Breed Health Assessment Results

The Breed Health Assessment project was a massive undertaking. Extensive groundwork, including pre-release publicity, was required before the survey was ready for release. North Carolina State University/College of Veterinary Medicine (NCSU/CVM) mailed survey packets to all members of the ABdFC (well in excess of 500 packets). Additionally, survey packets were mailed to all regional clubs and international clubs designated by the ABdFC Club Liaison Committee, an announcement of the survey was posted to the Bouvier e-mail list, and the survey was available on Dr. Correa-Prisant’s web page. When one factors in all the breeders who should have copied and distributed packets to their puppy purchasers and fervor with which some of the Bouvier rescue personnel (not restricted to those affiliated with the ABdFC) distributed the survey, one can estimate that well in excess of 1,000 packets were distributed.

By the end of May only 93 responses had been received. The Genetic Health Committee and the Board of Governors accepted Dr. Correa-Prisant’s recommendation to extend the deadline to August 1, 1997 and to send reminder postcards.

It is difficult to analyze the initially low response rate. The GHC chair was informed that some individuals were not responding because they did not trust the confidentiality of the response forms. Another group of individuals were under the impression that only data of Bouviers with an illness to report should be included, and some expressed the belief that the survey was intended only for ABdFC members. But with the combined publicity generated by the reminder postcards and internet e-mail lists, the number of responses had tripled to 277 individuals by the time the data was compiled.

Data were received for 1,073 Bouviers and more than 200 variables (descriptions of conditions, health certifications, titles and non-medical information requested) were reported. All data have been summarized and listed in tabular form in this report. The description of the data represented in each row of the table is found in the column titled Variable. The Frequency column shows the number of Bouviers that were reported to fall under the classification of that variable. The Percentage was calculated by dividing the total number of responses that were candidates for inclusion (i.e. under spay only females would be candidates for inclusion and under Prostatic hyperplasia only males would be candidates) by the number of Bouviers found under Frequency. In some cases a number of related descriptions have been consolidated into a common variable (i.e. reports of lymphosarcoma, synovial cell sarcoma, etc. into the variable sarcoma). A variable that is italicized represents a subtotal of data that has already been included separately in the table.

This Breed Health Assessment was planned to compile general health data and to help formulate a impression of the state of health of the Bouvier des Flandres Breed. It was intended that these results reveal possible areas for further study as outlined in the 1996 Genetic Health Committee Report to the Annual Meeting (described under Step 2, Developing a Genetic Data Base for the Bouvier des Flandres). The anonymous nature of collecting these data precluded follow-up to elucidate conditions that were incompletely described or verification of any unusual entries.

To better understand inferences from data about occurrences of various tumors, those tumors that were reported to have been biopsied are classified according to the type of cancer cell shown on biopsy. Those tumors that were reported only by the organ in which the mass was located could not be clearly classified by cancer cell type, nor necessarily the site of origin of the cancer, and are listed in the table as unidentified tumors.

Within the various consolidated variables shown in the table, the following tumors were reported to occur in one Bouvier: brain tumor, mammary tumor, prostatic carcinoma, gastric carcinoma, licphorimonoma, synovial cell sarcoma, mesothelioma, lung cancer, lipoma, malignant histiocytosis, leiomyosarcoma, and mastocytosis. Occurrences in multiple Bouviers were reported (with frequency in parenthesis) for: mast cell tumor (11), tumor unknown (14), hemangiosarcoma (13), adenocarcinoma (8), lymphosarcoma (17), hepatocellular carcinoma (6), malignant melanoma (7), osteosarcoma (5), fibrosarcoma (3), stomach cancer (2). One non-malignant tumor was reported; thus, the table shows that 98.9% of tumors were malignant. A total of 88 malignant tumors in 1073 dogs (multiple tumors were reported in 8 dogs) represents a 7.5 % occurrence of dogs with one or more malignancies.

The last entry in the table section on oncologic diseases reports "Present age or age at death". For calculation of these figures, all deceased dogs in which a tumor was reported were included. Note that the maximum figure for Range of age is 12.75 years. This does not mean that no dogs die of cancer at ages beyond 12.75 years but reflects the survey cut-off birth date of January 01, 1983, i.e. data for any dogs older than 13 was not included in the survey.

There are a number of different categories of testing expertise (i.e. board certified cardiac specialist, internal medicine specialist, etc.) represented under the table variable labeled clear of cardiac disease. Of the 1073 responses, 13.1% were reported as clear of cardiac disease, and 4.6% were reported in the variable total heart condition as having some form of heart condition ranging from murmur to SAS. These two categories represent 17.7% of all Bouviers in the survey, which means that there is no report, positive or negative, on the heart health of the other 82.3%. Of the 49 Bouviers reporting a heart disease, 12 (or 1.11% of all Bouviers and 24.5% of the 49) report congenital heart conditions including 11 with subaortic stenosis and 1 with an atrial & ventricular septal defect. In addition, 23 Bouviers were reported to have various heart murmurs, including 1 with cardiopulmonary unknown, 1 with grade II murmur, 2 with intermittent murmur, and 19 with unspecified murmur.

Included under the table description clear of hip dysplasia are responses of 25 Bouviers clear of hip dysplasia by private practitioner, 7 clear without denoting the source, 158 OFA good, 28 reported OFA excellent, 53 OFA fair, 12 cleared by OFA without including designation, and 2 cleared by PennHip. Of the 92 reporting hip dysplasia, 10 were diagnosed by OFA, 72 did not designate the professional diagnosis, and 11 were diagnosed by a private practitioner. In total, 378 dogs (35.2% of the total dogs in the survey) reported their hip status, and of this total the 28 OFA excellent comprise 7.4%, the 158 OFA good comprise 41.8%, the 53 OFA Fair comprise 14%, and the dysplastic comprise 24.6%.

In a July 1, 1997 news release, the OFA reports the Bouvier hip status statistics as:

• prior to 1980 - 3.0% Excellent, and 19.5% dysplastic out of 853 Bouviers.

• From 1986 to 87 - 6.0% Excellent and 19.1% dysplastic out of 554 Bouviers and

• from 1993 to 94 - 7.5% Excellent, 11.5% dysplastic out of 522 Bouviers.

Interestingly, while the ABdFC survey rate of reported dysplasia is higher than OFA’s (which one would expect since many owners don’t submit x-rays predicted to fail certification), the report of Excellents is almost identical to the figures OFA reports from 1993 to 1994.

The variable congenital condition included 14 Bouviers reported with entropion and 1 with nasolacrimal occlusion. The subtotal of all abnormal ophthalmic conditions reported (adding all categories except certified clear) is 49 cases, or 4.6% of all dogs included in the survey. The 121 Bouviers reported as certified clear comprises 11.3% of responses. The ophthalmic condition of the other 84.1% is unreported.

It should be noted that there is no way to know how many of the 72 Bouviers (6.7% of total) reported as hypothyroid, with no method of diagnosis specified, were diagnosed by a veterinarian from laboratory blood test and how many by clinical symptoms, or even how many were diagnosed by a veterinarian. While 2 Bouviers were reported Border-line via MSU, no Bouviers were reported hypothyroid with a specified method of diagnosis. Sixty-six Bouviers (6.1%) were reported as having tested normal with a specified method of diagnosis.

The category of allergies broke down as follows: 37 allergic dermatitis, 39 flea allergy, 1 pustular dermatitis, and 12 with food allergies. The rest of the dermatologic conditions constituted 10 cases for a total incidence of 99 Bouviers, or 9.2%, reporting dermatologic conditions.

The category of malocclusion broke down as follows: 8 overbites, 11 underbites, and 1 wry bite. The frequency of occurrence of all other gastrointestinal conditions is directly reported in the table.

The 17 Cryptorchid and 9 Monorchid Bouviers combine for the total of 26, or 5.7% of males. All other frequencies are directly reported in the table.

The Aggression category breaks down as follows:19 aggressive behavior and 1 rage disorder. Fear broke down as: 14 noise & thunder sensitive, 2 fearfulness; Management problems reported: 19 shy, 2 obsessed with tennis ball, 10 separation anxiety, 1 severe stereotypic behavior, 2 excitement urinary incontinence, 1 excessive barking, 1 phobia of riding in cars and 1 claustrophobic. The total number of Bouviers reported with behavioral problems was 85 or 7.9%.

The tally below puts the various disease categories in descending order by the number of Bouviers reported with the conditions followed by the percentage of the total population participating in the survey that they represent. This listing does not imply any value judgement regarding the seriousness or importance of a given category or condition. There were a number of areas in which respondents were asked to include a date of diagnosis and/or onset of symptoms. There was not enough of this type of information included to be statistically useful.