Labrador retrievers under primary veterinary care in the UK: demography, mortality and disorders

• Published in: Canine genetics and epidemiology 2018-10, Vol.5 (1), p.8-8, Article 8
• Main Authors: McGreevy, Paul D, Wilson, Bethany J, Mansfield, Caroline S, Brodbelt, Dave C, Church, David B, Dhand, Navneet, Soares Magalhães, Ricardo J, O'Neill, Dan G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Animal diseases; Body weight; Breed; Chocolate; Demographics; Demography; Dermatitis; Disease; Disorders; Dog; Dogs; Electronic patient record; Females; Health aspects; Information retrieval; Labrador retrievers; Liver; Longevity; Males; Management; Medical care; Mortality; Obesity; Otitis; Otitis externa; Overweight; Pedigree; Population studies; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Purebred; Risk factors; United Kingdom; VetCompass; Veterinary medicine
• ISSN: 2052-6687; 2052-6687; 2662-9380
• DOI: 10.1186/s40575-018-0064-x

Labrador retrievers are reportedly predisposed to many disorders but accurate prevalence information relating to the general population are lacking. This study aimed to describe demography, mortality and commonly recorded diseases in Labrador retrievers under UK veterinary care. The VetCompass™ programme collects electronic patient record data on dogs attending UK primary-care veterinary practices. Demographic analysis covered all33,320 Labrador retrievers in the VetCompass™ database under veterinary care during 2013 while disorder and mortality data were extracted from a random sample of 2074 (6.2%) of these dogs. Of the Labrador retrievers with information available, 15,427 (46.4%) were female and 15,252 (53.6%) were male. Females were more likely to be neutered than males (59.7% versus 54.8%,