Incidence of Skeletal diseases affecting Long bones in Growing dogs - A Radiographic survey

The study is based on a radiographic survey conducted to analyse incidence of different skeletal diseases affecting growth of long bone in dogs. The radiographs of skeletal abnormalities related with growth of long bone in dogs aged up to 1 year during 10 year period were screened. Among 721 radiographs screened, 202 radiographs (28.02%) showed different skeletal changes related to growth abnormalities. The different disease conditions were diagnosed and classified based on radiographic findings. Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (NSH) was most common (16.50%), followed by rickets (5.55%), premature closure of physics (2.50%), retained cartilage core (1.94%) and hypertrophic osteodystrophy (1.53%). Among the different breeds, non-descript indigenous breeds were the most commonly affected (8.46%), followed by German shepherd (6.52%), Spitz (4.85%), Doberman pinscher (3.33%), Great dane (2.64%) and others (2.21%). The incidence was highest in young dogs aged below 3 months (15.25%) followed by 3–6 months (9.97%), 6–9 months (1.66%) and 9–12 months (1.10%). Males were more commonly affected (16.92%) than the females (11.10%).