about how this test works in Deerhounds, we are still recruiting dogs for our study. Currently, we are looking for
- 9 dogs diagnosed with stones that have not been neutered yet or were recently neutered because of stone formation.
- 8 neutered male Deerhounds.
You will need to provide a urine sample from your dog and ship it overnight on ice. The study will pay for your test (cost: $183) and reimburse you for the overnight shipping to the lab so there is no cost to you.
If you have a dog eligible for the study, please contact me at the email below.
Genetic Study
From Dr. Casal: “In terms of sequencing, we have whole genome sequenced about 7 Deerhounds. We have identified an area of interest in a transporter gene and are pretty sure that the defect is in this gene. We just received some more sequencing results and are in the midst of analysis. One thing that is not clear is the mechanism of interaction between testosterone and the mutation.”
So it’s time to keep everything crossed and bake liver brownies for the Deerhound gods in the hopes that this mutation pans out as the cause of cystinuria in our breed. We should have more information early in 2026.
Keep up with the cystinuria research at
Samples Needed: We still need DNA from affected dogs. If you have a dog that has formed stones or had cystine crystals on a urinalysis, or is an older intact male that has never had a problem, please ask us for a saliva kit. We’ll also pay for a urine sample if your dog is affected and lives in the US.
The saliva kits are easy to do at home and are just mailed regular mail. They can also be sent internationally. More information can be found at https://deerhoundhealth.org/samples-needed/cystinuria-samples/
Finding more samples is important, because now that Dr. Henthorn has retired, Drs. Magi Casal and Leo Murgiano are helping us to complete this project, and the more samples we can use, the easier it will be. We are extremely grateful to the entire team at Penn who is helping us get this done.
PORTAL VEIN THROMBOSIS AND/OR CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE
This year was spent on the scintillating activity of coordinating tissue samples. Over the past few years, we received about 30 reports of liver disease, and 26 of those dogs had necropsies done. Most pathology labs keep tissue samples for years, if not indefinitely. In our case, only two labs had discarded the tissue samples we needed. So the year was spent contacting labs across North America asking for tissue samples to be sent to Dr. Mason Jager’s lab at Cornell.
Because most of the labs wanted a veterinarian to request the samples, and many had technical questions that needed to be answered by a pathologist, John Dillberger, who, lucky for us, is a veterinary pathologist, spent the year filling out forms, answering questions, and doing my job—nagging. This humongous job took nearly the entire year, but it resulted in 24 samples, the oldest being from 2015, being sent to Dr. Jager’s lab.
Dr. Jager wanted to have all of the samples in hand before starting his work, and the last sample arrived in November. He reports, “Liver tissue from 24 dogs have been received and processed for histological examination using H&E, reticulin, rhodanine, and Masson’s trichrome histochemical stains. Results from the tissue study will be available early next year.”
The first order of business is to see whether the cases we’ve been collecting have the same condition or not, so that should be answered in the next few months.
Also, Dr. Michael Court, with whom we worked on the DEPOH bleeding disorder and anesthesia sensitivities, offered to do some initial work on a genetic study before he retired in September, so we found DNA from almost 30 dogs—the dogs from whom we received tissue samples and several others with suspected liver problems. We also included DNA from a couple of dogs that had a congenital liver shunt to see if the two problems are related. That has been done, and after the tissue study is done we will discuss next steps on a genetic study. But first we have to determine whether or not all of these dogs have the same problem.
Here is yet another example where our CHIC DNA Bank came through for us, as we were able to find several needed DNA samples there.
We are still looking for cases. The more cases we get, the more we can learn about this problem. Here is more information on that sample collection:
And we will be in touch soon with the results of this initial study.
ANESTHESIA SENSITIVITIES/ DELAYED BLEEDING SYNDROME
Dr. Michael Court at Washington State University (WSU) was studying the genetic causes of several health problems in Deerhounds, including Delayed Postoperative Hemorrhage (DEPOH), for which we now have a genetic test; slow drug metabolism (anesthesia and sedative sensitivity); and hyperthermia (anesthesia and/or stress related). Fortunately for him but most unfortunately for us, he retired in September. As a result, the Slow Anesthetic Drug Metabolism and Hyperthermia research is paused for the moment. We will let you know if it is resumed by another researcher. In the meantime, if you have a dog that has a reaction to an anesthetic drug or experiences hyperthermia, we would appreciate your sending a DNA sample to our CHIC DNA Bank. Here are instructions on how to do that:
Please make sure to give us details on the health survey that your dog experienced a problem and describe it in as much detail as you can.
As for Delayed Post-Operative Hemorrhage (DEPOH), the DEPOHGEN™ test is now available to order through WSU (https://waddl.vetmed.wsu.edu/depohgen/).
The DEPOH gene is autosomal and dominant, meaning that DEPOH can occur in dogs of either sex and that dogs with even one copy of the gene are at risk. This test identifies dogs that are at risk and should be treated with antifibrinolytic drugs (aminocaproic acid or tranexamic acid) to prevent DEPOH if they need surgery or experience severe trauma. As part of the patent agreement between WSU and the SDCA, a small royalty from DEPOHGEN™ test sales will be returned to the SDCA. At this time, WSU is the only lab running this test, although that may change in the future.
Because this problem is preventable and treatable, there is no reason to eliminate ANY dogs, not dogs with one copy of the mutation or even those with two, from the gene pool. All owners should know their dogs’ status and, if your dog has one or two copies of the mutation, can keep antifibrinolytic drugs on hand in case your dog needs surgery or is severely wounded. If you are a breeder, you should know the status of your breeding stock and test your litters, if necessary, so you can tell your puppy buyers whether or not their puppies have this mutation. More information can be found in the SDCA’s Health Testing Guidelines:
And everyone needs to spread the word, worldwide, so the entire Deerhound community knows this test is now available.
More information on DEPOH can be found at
As always, we plan on offering discounted DEPOHGEN™ testing at the 2026 National Specialty.
OSTEOSARCOMA
Dr. Alvarez remains strongly committed to advancing the study of osteosarcoma genetics in Scottish Deerhounds. He is now awaiting AKC Canine Health Foundation approval of a final no-cost extension for their separately funded study of osteosarcoma genetics in Greyhounds. In preparation for the next phase, Dr. Alvarez has proposed coordinating the two studies. Because they use similar designs, coordinating them will streamline the work and strengthen the results. Most importantly, findings from one breed are likely to benefit the other, as Scottish Deerhounds and Greyhounds are closely related, share many haplotypes, and both have high rates of osteosarcoma — making it likely that some inherited risk resides in shared genetic regions.
Several recent technological advances will enhance Dr. Alvarez’s Deerhound study. Until recently, the standard genotyping platform was the Illumina HD array with 170,000 SNP markers. It has now been surpassed by the Axiom Canine array, which includes 710,000 markers, greatly increasing mapping resolution and power, especially for detecting older variants not shaped by recent selection. Although low-coverage whole-genome sequencing combined with imputation is an emerging alternative, SNP arrays remain more cost-effective. The Axiom array and service cost approximately $35 per dog, less than half the cost of the earlier platform. As more moderately high-coverage whole-genome sequences become available, the team expects to impute genotypes at extremely high resolution (>10 million markers).
Reduced genotyping costs may allow Dr. Alvarez’s Deerhound budget to support sequencing of high-priority dogs at moderate coverage, enabling detailed analysis of risk haplotypes and identification of potential functional variants. For common haplotypes, much of this analysis can already be performed using existing Deerhound whole-genome sequences. Dr. Alvarez’s team has been developing a computational pipeline for these analyses; he presented this work at the Gordon Conference on Human Genetics and Genomics in July, and a manuscript describing the method is currently under review.
Dr. Alvarez also collaborates on Dr. Marcella Massimini’s AKC CHF grant (Grant No. 03293, https://www.akcchf.org/wp-content/uploads/CHF-Grant-Portfolio-2025.pdf), which began this year and focuses on understanding genetic changes involving Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptors (FGFRs) in osteosarcoma. The long-term goal is to develop translational models to help screen new therapies for canine osteosarcoma. This collaboration grew from Dr. Alvarez’s group’s identification of a shared osteosarcoma risk variant at the FGF9 locus and their proposal that inhibiting FGFR signaling could be a promising therapeutic approach (Zapata et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-5531-6). Before joining The Ohio State University, Dr. Alvarez led a drug-target discovery laboratory at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland. His return to academic research was motivated by the goal of identifying therapeutic targets for complex genetic traits and conducting clinical trials using FDA-approved drugs or agents in the human drug pipeline. The continued movement of his group’s work toward these translational aims is encouraging.
ACUTE HEMORRHAGIC DIARRHEA SYNDROME (AHDS)/HGE
We are very interested in obtaining cheek-swab samples from dogs that have had Acute Hemorrhagic Diarrhea Syndrome (AHDS), which used to be known as Hemorrhagic Gastro-Enteritis (HGE). If your affected dog is deceased, but DNA is stored somewhere, we can test that, too. Please contact me for details.
CHIC DNA BANK
Banking DNA samples from our dogs—and keeping the health records updated—continues to be the single most important thing we can do to help our research projects, as currently all of our researchers have access to our CHIC DNA bank and all have used our CHIC DNA Bank samples as well as shared samples with each other. We couldn’t have made the progress that we have without all of our banked samples and updated health information. We currently have 450 samples in our DNA Bank and almost a thousand other samples with our researchers.
As always, we will be offering free CHIC DNA bank sample collection at the 2026 specialty; see below for details.
WEB SITE
One way to follow the SDCA’s research efforts throughout the year is through the SDCA’s Deerhound Health web site and affiliated Facebook page, which post research updates, interesting studies, clinical trials, health clinic information, and other health tidbits. I have been able to post more lately, thanks to assistance from Pam Jacobs, who is helping a lot with the site. Here is the web address:
If you want to receive the blog posts automatically, just click the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” button in the right sidebar of the site.
The Facebook page address is
2026 NATIONAL SPECIALTY SAMPLE COLLECTION
We are planning on having a health clinic and sample collection at the 2026 National Specialty in Champion, Pennsylvania, May 5–10; it’s a great opportunity to catch up on health testing and DNA collection on your dogs at the best price, and we do the shipping. We are still firming up details, but here’s some of what we’ll be offering:
CHIC DNA Bank: We will be drawing blood samples for submission to our CHIC DNA Bank. Cost: FREE! The SDCA and OFA underwrite the processing cost.
Cystinuria Study: We will be drawing blood for DNA and accepting urine samples for our new cystinuria testing to support our cystinuria research.
DEPOHGEN™: Once again, we will be offering discounted DEPOHGEN™ testing (the SDCA underwrites part of the processing cost).
Factor VII: Once again, we will be offering discounted Factor VII testing (the SDCA underwrites part of the cost).
Cardiac Testing: We will be holding a cardiac clinic.
For more information, see the Deerhound health site or go to http://deerhoundspecialty.org/.
As always, you can bring cheek swab, blood, and urine samples to the show from dogs that you are leaving at home.
DONATION INFORMATION
We can’t do all this work without your support. Thanks to everyone who made generous donations of samples and funds last year—we can’t express how appreciative we are, because we don’t start projects until we have already raised a significant portion of the funds needed and have a project plan for all monies raised. For our current projects, the DCM/Holter and Cystinuria Projects are supported from auction (thanks to Mary Ann Rose) funds and the Bob Iland Bequest, the Portal Vein Thrombosis/Liver Disease Project from the Bob Iland Bequest, and the Osteosarcoma Project through private donations.
You can always make a donation to the Bunnie Austin Health Fund, and donations are always appreciated. You can pay online on our new SDCA website.
So many thanks to everyone for their support—we literally can’t do any of these projects without you. And stay tuned—next year should prove to be very interesting.
If you have any questions about any of these projects, please don’t hesitate to ask.