Surveillance and Prevalence of Canine Reproductive Disorders in Gujarat

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Surveillance and Prevalence of Canine Reproductive Disorders in Gujarat
AK Gupta 1 , AJ Dhami 1 *, Neha Rao 2 IntroductIon D ue to the changed lifestyle, pet dogs are prone to a number of general and reproductive health disorders. Moreover, awareness of canine health and diseases has increased over the years in India; as a result, large numbers of canine cases are presented to the different clinics, especially in metros and other big cities. Egenvall et al. (2000), in a study on the diagnosis of canine diseases, observed the genital system to be the most commonly affected system in females, within which 50 % of the bitches had pyometra. The reports regarding such surveys are meager from India (Deka et al., 2005;Joseph et al., 2005;Dabhi et al., 2005;Gupta et al., 2013) and there is a paucity of information on the incidence of various reproductive disorders in canines, particularly in Gujarat (Dabhi et al., 2005). Hence this retrospective study was conducted to record the pattern of occurrence of various reproductive physio-pathologies, overall and in relation to age and breed of dogs, in middle Gujarat.

MAterIAls A n d Methods
The present surveillance work was undertaken during the year 2011-12. The records of dogs (n=21852) registered for diagnosis and treatment of various ailments from around middle Gujarat during the past three years   used to work out the incidence of reproductive disorders in either sex of the canine. The prevalence of different gynecological and andrological cases was analyzed overall as well as breed-wise and age-wise for pooled cases of both the locations. The major clinical entities that emerged out of the analysis in females, such as pyometra, mammary tumors, CTVG, etc. were also screened for clinical signs and mode of management adopted including elective sterilization over the period. The purpose was to get the trend of cases that are being emerged out due to increasing awareness of pet owners in the urban areas of Gujarat so that due attention can be given to improve their diagnosis and clinical management.

results A n d dIscussIon
Of the total 21852 clinical cases attended in canines at two clinics, 486 (2.22 %) and 85 (0.39 %) were of gynaecological and andrological nature, respectively. The details with respect to their incidence and the breed and age most susceptible are presented in Tables 1 to 4.

Age and Breed Wise Distribution of Gynaecological Disorders
Age-wise and breed-wise distribution of canine gynecological cases attended in dogs during the period of surveillance is presented in Tables 3 and 4.
The highest occurrence of gynecological cases was found in young bitches 0-5 years of age (51.02 %), followed by middle age group of 6-10 years (27.57 %), older bitches of 11-15 years of age (20.58 %) and the lowest in older bitches of   (Table 3). Only the proportion of older cases (11-15 yrs age group) presented at Vadodara Clinic was higher than at Anand (33.33 vs. 14.20 %); otherwise, for the rest of groups, there was no such difference between two locations. Hagman et al. (2011) recorded the mean age of 7.9 years (range 0.75-14 years) among 87 canine pyometra cases. Joseph et al. (2005) reported a higher incidence of the venereal tumor and pyometra in the age group of above 10 years, pseudopregnancy in 5-8 years and pregnancy diagnosis in 2-4 years old bitches. The breed most prone to gynecological disorders was non-descript (51.65 %), followed in decreasing order by Pomeranian (16.25 %), German Shepherd and Labrador (6.79 % each), Doberman (5.97 %), Spitz (3.29 %), Great Dane (2.47 %) and others (Table 4). Among the cases presented at two locations, the proportion of cases in Pomeranian breed was much higher (33.95 vs 7.41 %) and that of the non-descript breed was much lower (22.84 vs 66.05%) at Vadodara Clinic than at Anand, otherwise for rest of the breeds there was no such difference between locations.
Greater gynaecological cases recorded in non-descript and Pomeranian breeds and in younger age group of dogs during the period under surveillance could be due to greater gross population of these categories of animals in the area under survey. Wakanker (1993), Dave (2002), Dabhi et al. (2005) and Ajala et al. (2011) also reported non-descript, Pomeranian, German Shepherd and Doberman as the most affected breeds with reproductive problems. The age of bitches having different reproductive disorders was also, to some extent, similar to their observations. Pseudopregnancy was negatively related to pyometra occurrence as 64% cases were having no history of pseudo-pregnancy, but nulliparity was significantly related to pyometra as 86% cases were nulliparous (Ajala et al., 2011).. The higher incidence of gynecological cases observed in the younger age group in our study could be due to a greater population of younger dogs presented for investigation and treatment. Joseph et al. (2005) also opined that the highest incidence of reproductive conditions (38.7%) observed in the Pomeranian breed was probably due to larger numbers of cases presented in that breed.

Major Clinical Entities
The major clinical entities that emerged out of the analysis and clinically managed in female dogs were pyometra, mammary tumors, CTVC, etc. including elective sterilization over the three years of records surveyed. Open pyometra with the history of estrus some 30 to 50 days back and classical signs of vaginal discharge, anorexia, dullness/ lethargy, vomition, polydipsia, polyuria, and toxemia was the major clinical entity in middle-aged mostly nulliparous bitches. Ovariohysterectomy was performed in most cases as a treatment of choice in them with a more than 95% recovery rate. The mammary neoplasm was the second major clinical entity for which mammectomy was the preferred treatment if owner consented, but metastasis was the complication in many cases with fatality later on. The third major entity was venereal granuloma in which female and male dogs with signs of foul smelling bloody vulvar/preputial discharge and fragile granular growths on the mucosa of vulvo-vagina and prepuce/penis were presented. These cases were treated with chemotherapy (Vincristicin) alone or accompanied with surgical intervention. However, recurrence was noted in 10-15% cases.
The cases of proestrus bleeding and misalliance were suitably handled with technical advice for breeding at estrus few days later in former and injecting stilboesterol within 3 days of misalliance in later (Mandhwani et al., 2018). Pregnancy diagnosis was mostly done based on abdominal palpation and radiography in selected cases. Other clinical cases were managed as per routine protocol. The elective sterilization of some 10% female dogs was also performed using standard protocol upon genuine request of the pet owners.
It was concluded that the pyometra, mammary neoplasms, CTVG, proestrus bleeding, pregnancy diagnosis, and spaying were the major cases in female dogs, and venereal granulomas, scrotal dermatitis, castration, orchitis and other  testicular and prostatic disorders in male dogs that were attended suitably. Non-descript and Pomeranian were the most prominent breeds of dog prone to gynaeco-clinical disorders in the area, so also the animals of below 10 years of age group. The observations signified the importance of life threatening diseases like pyometra, mammary tumours and CTVG in pet dogs in urban areas of middle Gujarat.