MEDICAL CONDITIONS OF AKITAS
by Liz Harrell, Akita Tani
(This article was presented at the 1983 Akita Club of America National
Specialty.)
 The Akita has been a recognized breed for ten
years. In that time, Akitas have become very popular. In 1963,
you might have found two or three small ads for Akitas squeezed
in between other miscellaneous ads in Dog World. Twenty years
later, Dog World carries several full pages of ads for Akitas,
all of which, those ads assure us, are produced from the very
best stock which has been championed, tested, certified,
guaranteed, etc. Is the current status of our breed really this
marvelous? Or would it be closer to the truth to say that the
great popularity and corresponding great increase in numbers has
adversely affected the breed in some ways.
This presentation will examine the Akita as it now exists and we
will limit the discussion to medical problems inherited and
otherwise.
HIP DYSPLASIA is a problem for all dogs. If you think large dogs
are the only ones involved, consider this. A research program
done in England a few years ago brought to light the fact that
one of the breeds most involved was the tiny Brussels Griffon, a
ten pound dog. Hip dysplasia will be with us for a long time to
come, so it would be wise to know as much as possible about this
problem.
In the last twenty years, many theories about hip dysplasia have
surfaced and disappeared. When the Orthopedic Foundation for
Animals first began scanning x-rays, certification of free from
dysplastic problems was given at twelve months. Then it became
evident that changes took place within the joint after twelve
months, so certification was then granted to normals at
twenty-four months of age. Today many breed clubs specify in
their "codes of ethics" that no breeding may be done prior to
thirty-six months of age. This is because many dogs have been
found to have arthritic changes after twenty-four months. The
dog certified as normal at two years may not be certifiable at
three or four years. You cannot assume that every certified dog
will be normal for the rest of its life. Most will, but some
will not.
The Swedish Canine Corp. did a ten-year study of hip dysplasia.
They x-rayed breeding stock and kept working detailed records of
what was produced by breeding normals to normals, normals to
dysplastic and dysplastic to dysplastic. At the end of ten
years, they discovered they were getting the exact same
percentage of dysplasia from breeding normals to normals that
they were getting when the study started. In short, although the
percentages varied up and down over the years, the average for
the ten-year period was the same as when the project started. To
some, this means to stop x-raying, breed from whatever moves
well and looks good. A lot of breeders are pursuing this idea
and in a few years, we'll know their success or their failure.
Particularly if it's a failure! Nothing surfaces faster than bad
news.
I think most of us have come to the conclusion that hip
dysplasia is a very complex problem. While it is certainly
inherited, we must also accept the fact that the environment
appears to be involved as well. Environment in this case means
health and well-being. If a growing dog becomes ill with a viral
or bacterial infection, the results of this illness may show up
in his x-rays. Viruses and bacteria can cross the synovial
barrier and produce arthritic changes within the joint capsule.
In another large breed, a litter of six pups was x-rayed at six
months because they were observed to be weak in the rear. The
x-rays showed considerable arthritic problems in the hips of all
six. They were destroyed and postmortem examinations were made.
Something very interesting was discovered. The fluid in the
synovial sacs of the hips, shoulders and knees contained
pseudomonas. The dam of this litter had been treated for
pseudomonas uterine infection for two weeks prior to being bred.
She'd been tested and thought free of pseudomonas when she was
bred. The irritation and resultant arthritic build-up in those
pups was from pseudomonas. No one will ever know how many of
them would have been normal otherwise.
Another environmental factor can be nutrition. When an animal is
growing, it needs proper and balanced nutrition. Too little of
the necessary nutrients can rob the dog of what it needs to
produce bone, ligaments, nerve fiber, etc., and the dogs fed
whatever is on sale at the local supermarket will not likely
prosper and will, in the case of a female, have little to pass
on to her get when she's bred. You will get from your animal
precisely what you have given the animal. Don't expect a bargain
sale fed animal to produce more than bargain sale pups. A slight
exaggeration, but I think you get the idea.
The fat pup is in almost as bad a position. Fat pups are cute
but the excess weight produces stress on the joints and results
in splayed feet, sway backs and a lot less than average chance
of having good hips, knees, etc. If too much stress is put on
the joints when the dog is growing, that dog may never reach its
full potential, even if it slims down as it gets older.
There's one other aspect to hip dysplasia that all breeders
would be wise to consider. The medical profession has been
investigating arthritis in humans for a long, long time. The
current thinking is that arthritis might be caused by the body's
own immune system. That is, something in the body triggers the
immune system to put down bone deposits in the joints, on the
spine, or wherever the programming directs. This could happen
after a viral or bacterial infection, especially if the immune
system overreacts. It is also possible that some animals are
born with an overactive immune system which can be triggered to
act against the body's own cells. This is autoimmunity and it is
an inherited factor.
We know that the Akita is involved in hip dysplasia. We know
that hip dysplasia is a very complex problem involving
inheritance, the genes from the Parents for normal or dysplastic
hips, environment, the animal's health, welfare, plus the
additional inherited possibility of a good immune system.
Obviously, hip dysplasia must be given great consideration by
those who are to produce sound and strong moving animals.
The next important problem concerns ENTROPION. About thirty
years ago, the Akikyo Club in Japan published a book about the
Akita in which considerable space is given to problems in
breeding Akitas. One picture clearly shows an Akita with a
characteristic rolled-in lid. Entropion causes the lid of the
eye to roll inward allowing lashes to scrape the eyeball. This
causes irritation and, in time, can affect the eye.
This is an inherited problem. Six to eight
week old pups can show the problem. One way it's manifested is
that a wet patch appears around the eye and the pup will paw at
the eye on occasion. Examination will show the lower lid is
probably turning inward at the outer rim. In severe cases, both
upper and lower lids can be involved. Sometimes only one pup in
a litter is affected, but there have been litters in which 80%
of the pups had the problem.
Entropion is a recessive gene and can skip one or two
generations. Without intending to, some breeders have selected
for breeding animals carrying the gene for entropion.
Consequently, in some strains of the breed, the problem of
entropion is now considered to be a dominant rather than
recessive. How dominant entropion becomes in Akitas depends on
how the breeders select their stock. The decisions made now will
determine whether or not litters of Akitas will be presented to
the local ophthalmologist for corrective surgery, as is now the
case with Chows, Shar-Peis, etc. Surgically correcting entropion
is a very minor procedure. Once done, the eye can pass for
normal in every way and it's no secret that many dogs have been
shown after surgery.
Some believe entropion can be treated in the breed by selecting
breeding animals with loose facial skin and too much wrinkle.
This must be a valid theory if one limits the discussion to
breeds like Chows and Shar-Peis. However, the Irish Setter is
also deeply involved with entropion and it would be hard to make
a case based on the loose facial skin theory for Setters.
Bacterial invasion can produce a temporary form of entropion. As
the eyelid swells, it rolls inward causing the lashes to scrape
the eye just as in the inherited type. In this case, a culture
should be made of the eye secretion and treatment started as
soon as possible. When the swelling reduces, the lid returns to
normal. A blow to the eye can cause the same temporary type of
swelling. Allergic reactions to insect bites, bees in
particular, will also cause temporary entropion. Bee stings can
also cause the ears to swell and droop at the same time if the
bite is located on the head. Immediate treatment with
antihistamines and steroids will reverse the situation and the
eyes and ears will return to normal.
Another problem in our breed is COAT. You probably think that
while it's definitely a problem, it certainly couldn't be
considered medical. Here are a few things you might want to
consider.
Akita pedigrees done in Japan just prior to, and after 1900,
show these dogs have ancestors listed as "foreign dog",
"unknown", etc. About this time, Japan had opened up to world
trade and one of the most popular gifts used by traders to
impress those with whom they wished to do business were dogs.
Most impressive was the Mastiff. In fact, one Japanese gentleman
with whom I corresponded, and the third generation of his family
to breed Akitas, told me he was certain the brindle coloring
came from Mastiffs brought to Japan from the Netherlands. Some
feel that the short coat seen in present-day Akitas might be
traced to the Mastiff-Akita crosses in those early days.
Some long hair in our breed comes from the Karafuto which is
another Japanese breed. You may remember a few years ago there
was a Japanese participation in the geophysical studies down in
Antarctica. The dogs used in the Japanese expedition were
Karafutos. They're a large dog with medium bone and pricked
ears, resembling the Akita but with head, body and coat looking
more like a Belgian Tervuren. So, here at least, two different
types of dogs crossed with Akitas. There were actually more but
for this discussion, we'll consider only the Mastiff and the
Karafuto.
The Mastiff would bring to any breeding, not only his short
coat, but a skeleton different from that of the Akita. The tail
carriage, ears and head shape, particularly the muzzle, are all
very different from our breed. The Karafuto would bring the long
coat, medium bone, narrow chest, high loin and loose tail curl.
Now, considering whatever else has come down in today's Akitas
from past crosses, there well may have come inherited problems
from these outside breedings at the time, too. In short,
perpetuating coat problems may also be perpetuating a few other
goodies as well.
BLOAT is definitely a problem in Akitas. The term "bloat"
includes anything from simple gas attacks to torsion to
intussusception and strangulation. Dogs that forage and ingest
unusual food stuffs can suffer a gas attack as a result of their
feeding habits. Some things causing gas include apples, cabbage,
onions, and decaying meat. The gas forms a bubble in the stomach
and the resultant pain will make expelling the gas in either
direction impossible. A tube run through the mouth into the
stomach will relieve the gas at once, after which some soothing
liquid like Kaopectate, Pepto-Bismol, Milk of Magnesia, etc.
should be put in the dog's stomach to soothe the stomach lining.
A change in the dog's eating habits is necessary.
Bear in mind that a simple gas attack can escalate into torsion
very easily and torsion is not so easy to correct. When the
stomach inflates with so much gas that it becomes distended, it
starts to rotate. Picture a balloon with the input valve on one
end and output on the other. Fill the balloon part way with
fluid and the rest with air. Notice how easily the balloon can
rotate on the two valves anywhere from a few degrees to 360.
That's what torsion is. The twisted input tube makes it
impossible to get the stomach pumped through the tube that
slides down into the stomach. The twisted output valve makes it
impossible for the gas to go in that direction. As the stomach
gets larger and larger, it pushes into the spleen which also
starts to rotate, cutting off the blood supply to the spleen.
Now there are two serious problems to correct.
Large animal veterinarians approach this problem somewhat
differently than small animal vets. Some large animal vets work
on horses and cows, which also suffer from bloat. They have more
opportunity to cope. The usual procedure here is to insert a
large needle through the abdominal wall to draw off gas as soon
as possible. When the stomach deflates, it can often be turned
enough to allow the stomach pump in and the rest of the gas and
stomach contents can be drawn off without resorting to surgery.
If the spleen has not been damaged, it should return to normal
when the pressure recedes. Small animal vets, however, usually
opt for immediate surgery and manually returning the stomach to
normal. Most dogs will live through this experience if they get
to the vet before gross damage has been done. If you suspect
your dog is in bloat, every minute is precious. If the dog is in
bloat a long time before treatment is started, pressure on the
body cavity may be too severe for the heart to withstand.
There's a dichotomy of opinion on this. Some feel that there is
a heart problem prior to the onset of bloat and the rest feel
that heart involvement is a result of bloat. I tend to believe
in the latter because if there's one thing that's super strong
in an Akita, it is its heart. The stress of pressure in the
stomach too long distended by bloat often causes small blood
vessels to rupture and the resultant bleeding can cause death.
Bloat must not be ignored. If your dog looks bulgy, is pacing
with anxiety and drooling a bit, he cannot sit or lie down
comfortably and is in general distress, get moving, get to a
vet!
INTERUSSUSCEPTION is the telescoping of the intestine upon
itself, often the result of a prolonged session of diarrhea in
puppies. It can also appear in adults. The only solution is
surgery. It's rarely successful on pups, but older dogs have a
far better chance. The affected section of the intestine is
removed and the ends are sewn together.
STRANGULATION occurs when a section of the
intestine loops through a tear in the mesentery and hangs out in
an area of the abdomen where it doesn't belong. This must be
correctly surgically.
What most dog owners do not know is that all four of these bloat
situations tend to repeat. In short, if it happened once, it
will likely happen again, so be prepared.
Akitas are sensitive to sedation. Every year several Akitas
sedated for hip x-rays or surgery die. Most deaths occur as a
result of a combination of drugs. For example, acepromazine and
suritol seem safe enough when given separately, but seem to
cause problems when given together. Some of these drugs have
side effects the owners seldom see. For instance, a young female
of mine was given a slight overdose of suritol and suffered
forty-five minutes of hallucinations when the drug was wearing
off. I held her during this time because she was thrashing
around and banging her head on the concrete floor. This took
place in the vet's office where I'd taken her for a hip x-ray.
As for acepromazine, there is a record of a case of a young
female taken to emergency for removal of a foxtail in her nose
on a Saturday noon. By the following Monday evening, she still
could not stand, swallow or control her urine. This dog did not
overreact to the sedation, she was overdosed.
When major surgery is necessary, most veterinarians will use
gas. The dog is mildly tranquilized so gas equipment can be
inserted in the throat. Most hospitals now use monitoring
devices controlling the flow of gas and/or oxygen depending on
the need. Also, the vital signs are checked constantly, either
by an assistant or by machine. Most surgeries go along without
incident. Occasionally though, a dog will react adversely to the
gas and will show this by an elevated heartbeat. Sometimes over
twice normal. Procedures are set in motion at once to bring the
dog back to normal heartbeat. If the heart reacts well, the dog
will be fine. If the heart is quite slow in reacting, the dog
will make it, but he might have an enlarged heart the rest of
his life. If the heartbeat can't be controlled, the dog will
die. There are many drugs available now to correct this
situation and you can bet your veterinarian is well prepared
before he ever starts a surgery.
Sometimes dogs are tranquilized with rompun. In most cases,
there's no problem although brain damage can result if the dog
is overdosed. The animal will be very slow in recovering; you
can see breathing and swallowing difficulties and also
staggering gait if the animal can get up and walk. Sometimes one
person will look at a dog and estimate his weight at 125 pounds.
Another, at the same time, may estimate the weight at 85 pounds.
This is a great way to overdose a dog if the second guess was
correct. It is true that breeds react differently to sedation.
In an experiment, I watched a really hyper 30-pound dog who was
given 3cc's of sedation. It hardly slowed him down. One half of
1cc of the same sedation would knock out an average-sized adult
Akita. Different breeds have different responses.
All this time we're trying to gather data on Akitas and
different sedation's. There are questionnaires available
(address out of date) and I hope you will all get your
veterinarian to fill one out and return it. The information will
be correlated and made available to anyone interested. Our aim
is that from this time on, fewer and hopefully no Akitas will
die from over sedation or improper combinations of sedation's.
Judging from letters and phone calls received
in the last few years, infertility is on the rise in several
strains of our breed. This is a complex problem and cannot be
covered in a few paragraphs but here are just a few ideas.
Most of the animals exhibiting infertility problems are those
which have been shown a great deal. Two possibilities come to
mind. One, the dog owner must realize that dog show circuits are
very stressful on a dog. Under stress, the immune system may not
function as well as usual and the animal may become more
susceptible to low grade infection. If the circuits are long and
showing pretty continuous, the infection could become chronic.
The dog may only act tired, not too unusual on a long trip. The
dog's system may be keeping the bacteria at a low level but this
sort of situation can interfere with sperm production as well as
form and motility of the sperm.
An example from a veterinarian specializing in reproductive
problems: A small breed male had been bred to five bitches, none
of whom produced puppies. Since he was about the top dog of his
breed in the U.S., the owner was really worried.
Tests showed the dog has a low grade infection, very low sperm
count and those sperm were not well formed and had very low
motility. After six weeks of treatment, the tests showed no
infection, good sperm count and the form and motility were again
normal. The first bitch he bred produced five pups. Almost
constant showing had contributed to making him a top dog of his
breed. He's still shown but now the owner gives him ample time
to rest and recuperate, therefore keeping him in top breeding
condition as well as top show condition.
For owners of females, during heat the cervix is open and the
vulva enlarged. A perfect setup for bacteria. There is no better
incubator for bacteria than the bitch's uterus. If she has been
bred, bacteria can grow right along with the fetuses. Some of
the bacteria that thrive in these circumstances cannot be
disposed of easily and may proliferate on successive heats.
Pseudomonas, for example, can be responsible for dead pups in a
litter and death will ensue in a few days with pups born alive
unless the problem is recognized and treatment is started.
No doubt there are Akitas who have inherited a lack of interest
in breeding. Some feel this is related to the number of
cryptorchidians within the strain, only I doubt this theory.
However, as more and more cryptorchids appear in our breed, we
will be able to test this. I think some males may be just below
par for producing sperm and some females may not produce enough
eggs in their lifetime.
I think the majority of infertility problems are related to
stress, long show circuits, depressed living conditions, poor
nutrition, etc. The decision the dog owner must make is this: Is
showing of greater importance to the breed than producing? You
must be the judge.
EPILEPSY is also a problem in the Akita. It's a symptom of a
serious dysfunction within the brain, an abnormal electrical
discharge that can affect the brain, the brain stem, or the
spinal cord. Idiopathic or true epilepsy is considered an
inherited problem in several breeds: Shepherds, Setters,
Poodles, Saint Bernards, German Shorthair Pointers, as a few.
This form of epilepsy cannot be cured but it can be controlled
with medication. The dog can live a fairly normal life but,
obviously, should not be put to the stress of showing and
certainly should not be bred.
Acquired or false epilepsy is a temporary situation that can be
caused by toxic materials such a lead, cyanide, phosphates,
chlorinated hydrocarbons, distemper, parasites, low blood sugar,
electrolyte imbalance, hyperthermia, brain tumors, or a buildup
of bone deposits in the inner surface of the skull in elderly
dogs.
An epilepsy attack is very frightening for both the dog and the
owner. Fainting and convulsions occur. Seizures may last for
several minutes. Soon the dog recovers and acts quite normal.
Seizures will not kill the dog unless they come at too frequent
intervals. This is a difficult problem for veterinarians to
diagnose without a good description of what actually happened
and the owner should be as complete as possible in describing
the occurrence since the veterinarian must rely a lot on the
owners' observations. If epilepsy is suspected, tests can be run
and the animal can be treated. In the case of acquired epilepsy,
usually once the source of the trouble is established and dealt
with, the dog can respond and return to normal. It all depends
on how much damage was done.
Now for some more esoteric diseases that are starting to come to
light in our breed -- as it we didn't have enough problems.
PROGRESSIVE RETINAL ATROPHY has been found in Akitas. This is a
situation which is not reversible so once encountered, there is
no doubt the dog will eventually become blind. The disease is
inherited. It varies from dog to dog. In some, progress is rapid
and blindness can ensue in a few weeks time. In others, it may
take several months before blindness occurs.
There are other problems that can involve the retina such as
retinal damage due to distemper, so if you suspect your dog may
have PRA, consult an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. If the
diagnosis is PRA, then you must decide how to handle the
problem. Blind dogs can lead a pretty useful life, but the owner
must be willing to accept the responsibility for the extra care
the dog requires. You should also notify the dog's breeder so
that he or she will know that one or both of the parents of your
dog is carrying PRA. Some experts in the field of eye disorders
feel that PRA is an immune response problem.
MICROTHALMIA or "small eye" syndrome seems to be one of our more
recent problems. The only time I've seen this was several years
ago. I'd been invited to look at a litter of seven-week old
pups, the product of a father/daughter mating. There were seven
pups, part of which had very small eyes. In this case, the small
eyes were secondary to the main problem which was hydrocephalus.
I wonder how many small eye problems are in animals related to
this litter. Some experts feel that small eyes may be associated
with detached retinas and congenital cataracts. Also,
geneticists feel that there is a relationship between
hydrocephalus, eye abnormalities, nervous seizures and
cryptorchidism, and therefore relate these problems to inherited
hormonal defects.
SKIN PROBLEMS in the Akita may be secondary to other diseases.
For example, the loss of pigmentation and resultant redness of
the eye rim, lips and nose of the dog suffering from
lymphosarcoma, or the loss of hair, redness of skin and moist
skin of the animal with lupus erthematosus. When a skin disorder
is persistent and it's obviously not our old complaint of flea
allergy, the dog owner has to accept the possibility that
something more serious may be happening to his dog.
In a recent publication limited to skin disorders, I was
surprised to see Akitas used to illustrate phemphigus folliceus
and Voight Kayanaga Harada (VKH) syndrome. These two problems
look a lot alike except for eye involvement and may often be
confused with each other or with lupus. Facial skin, nerves,
tongue, lips and sometimes even foot pads can be affected. There
are skin eruptions followed by crusting over with later loss of
pigmentation of the skin. In advanced cases, there may also be
swelling of the legs and feet, very high temperatures, lethargy
and loss of appetite. In VKH syndrome, uveitis is also present.
UVEITIS is the inflammation of the iris in the eye and sometimes
the ciliary part of the eye; in short, the pigmented part of the
eye. One authority on the subject of eyes divides the iris
problem into two classes: acute recent sudden onset is call
iritis or iridocyclitis. The chronic or longtime problem is
called uveitis. Iritis can be the result of systemic disorders
such as an infected prostate, inflamed sinus, pyometra,
distemper, hepatitis, infected tonsils, or skin disorders like
phemphigus. Although it is believed that systemic problems can
trigger a uveitis situation, the feeling is that something else
more serious has to be involved to create such a massive
reaction. This is where the idea of autoimmunity comes in.
Example: The dog may have an autoimmune problem that has never
become apparent because the body and immune system have remained
in some sort of balance. When a systemic invasion triggers a
reaction, the balance may be lost forever. In the newborn and
elderly, the immune system is weakest. There are animals that
have very little immune systems all their lives and are
consequently wide open to any virus or bacteria that happens
along. This is immune deficient. The opposite, when the body has
such an over-reactive immune system that the system attacks the
body's own cells, is called autoimmune. Lupus, phemphigus and
VKH syndrome are all immune related diseases.
The eye is affected because, like any other part of the body, it
depends on a supply of blood, particularly the retina, to keep
it fed and healthy. If the body is fighting a battle with a
viral or bacterial infection, it will be reflected in the eye.
If the blood supply is contaminated, the eye will be affected
just like any other part of the body with this one big
difference -- the eye is like a window, and changes within the
eye can be observed when the dog is examined. This is often
important, too, in making a diagnosis of an illness.
A very small percentage of our breed is involved in problems
like phemphigus, lupus, PRA, VKH syndrome, etc. It's really
nothing to get worried about except for one thing. These are all
thought to be immune related diseases, so the people breeding
Akitas should include a good immune system as part of their
breeding plans. An immune system, good or bad, is inherited.
As each generation of Akitas is formed, it becomes more and more
important for the breeder to know the background of his stock,
at least through the grandparents and including as many siblings
as possible. If you proceed with the breeding knowing only that
both dogs are winners, you will have only yourself to blame.
Many a winner carries a gene package only a fool would breed.
The fact that an animal has become a champion has no relation to
how that animal may rate as a producer and I speak of quality
not quantity.
Novices hold the future of the breed in their hands. If the
people they have bought or are buying from cannot give detailed
information about their dogs, my advice is to look elsewhere or
the first litter might be full of surprises. If you go into
breeding knowing full well what the circumstances are, you're
not likely to be surprised. If you go into a breeding knowing
nothing of the ancestors or their problems, you can always write
a book about your bad experiences.
We must all believe the Akita is a wonderful animal or we would
not be exchanging ideas and trying to learn. We observe and
recognize the problems that have been brought to light in the
last ten years and we use this information as a learning
process. Keep the Akita a strong and vital animal. Don't allow
this magnificent beast to erode into mediocrity.
http://www.thedogplace.org/BREEDS/Akita/Medical-Problems_Harrell-1983.asp
Liz Harrell is the Grand Lady of the Akita breed. She and her late
husband Al were amongst the founders of the Akita Club of America in 1956
and the Akita Rescue Society of America in 1977. Their "Akita Tani"
kennel name was registered with the AKC in 1954. The article was presented at
the 1983 Akita Club of America National Specialty
In Memory of
Elizabeth R. Harrell ... "A life worth living"
February 13, 1922 to June 20, 2001
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