Understanding Spanish Water Dog Health Issues and Prevention

Spanish Water Dogs are generally a healthy breed, but like all breeds, they can be prone to certain health issues. Hip dysplasia is a common problem in Spanish Water Dogs, with some studies showing that up to 20% of the breed can be affected.

Hip dysplasia can lead to arthritis and mobility problems, so it's essential to work with a reputable breeder who has had their dogs tested for this condition.

Eye problems are also a concern in Spanish Water Dogs, with issues like progressive retinal atrophy and cataracts being reported.

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Hip dysplasia is a common hereditary cause of lameness in many breeds of dog, including the Spanish Water Dog.

Signs of hindlimb lameness may be first noticed from five months of age.

X-ray examination can usually identify malformation of one or both hip joints even at this young age.

Conservative treatment involves rest and anti-inflammatory medications, while severely affected dogs may be candidates for hip replacement surgery when fully grown.

The Kennel Club and British Veterinary Association have a well-established hip scoring scheme in place to remove dogs with very poor hips from the breeding pool.

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Hip dysplasia is a common hereditary cause of lameness in many breeds of dog, often encountered in the Spanish Water Dog.

Signs of hindlimb lameness may be first noticed from five months of age.

X-ray examination can usually identify malformation of one or both hip joints even at this young age.

Conservative treatment involves rest and anti-inflammatory medications.

Severely affected dogs may be candidates for hip replacement surgery when fully grown.

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Looking at the pedigree of the collected Spanish water dogs with NAD, we can see a clear pattern of inbreeding loops that likely originated 8 to 9 generations ago.

Only a subset of the dogs in this pedigree had DNA available for analysis.

Affected animals are shown with black symbols in the pedigree, while genotyped carriers of the causative mutation are indicated with half-filled symbols.

Females are represented as circles and males as squares, making it easy to see the relationships between the dogs.

The pedigree highlights the importance of considering genetic relationships when breeding dogs, particularly for conditions like NAD that have a strong genetic component.

It's clear that the breeding decisions made in the past have had a lasting impact on the health of these Spanish water dogs.

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Spanish Water Dogs are incredibly active, and they'll take as much exercise as you can give them. They love swimming, but it's not essential to their wellbeing.

To keep your Spanish Water Dog happy and healthy, you'll need to provide at least an hour of walking or free exercise every day. This breed thrives on physical activity, so don't be surprised if they get restless if they don't get enough.

A large garden where they can ramble around is a must-have for this breed, as they love to explore and play.

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Clinical signs of NAD in Spanish water dogs typically start between six and eleven months of age and progress slowly over time. Owners may notice gait abnormalities, behavioral changes, and incontinence in their dogs.

Affected dogs often display a mild head tilt, generalized mild cerebellar ataxia, and absent to depressed patellar reflexes. Compulsory pacing, proprioceptive deficits, decreased menace, visual deficits, positional nystagmus, and decreased muscle tone are also common symptoms.

The disorder is characterized by a multifocal, predominantly sensory, localization, and complete blood count and chemistry profile are typically within reference ranges. Analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid shows normal cell counts and protein values.

A TECPR2 missense mutation is associated with NAD in Spanish water dogs, and the recessive inheritance and fatal effect of the mutation suggest a loss of function mutation affecting splicing, expression, or the coding sequence of the gene. The mutant allele is completely absent in all other dog breeds except the Spanish water dog.

A total of 63 private variants were noticed within the critical interval on CFA 8, but only a single one, TECPR2 c.4009C>T, was predicted to affect the coding sequence of an annotated gene. The variant remains perfectly associated with the NAD phenotype in more than 300 Spanish water dogs.

The TECPR2 variant is homozygous TT in affected dogs and heterozygous CT in available parents and grandparents. It is absent from a selection of dogs from other breeds.

NAD in Spanish water dogs is characterized by a multifocal, predominantly sensory, localization disorder. The affected dogs typically start showing symptoms between six and eleven months of age.

The symptoms include gait abnormalities, behavioral changes, and incontinence. Some dogs may also display compulsory pacing, proprioceptive deficits, decreased menace, visual deficits, and positional nystagmus.

Pathomorphological findings in affected dogs are restricted to the CNS. Neuronal loss and spheroid formation of variable degree are present in the brain, particularly in the grey matter.

The lesions are most prominent and consistently found in the dorsolateral nuclei of the brain stem, including the cuneate and vestibular nuclei and the nucleus of the spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve. Sporadic spheroids are also present in the white matter of the brain.

In the spinal cord, neuronal loss and/or spheroid formation is restricted to the sensory pathways. The number of spheroids in the spinal cord of diseased animals ranges between 38 and 103 spheroids per mm in the gray matter and between 1 to 1.5 spheroids per mm in the white matter.

The spheroids in diseased Spanish water dogs represent demarcated nodular swellings with accumulations of a finely granular eosinophilic material.

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NAD in Spanish water dogs maps to a 4.5 Mb region on CFA 8. This region is crucial for understanding the genetic basis of the disease.

A total of 288 SNP markers correspond to a 4.47 Mb interval from 67.54 to 72.01 Mb on CFA 8. This is the exact region where all diseased dogs were homozygous, in contrast to the 13 phenotypically healthy controls.

The pedigree analysis indicated a monogenic autosomal recessive inheritance of NAD, suggesting that the disease is caused by a single gene defect. This is consistent with the fact that both female and male offspring were affected, and the parents of affected dogs showed no clinical signs of the disease.

The region on CFA 8 is a critical interval where a total of 58 genes and loci are annotated. A comprehensive overview of all variants in this region was obtained by sequencing the whole genome of one NAD-affected Spanish water dog.

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The TECPR2 gene is a key player in this region, and a missense mutation in this gene is associated with NAD in Spanish water dogs. This mutation is a private non-synonymous variant, meaning it is specific to the Spanish water dog breed.

Here is a summary of the genotypes for the TECPR2 variant in different dog breeds:

The Spanish Water Dog is prone to several health issues, including hip dysplasia, which affects 17% of the breed. This genetic condition can lead to arthritis and mobility problems.

Hip dysplasia is often inherited from the parents, so responsible breeding practices are crucial to minimize the risk.

The research on this topic is quite fascinating. The study found that the majority of participants believed that the current system was flawed, but many were hesitant to propose changes.

The data showed a significant correlation between the perceived flaws and the willingness to suggest improvements. This suggests that people are more likely to think critically about a system when they see its shortcomings.

Many participants felt that the current system was overly complex, which made it difficult to navigate. This complexity was a major contributor to the perceived flaws.

However, some participants pointed out that the system's complexity was also a result of its attempts to balance competing interests. This balance was a key aspect of the system's design.

The study's findings have implications for how we approach complex systems in the future. By acknowledging the trade-offs involved in system design, we can create more effective and user-friendly solutions.

Genetic mapping was a crucial step in identifying the cause of NAD in Spanish water dogs. Researchers used the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip to genotype genomic DNA from four affected dogs and 13 related healthy dogs.

This chip contains over 170,000 SNPs, which are evenly spaced and validated. The researchers used PLINK software to identify extended homozygous regions with allele sharing across cases and controls.

The team used the following PLINK commands to achieve this: --maf 0, --max-maf 1.0, --geno 0.01, --hwe 0, --mind 0.15, --homozyg, --homozyg-match 1, and --homozyg-group.

The positions of the SNPs correspond to the CanFam3.1 genome assembly. This assembly is used as a reference for canine genetic research.

Researchers then used MERLIN software to perform multipoint parametric linkage analyses. This analysis was done under both homogeneity and heterogeneity assumptions, assuming NAD segregates as a biallelic autosomal recessive trait with complete penetrance.

The frequency of the disease allele in the population is unknown, so a frequency of 0.01 for the mutated allele was assumed.