Health
The Italian Greyhound has a median lifespan of 13.5 in a 2004 UK Kennel Club survey. A 1993 US breed club survey gives an average lifespan of 9 years but more than a quarter of the dogs had "accidents" recorded as cause of death.
Health problems that can be found in the breed:
- Epilepsy
- Legg-Perthes disease (degeneration of the hip)
- Patellar Luxation (slipped stifles)
- von Willebrand disease (vWD) (Bleeding disorder)
- Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA)
- Color dilution alopecia (hair loss in dilute pigmented dogs, i.e.: blues, blue fawns, etc.)
- Leg Breaks (most common under the age of 2)
- Cataracts
- Vitreous degeneration
- Liver shunts
- Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
- Periodontal disease, gum recession, early tooth loss, bad tooth enamel
- Hypothyroidism, Autoimmune Thyroid Disease (Hashimoto's disease)
Responsible breeders will routinely check their dogs for the onset of various inherited disorders, these commonly include (but are not limited to): CERF examinations on eyes, OFA patellar examinations, OFA thyroid function panels, von Willebrand's factor, OFA hip and Legg-Perthes disease x-rays, and others.In research by the Ortheopedic Foundation for Animals, the Italian Greyhound was found to be the least affected by hip dysplasia out of 157 breeds. Tests were conducted on 169 individual Italian Greyhounds, of which none were found to have hip dysplasia and 59.2% scored excellent on their hip evaluations.
Read more about this topic: Italian Greyhound
Famous quotes containing the word health:
“All health and success does me good, however far off and withdrawn it may appear; all disease and failure helps to make me sad and does me evil, however much sympathy it may have with me or I with it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The health of the soul is something we can be no more sure of than that of the body; and though a man may seem far from the passions, yet he is in as much danger of falling into them as one in a perfect state of health of having a fit of sickness.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“The sick man is taken away by the institution that takes charge not of the individual, but of his illness, an isolated object transformed or eliminated by technicians devoted to the defense of health the way others are attached to the defense of law and order or tidiness.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)