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July 2017 Newsletter |
If your dog has had any illnesses or ailments, you can tell us about them at any time without having to complete the rest of the questionnaire. Simply login to your dog's profile by visiting the website and click on the link underneath your dog's graph.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in receiving this month’s newsletter.
Polling Station Dogs Cause Sensation!
Lipomas are the most common benign tumour in dogs, and we are starting to see them being reported in the older Dogslife participants. They tend to develop as soft lumps, which are usually located just under the skin. The clinical signs which they are associated with, depends on where they develop, as they can grow very large in some individuals and obstruct the normal function of organs or tissues which surround them. For example, a lipoma affecting the larynx (voice box) or chest cavity could interfere with a dog’s breathing.
Lipomas are more commonly seen in certain dog breeds, including Labrador Retrievers, Dobermans and Miniature Schnauzers; with lipomas reported in up to 9% of Labradors. It is believed that being overweight and female are the two most common risk factors which contribute to dogs developing lipomas. We also tend to see them more often in older dogs. They are mostly found under the skin of the thoracic or abdominal cavities, or on the upper parts of the limbs. Sometimes lipomas invade local structures, such as the muscles, which may necessitate their removal (for example, in the computed tomography scan pictured on the right, the lipoma is affecting the dog's leg).
It is important to recognise that no tumour can be definitively diagnosed by its appearance and location alone. The diagnosis may require the removal of a small number of cells (by placing a needle in the tumour) or removing a small part of the tumour (a biopsy) to allow a pathologist to evaluate the cells present and characterise the tumour type. In lipomas, adipose (fat) cells will be seen, without malignant features. If the lipoma is invading the local tissues, it may require more detailed imaging to see exactly what it is attached to, which will enable surgeons to plan complete removal of the tumour with a greater likelihood of success. Surgical removal may not be required for all lipomas, as it depends on the location and size of the tumour as to whether it will have an adverse effect on the dog. However, the lipoma will require monitoring to make sure it doesn’t change in the future. If you find a lump on your dog and you are concerned then contact your vet for advice.
As we reported last month (http://www.dogslife.ac.uk/newsletter/view/85#Tummy) the Dogslife team has recently announced their findings from an investigation into when and how often vomiting and/ or diarrhoea were reported by participants, and what lifestyle factors seemed to be associated with incidences. The investigation was published in the scientific journal Preventative Veterinary Medicine and one of the key findings was that people most often look after their dog at home when they present with these signs, rather than take them to the vet. For over 60% of diarrhoea events and over 70% of vomiting events, the dog was not taken to the vet, although this dropped to 50% when vomiting and diarrhoea occurred together. This highlights that studies based only on data collected from veterinary practice records can miss the vast majority of times that the dog has these illnesses.
Vomiting and diarrhoea were examined separately in the investigation because they peaked at different times during the year (February for vomiting and August for diarrhoea) and were found to have different risk factors.. For example, having a cat in the household was associated with a lower chance of a dog vomiting compared to households that did not have a cat, but the presence or absence of a cat in the household did not seem to make a difference for diarrhoea. Similarly, lower numbers of people in an area (human population density, as determined by their home postcode) was associated with fewer instances of diarrhoea although population density did not affect vomiting. That would make sense if more of the causes of diarrhoea were infectious because a higher population density could mean a higher chance of a dog encountering an infectious agent whereas many vomiting incidents might be caused by the Labrador Retriever’s propensity for eating rubbish and non-food items!
There were some similarities between the signs too. Both clinical signs were most common when the dogs were 3-6 months old, and both were less likely in retired households and households that had another dog. In contrast to other studies, that have looked at different breeds and found that male dogs were more likely to suffer from diarrhoea than females, we found that the probability of a dog developing diarrhoea was not related to its sex in the Labrador Retrievers taking part in Dogslife.
Using over 5,000 reports of vomiting and diarrhoea combined, a number of risk factors were investigated and quantified. This was only possible due to all of the Dogslife members completing questionnaires. Again we would like to thank all Dogslife contributors for your time and efforts in helping us discover this information. If you would like to read about what was done in more detail then the full study is available via this link http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167587716304354.
Polling Station Dogs Cause Sensation!
Now an annual tradition, #dogsatpollingstations caused a sensation in the beginning of June with lots of dogs being snapped outside their owners’ local polling station. Although most people choose to leave their dogs outside, well behaved dogs are allowed to accompany their owner when they cast their vote (http://www.itv.com/news/2017-06-07/what-are-the-rules-on-dogs-and-other-animals-at-polling-stations/)
The dogs however, have had alittle competition this year with hedgehogs, cats and even horses taking part in fun! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-40199067
The trend originally started in 2015 in the general election across England, Scotland and Wales, and last month had over 1000 people tweeting to take part. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39804043
To have a look through some of the most popular pictures, search #dogsatpollingstations and see the wonderful variety of dogs waiting (some not so) patiently for their owners to return!
Congratulations to July’s prize winners! The following Dogslife members have each won £10 of Pets at Home vouchers: Mr W from Batley, Prof. W from Inverurie, Mrs P from Chichester, Mrs G from Annan, Mr M from Barney, Miss G from Bodmin, Mr H from Catterick, Mr F from Bournmouth, Ms H from Newport and Mrs K from Cambridge. We hope you enjoy spending the vouchers on your pet!
Don’t worry if you haven’t won a prize this time; the next time you login at www.dogslife.ac.uk and update your dog’s record, you will automatically be entered into the next prize draw which takes place in September.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support Dogslife. We are very grateful for your help with the study. To read about Dogslife’s findings so far, please click here: http://www.dogslife.ac.uk/research.
As part of the ongoing management and governance of the Dogslife project, we have recently embarked on a Privacy impact Assessment (PIA). This is a process whereby we are reviewing our data collection and storage methods to ensure that we can avoid or minimise the risks associated with holding large amounts of data. It will also enable us to ensure that our processes for handling personal data are as efficient and effective as possible. As of 2018, this will be a requirement for all projects which hold personal data, but it makes sense for Dogslife to do this now so that we can mitigate any potential risks as early as possible through modification of our processes and through our new website design. We have complied our PIA and would welcome the views of any members of the public (be they participants or non-participants) on the personal data Dogslife stores and uses. If you are interested in helping us with this exercise, please email us at info@dogslife.ac.uk. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Is your dog special? Why not put them forward to become a Featured Dog? Look out for the link next time you log in!
