Dog Disease

Canine Diseases and Ailments

Genetic conditions are a problem in some dogs, particularly purebreeds:

* Hip dysplasia primarily affects larger breeds.
* Luxating patellas can be a problem for smaller breeds.
* Genes for blindness or deafness seem to be carried by some breeds.
* In some dogs, such as collies, the blue merle or harlequin coloring is actually the heterozygote of a partially recessive gene preventing proper development of the nervous system; therefore, if two such dogs are mated, on the average one quarter of the puppies will have severe genetic defects in their nervous systems and sensory organs ranging from deafness to fatal flaws.

Canine Parasites

Several types of parasites are commonly associated with dogs:

* Intestinal worms cause varying degrees of discomfort.
* Heartworm is a dog parasitoid. It is hard to eliminate and can be fatal; prevention, however, is easily achieved using medication.

As the name suggests, an infected mosquito injects a larva into the dog's skin, where it migrates to the circulatory system and takes up residence in the pulmonary arteries and heart, growing and reproducing to an alarming degree. The effects on the dog are quite predictable, cardiac failure over a year or two, leading to death. Treatment of an infected dog is difficult, involving an attempt to poison the healthy worm with arsenic compounds without killing the weakened dog, and frequently does not succeed. Prevention is much the better course, via heartworm pills which are fed to the dog and contain a compound which kills the larvae immediately upon infection without harming the dog. Often they are available combined with other parasite preventives.

* Fleas and ticks are common parasites for which there are many effective preventive measures.
* Various mites cause skin problems such as mange.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dog Health"