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It seems as if there are more dogs who are showing up with health problems to the veterinary. Many individuals have also seen the trend of dogs health diminishing. Fortunately scientists have seen the concern and have done some studies on a dogs health.
A recent study has shown DNA samples from nearly 50,000 dogs of over 200 different breeds. The study has found on average dogs have showed about 25% inbreeding. That is the equivalent of your parents being brother and sister or parent and child. The study involves data from pet insurance and dog genetics companies. Pet insurance and dog genetics companies were used in the study to compare a dog's health and the death rate of different dog breeds. The pet insurance data was used from Sweden.
The study wanted to compare more than just inbreeding, the study also measured the "identify a relationship between body size, body morphology, inbreeding and health in dogs." (Bannasch et al. 2021). Overall the study was very informative as to the health of dogs breeds. Showing inbreeding can cause some kind of health problem for a dog was very interesting to read. For another article similar to this one, please click here.
Finding a way to stop these dogs from crossbreeding would be a great way to preserve their lives. I find this topic really interesting when it comes to the health of animals and their overall well-being.
ReplyDeleteThat is an incredibly large percentage of inbreeding for an average. As a society we need to stop the idealization of owning purebred dogs.
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