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All breeds of dogs are exposed to the same environmental toxins
in our highly polluted physical environment. However, only Scotties
have a risk of cancer 18 times higher for bladder cancer when compared
to other breeds, as reported by Purdue University.
The high risk factor for Scotties is based on reviewing hundreds of cases from multiple institutions in the Veterinary Medical Database, over a period from 1975 to 1995. The 18 times risk factor was published by Dr. Glickman at Purdue University, by Carole Fry Owen when she was a Scottish Terrier Club of America Health Trust Fund trustee and by Dr. Marcia Dawson, former Health Trust Fund chairperson and Purdue staffer. Ref: Purdue University Research http://www.vet.perdue.edu/epi/canblad.htm Other breeds at a higher risk of contracting cancer included Shelties, Wire Fox and Westies with an odds ratio of 4.5, 3.2 and 3.0 respectively. Other sources, including the Scottish Terrier Club of America and the AKC's Canine Health Foundation, mention a higher risk among Scotties of other cancers in addition to bladder cancer. Ref: 1986 Scottish Terrier Handbook and American Kennel Club website below quoting Scottish Terrier Club of America: http://clubs.akc.org/stca/ Many veterinary doctors maintain that the lowest cancer rates and the best health rates are found in mixed breed dogs. This is because the gene pool is adequately large among “mutts” or “Heinz 57’s”. Even though they are exposed to the same environmental toxins, mixed breed dogs have a much lower risk of cancer. The breeders quoted in this website confirm that the Scottie breeding stock is very small (reference Breeder Comments). As one breeder on this site stated: “The gene pool is indeed vanishing. This, again, in my opinion, is a direct result of the breeding policies of the last 15 years. ” Although some breeders fault backyard breeders, a breeder on this site suspects that backyard breeders may have a lower rate of cancer because show breeding has not concentrated predisposition to cancer along with concentrating of Scottish Terrier breed standard characteristics. A third breeder on this site suggested that the solution could be a tradeoff between a beautiful dog and a healthy dog: "A phenomenon which few Scottie breeders know about yet, but which affects immunity and the disease process, including the incidence of cancers, is the major histo compatibility complex. When there is more diversity in this "major histo compatibility complex," dogs are able to mount a better immune response. When breeders concentrate the "good" genes, almost by definition they reduce the diversity in this major histo compatibility complex," even if they are being meticulous in avoiding recessive genes like vonWillebrand's disease, craniomandibular osteopathy, cerebellar abiotrophy, etc "My opinion is that Scottie buyers (and breeders, too) deserve to know the coefficient of inbreeding of Scotties that they are buying, or Scotties on which they are making breeding decisions. Until that happens, it appears that buying Scotties which have few common close-up ancestors in their pedigrees could be one way to insure that a particular Scottie might enjoy a longer life...and perhaps even avoid some of the common Scottie cancers". “When individual breeders, or even the AKC, start calculating coefficiency of inbreeding on each pedigree, breeders could, if interested, try to reduce their "inbreeding" by adding that information to their "breeding equation." Buyers could use coefficiency of inbreeding in the decision-making process as to which Scottie to buy.” “Perhaps wise buyers would choose dogs with lower coefficients of inbreeding in hopes of getting longer-lived Scotties. They would also need to understand that they probably would be buying Scotties that are poorer specimens of the breed when compared to the Scottish Terrier Standard since fewer "good" genes have been concentrated.” My opinion as a person with no Scottie breeding experience is that consideration should be given to the painstaking process of researching suitable stock that had not been closely bred with the existing show stock, to expand the North American Scottish Terrier gene pool. Although off-shore breeders may not be doing as good a job as SCTA in managing the breeding of Scotties to reduce disease, finding good off-shore stock is possible. The effort would be time-consuming and expensive, but may produce faster results than giving all of the Health Trust money to research. In addition, reputable breeders have reduced their rate of cancer by requiring prospective owners to undertake to follow environmental precautions, such as the 10 steps in this website. This has met with some success (Breeder #1, Breeder Comments). A large-scale effort to expand the gene pool operation and an awareness campaign regarding the 10 steps or similar measures, directed at both Scottie owners and breeders, would help to offset the galloping rate of cancer in Scotties. The following articles are also informative: McTavish breeders’ website below talks about the high rate of cancer in Scotties and how breeders are working together to improve the health of Scotties, saying “Scotties tend to be a healthy breed. This happy situation is a result of their long genetic evolution in the Scottish Highlands and the care of the breed taken by fanciers over the years. This is not to say that there are not health problems - there are, and some breeding lines will show more problems than others, but the openness of breeders and the action taken by breed clubs to address the problems are actually improving the breed”. “Scotties are at high risk for some cancers, particularly lymphosarcoma, bladder and urinary tract cancers, malignant melanoma and gastric carcinoma. Research into cancers is ongoing and early detection is critical in affecting a cure”. http://www.mactavishscotties.ca/scotties/health.html |
