About Dog Breed Health

Oscar

This website is aimed at dog and puppy buyers who are choosing which breed (or cross-breed) to have as a pet.

It will outline the needs of each type of dog so that you can choose one which will suit your lifestyle. The site will give you the main genetic health problems of each breed, and inform you of the health screening and testing available for these diseases.  It will also point out the welfare problems associated with a breed’s physical characteristics.

It will be up to you to make sure that a breeder has carried out the appropriate health tests and that the parents of your puppy have been screened and found to be free of disease and suitable for breeding.

Purchasing a dog or puppy should never be done casually and without thorough research.

This way you will be less likely to incur expensive veterinary treatment, the heartbreak of seeing your dog suffer, or finding that you are unable to cope with your dog’s lifestyle needs.

My aim is to provide clear and simple information about the genetic health problems associated with a particular dog breed.  Please note that the list of breed related diseases may not be complete due to the lack of reliable prevalence data.   However, I will try to make  the list as accurate as possible and keep it updated when new information becomes available.

If you have an in-depth knowledge of any particular breed and feel that the information can be improved, please contact me and I will update the relevant breed page.

Please note that this is a UK based website and whilst many of the breed related genetic diseases will apply all over the world, some will not.  There may well be populations which are relatively free from some of the conditions.  In breeds new to the UK, there may be genetic diseases which have not yet been flagged up.

Professional Opinion

“The website is an excellent way of informing the public of what to look for when buying a puppy or dog and provides easy to understand information on health issues. Really anyone thinking about taking on the responsibility of owning a dog should look at this website to ensure they know what it entails and what pitfalls there are when making a breed choice. A tremendous amount of work has gone into creating something to help both members of the public and also the future welfare of dogs and APGAW is pleased to endorse this website.”
Neil Parish MP, Chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW)

“Carol works tirelessly to raise the profile of health problems in all breeds of dog; sadly, she is not short of subject matter. Her website is informative and easy to navigate and represents a huge amount of work. There are useful links to other similar websites and she is to be congratulated on providing such a valuable resource.”
Professor Sheila Crispin, Chairman of the Advisory Council on the Welfare Issues of Dog Breeding

Creator of the site and Ceva Pet Lovers Welfare Award winner 2012 Carol Fowler, with her Cavalier, Rosie

A huge thank you to vets Harvey Locke, Mark Norcott, Dr Dan O’Neil, Dr Clare Rusbridge; canine behaviour expert, Dr Nicola Rooney; and canine geneticist Dr David Sargan  for their input and advice.

A massive thank you also to Tania Ledger (founder of Cavalier Matters charity) for her help and support, and Steve Tolmie for his IT assistance.