Breed Health Survey
The Health Survey was re-launched during 2005 to obtain further information from a new generation of Border Terriers. Around 250 new reports have been received to date but Border Terrier owners are welcome to submit a report to the health survey at any time.
Whilst the reports take some time to put into the database, the current database contains information on approximately 850 dogs and further analysis has revealed some interesting information.
The information was grouped into time periods 1960 -1989 (181 dogs); 1990-1994 (238 dogs); and 1995 -2000 (433 dogs). Dogs were allotted to a time period according to their date of birth. The reports were then assessed for relative rates of incidence of various defects and behavioural problems and comparisons made between the groups.
The findings were as follows:
Defects
Cataracts were found at a rate of 7.7% in the 1960-1989 group but were below 1% in the other two. This supports the previous finding that cataracts in border terriers tend to be related to age. Veterinary reports have suggested that cataracts in Border Terriers are late onset in type.
Deafness appears to also be an age related problem having a similar distribution with 8.9% incidence in the 1960-1989 group and less than 1% in the other two. Deafness appears to be also an age related problem.
Tail defects (predominantly tail kinks), are found at a rate of 3.9%; 2.9% and 2.5% across the three groups respectively. This shows a decreasing trend, which is encouraging. Tail kinks are a congenital defect (being present at birth) and therefore age is not a factor here. The decreasing trend suggests that selective breeding may be having a beneficial effect in reducing the incidence of tail kinks.
Conversely, fertility problems seem to be increasing with an incidence rate of: less than 1%; 3.4% and 3.9% respectively. Further analysis will be needed to establish what are the potential causes at the root of this rising trend.
Heart defects were reported at very low rates in the first two groups and at 0.9% in the 1995-2000 group. This is a very low incidence but the increase in the last five years is a statistic that should be watched.
Behaviour Related Problems
Aggression (to other dogs) has a mixed pattern of occurrence with the respective rates being 7.1%; 9.24% and 6.24%. This suggests we still have some way to go in controlling this undesirable behaviour trait.
Similarly, Seizures show a mixed pattern too. 5.5% in l960-89; 8% in l990-1994 and only 1.85% in l995-2000. The low figure for the later group is potentially misleading as incidence of Seizures can be expected to rise with age and therefore this figure can be expected to rise over time.
Sporadic reports of suspected cases of Spikes Disease (CECS) have been received but confirmation of diagnosis is difficult and reports are often received indirectly. Further analysis of CECS will continue but incidence overall remains low compared to aggression, infertility, cataracts and deafness.
March 2008 Update
Nothing much has changed in the incidence of disease in Border Terriers over the past year. Health survey forms continue to trickle into the database and many thanks to those who have contributed. However a number of Border Terrier owners have asked about Hereditary Cataract (HC) in Borders.
The Border Terrier has been under investigation for many years (20 plus to my knowledge) because of a suspicion that the breed has an incidence of late onset cataracts. The evidence from the Health Survey does confirm an incidence of cataract in older borders, however, this in itself is not unusual as dogs greater than 10 years might well develop cataracts due to ageing. In the database there are 15 reports of cataract making an incidence rate of approaching 2%. However when age was taken into account the incidence rises sharply in dogs aged over 10 years.
A cataract is opacity in the lens of the eye. Classically it has a milky white appearance sitting behind the iris. It is often particularly noticeable when the whiteness is so dense the light no longer reaches the back of the eye readily and the pupil dilates showing even more of the opacity. However a careful examination of the eye at an earlier stage may show signs of a developing cataract which appears as a slight opacity, especially in bright light. Cataract is a problem as it interferes with the transmission of light to the retina at the back of the eye and therefore vision will be compromised. A dog with developing cataracts may first have problems with night vision but this will develop to full blindness over time.
Cataract can be caused by ageing and by some of the diseases of elderly dogs with diabetes being a good example. Medication and physical injury to the eye can also have a role to play. However, if the cataract is caused by an inherited defect then clearly there is something to be done by the breed to reduce or eliminate this defect if at all possible. Sounds easy in theory but there are problems in achieving this.
Firstly, with late onset cataract, it is often impossible to know in individual dogs if the cause is inherited or due to ageing and/or illness. Secondly, by the time a dog is found to be suffering from late onset HC it has already been bred from and probably so have its offspring and theirs too. Thirdly, unless the inherited form can be reliably distinguished from others there is little hope of understanding the inheritance in the breed nor of identifying affected breed lines.
Thus the Border Terrier stays on the suspect list but it is not clear when or if it stands any chance of being proved to have an incidence of HC or cleared of the condition. Thus it is likely that the breed will remain on the suspect list for many years to come, a fact which will probably cause many owners of ageing borders some concern but, unless some concerted action is taken to analyse the pedigrees of dogs with suspected HC (if the pedigrees have been collected), it is unlikely to be resolved in the near future.
For breeders the advice would be to consider carefully breeding from a long line of dogs that have cataracts in their advanced years but beyond this it is difficult to offer any other constructive guidance.
March 2009 Update
The unasked for attention on pedigree dogs which was driven by an extremely biased programme on BBC TV has resulted in a renewed drive by the Kennel Club on health issues across the spectrum of the UK breeds. The outcome has been, among many other things, changes to all breed standards and a common Code of Conduct across all breeds (both are included in this Year Book). Fortunately, because of the good health record of the border terrier this has not resulted in much change for the border terrier itself but it has generated a flurry of activity around the close of 2008 to answer the health questions posed by the Kennel Club (KC) to all the breeds.
This article sets out what the clubs have jointly said to the KC and perhaps the most useful outcome for the breed is the formal confirmation of the arrangement that was already informally in place to the effect that your author has been asked by all the breed clubs to be the single point of contact for the KC on border terrier health issues.
We have told the KC that the findings derived from the KC's own Health Survey are consistent with the Health Survey conducted jointly by a number of the border terrier clubs. As a result we have confirmed there are no diseases in Borders which appear to exceed the 'All Breed Average' identified for common diseases across the range of breeds surveyed. The Border Terrier Health Survey carries data on around 900 dogs and has been ongoing since 2001. We added some further detail to our comment to illustrate the depth of the information we have derived from our own survey. This was summarised as follows:
The Border Terrier Health Survey shows that the commonest conformational defects are retained testes (7%); tail kinks (3%); undershot jaw (3%).
A low incidence of deafness, cataract and heart murmurs was also noted, all associated with advancing years.
On the subject of cataract the breed is discussing an investigation, with the help of the veterinary ophthalmologists, to determine if this is because of an inherited factor or simply age related.
The Kennel Club have access to insurance data detailing the types of health claims made to cover veterinary fees. These showed that the commonest conditions encountered in insured dogs are gastroenteritis, traumatic wounds and injuries and unspecified hind leg lameness. We responded to these findings as follows:
Gastroenteritis - not an unexpected condition in dogs of all ages and often due to diet or infection
Traumatic wound/injury - As an active game terrier occasional injuries are not uncommon
Unspecified hind leg lameness - In the breed there are very low incidences reported of Legge von Perthes Disease and cranial cruciate ligament rupture. Neither has a significant incidence but are kept under observation by the breed. Occasional reports of hip dysplasia are also reported but this of little significance in a small breed.
We added further comment as follows:
Liver shunt repair is another occasional reason for surgery and this is another condition we have under observation.
Seizures also feature in the breed at an incidence of around 4%. We did not specify CECS (Spikes Disease) as this is currently considered to be neurological condition and accurate diagnosis and therefore incidence figures are not reliably available.
Skin diseases (most notably demodectic mange) and ear infections are also reported sporadically
The Kennel Club surveyed the available scientific veterinary literature for each breed and commented that Renal Dysplasia had been reported in BTs. To evaluate this I obtained the summary of the paper and reviewed it and as a result our response was:
Renal dysplasia - the paper concerned describes two exceptional clinical cases in the USA and has no significance for the breed in the UK.
Finally the KC asked us to comment on the inherited diseases that might be considered as significant in the breed. The Kennel Club had not identified any significant inherited disease using the criteria of the all breed average as an incidence level to trigger concern. We have stated that, of the conditions the breed is aware of, none are exceptional and of those that could have a significant effect on health either the condition is of very low incidence and kept under observation or related to advancing years and of less significance to the health and welfare of the dog in comparison to acquired disease over a dog's life span. The incidence of inheritance for each is unknown but most significant conditions with a possible genetic association would be:
1. Age related cataract
2. Demodectic mange
3. Seizures
4. Liver shunt
However we stressed that none of the above conditions exceeds the all breed average and are of such low incidence their impact on the breed is difficult to evaluate. In order to put the list above into perspective the top five conditions that generally threaten health and welfare in the breed were confirmed as:
1. Old age
2. Trauma
3. Alimentary tracts conditions (Gingivitis/Gastritis/colitis)
4. Skin disease (non specific including aural inflammation and infection)
5. Cancer (non specific)
The health situation in the breed and the revised breed standard will be reviewed during 2009 once the KC have considered our response but I predict there will be little change for the border terrier whose reputation for longevity and good health is well known. Let's all try and keep it that way please.
Prof. Steve Dean BVetMed, MRCVS, DVR
Breed Health Co-ordinator
March 2009
How To Submit A Report
We would like to receive reports from all Border Terrier owners, even if your dog is generally healthy. This provides a better picture of health across the breed. We emphasise that all reports are treated entirely confidentially - the only person having access to them is Prof. Steve Dean, BVetMed, DVR, MRCVS, who is undertaking the survey on behalf of the Breed Clubs.
A Survey Form is available to download at the link below:
Breed Health Survey (PDF,64.1kb)
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