Dr. Michael Court, of Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, who also studied anesthesia sensitivities and delayed bleeding syndrome in sighthounds, also looked into stress hyperthermia in Deerhounds and Greyhounds before he retired.
When stress hyperthermia occurs, it frequently is observed in association with an anesthetic episode for a surgical procedure (i.e. perianesthetic). Signs include an unexpected rapid increase in body temperature to more than 105°F, panting, and deep red mucous membranes.
While stress hyperthermia is serious and potentially life-threatening, no Scottish Deerhound cases have been reported to Dr. Court that have been fatal. This differs from malignant hyperthermia, a more severe condition in dogs, which is invariably fatal.
Since not all Greyhounds or Deerhounds are susceptible to stress hyperthermia, a genetic predisposition has been suspected. With support from the SDCA, Dr. Court has identified a mutation in the RYR1 gene of dogs with a history of stress hyperthermia. This mutation appears to be a milder form of the mutation that causes malignant hyperthermia in dogs.
Cases are hard to come by, so we have studied only a limited number of dogs so far (eight Deerhounds and one greyhound). If your dog experiences stress hyperthermia, please send a sample (cheek swab is fine) to our CHIC DNA Bank, as we hope to come back to this research one day. Don’t forget to list stress hyperthermia on the accompanying health survey.
Here is more information on Dr. Court’s research on stress hyperthermia.