UK study highlights health issues of English Cocker Spaniels

VetCompass™ (the Veterinary Companion Animal Surveillance System) is an epidemiological research program at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), which investigates anonymized clinical records from veterinary practices to generate evidence to support improved animal welfare.

The benefits of the research

A recent research study led by the program explored the health records of English Cocker Spaniel (ECS) dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK. The program’s results can aid vets, breeders and dog owners to better monitor dog health and promote earlier diagnosis.

The ECS is one of the most popular breeds in the UK. Although the breed is not considered to be one with major health issues, the UK’s Kennel Club does recommend that breeders should screen ECS for several health conditions including eye disorders and hip dysplasia, although it is unclear how important these conditions really are to the health of these dogs.

A previous RVC VetCompass paper published in 2023 reported the most common disorders of the ECS, which included periodontal disease (inflammation of the gums and tissue around the teeth), otitis externa (ear inflammation) and obesity.

Novel findings

Despite this information on disease frequency in the breed, there has been little information until now on which disorders the ECS is either predisposed to or protected from compared to other dogs.

Combining information regarding the most common disorders within a breed and also on disorder predisposition/protection helps to identify those disorders with the highest health-related welfare impact for that breed, and can help owners and breeding organizations to establish key health priorities.

Pinpointing risk

In this latest study, disease occurrence was compared between random samples of 2,510 English Cocker Spaniels and 7,813 dogs other than ECS, from a total population of 336,865 dogs under primary veterinary care during 2016.

The overall disease burden in ECS was higher than in the group of other dogs, with the ECS showing 1.12 times higher risk of being diagnosed with at least one disorder during the study period.

The ECS showed increased risk (i.e. predisposition) for 21 (48.8%) of the 43 most common disorders across both groups of dogs. The conditions with the highest risk in ECS were ear discharge (x14.66 risk), dry eye (keratoconjunctivitis sicca) (x7.64) and musculoskeletal pain (x7.06).

Several other eye conditions featured among the high-risk disorders (ocular discharge x2.03, cataract x1.90 and conjunctivitis x1.49), suggesting that eye disorders are an important contributor to the total disease burden in the ECS. The ECS also had an increased risk of other ear-related disorders (ear disorder x3.59, otitis externa x1.40).

Allergic skin disease is often reported as the most common cause of ear-related problems in dogs, but the main trigger in the ECS might be different because decreased risk was identified for allergic skin disorders and related conditions (allergy x0.14, atopic dermatitis x0.14, pododermatitis/inflammation of the paw x0.35, alopecia/hair loss x0.35, pruritus x0.65).

The ECS had a decreased risk (i.e. protection) of 11 (25.6%) of the 43 most common disorders in both groups. Disorders with a low risk in ECS included osteoarthritis (x0.37) and retained deciduous teeth (x0.35).

Potential impact

Overall, the study suggested that the ECS is especially predisposed to ear and eye disorders. These predispositions may be related to the pendulous ears and loose skin on the face that define the breed.

Conversely, the ECS appears protected to several skin-related disorders such as allergy, atopic dermatitis, alopecia and pododermatitis.

These findings can help owners to select the healthiest dog for themselves when they are first deciding on which type of dog to acquire. For owners who already have an ECS, this information can encourage them to pay special attention to ear and eye health in their dog.

These results can also aid breeders and veterinarians to better monitor health in ECS, promote earlier diagnosis with improved prognosis and can help breeding organizations establish key priorities for the health-based reforms of the ECS.