Ametropia and ocular health status in Danish Broholmer dogs

Master students: Søren Nyhuus Rasch and Mette Nielsen
Specialisation: Ophthalmology

Objective

The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of known and presumed hereditary eye diseases as well as the refractive status of the eyes in Broholmer dogs

Animals

Thirty-seven Danish Broholmer dogs were included for the ocular health study and 32 dogs for the refraction study

Procedures: Eye examination using slit lamp biomicroscopy and binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy was performed for the ocular health study. Streak retinoscopy using a hand-held retinoscope was performed prior to dilation of the pupils and repeated post dilation of the pupil.

Results

The prevalence of eye diseases in the studied population was ectropion/macroblepharon (24%, 9 dogs), distichiasis (19%, 7 dogs), persistent pupillary membranes (11%, 4 dogs), cataract (11%, 4 dogs), retinal abnormalities of unknown significance (8%, 3 dogs), iris cysts (5%, 2 dogs), entropion (3%, 1 dog), eversion of the cartilage of the nictitating membrane (3%, 1 dog), keratoconjunctivitis sicca (3%, 1 dog), cornea dystrophy (3%, 1 dog) and vitreous prolapse (3%, 1 dog) was found on ophthalmic examination. Mean refractive status before dilation of the pupil was - 0.09 diopters and post dilation 0.20 diopters with a standard error of 0.25. The difference between pre-dilation and post-dilation was 0.29 diopters (p < 1 x 10-4). Ametropia was found in 8 dogs (25%) pre-dilation of the pupils and in 14 dogs (44%) post-dilation.

Conclusions

Known and presumed hereditary eye diseases are frequently found in the Danish Broholmer dogs. The average refractive status in Danish Broholmer dogs is emmetropic but ametropia is frequent.