Akita Information

A must read for all Akita breeders.  This article was presented at the 1983 Akita Club of America National Specialty.

MEDICAL CONDITIONS OF AKITAS

by Liz Harrell, Akita Tani

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.

In Memory of Elizabeth R. Harrell ... "A life worth living"February 13, 1922 to June 20, 2001

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