The Dalmatian Club of America
Health Survey


Additional Comments
Conclusions
Next Steps

Additional Comments

Appendix G lists the 261 additional comments owners provided on their dogs. These comments were analyzed for common themes however, none were found. The comments ranged from anecdotal stories about dogs lives to repeating information already captured in the survey.

Conclusions

The following list provides the health-related conclusions, which can be drawn from the Dalmatian Club of America Health Survey data.

  • Dalmatian owner perceptions of the most critical diseases and health-related conditions are considerably different than the actual diseases and health-related conditions owners reported for their dogs in the survey (refer to Figure 6). However, this difference can partly be explained by one of the survey limitations reported on page seven of this report.

  • Female Dalmatians are overweight more often than male Dalmatians (14% compared with 8% respectively).

  • 98% of Dalmatians in the survey received at least one kind of vaccination.

  • 65% of Dalmatians take heartworm medicine, 33% of these dogs take this medicine year round. Note: Heartworm medicine was the commonly sited medicine Dalmatians took).

  • Dalmatians used for breeding (male or female) live longer (1.5 years longer) on average than Dalmatians who were not bred

  • There were no significant differences when comparing male to female Dalmatians personality and temperament scores.

  • The average Dalmatian lives 9.8 years, with females living slightly longer - 9.9 years.

  • 48% of female Dalmatians living with other female dogs die before they reach the age of six.

  • Dalmatians eating a combined diet of dry and home-prepared food live longer (1.7 years longer) on average than Dalmatians with other diets. However, only 18% of Dalmatians have a diet of dry and home-prepared food.

  • 39% of Dalmatians have skin problems, ranging from allergies to hot spots. The majority of these skin problems (85%) develop in the first five years of a dogs' life.

  • The most common cause of death (32%) as sited in the survey was kidney/liver/urinary diseases. Ranging from kidney failure to bladder disease.

Possible Next Steps

The possible next steps for the Dalmatian Club of America Health Survey report are:

  • post portions of or the full-report on the Dalmatian Club of America website

  • print portions of or the full-report in the Dalmatian Club of America magazine "The Spotter"

  • Dalmatian Club of America Health Survey Committee should discuss next research steps, for example where/how to spend research monies

  • Conduct a phase two-targeted email survey to Dalmatian breeders, veterinarians, or the 2,100 registered Dalmatian owners focusing on mortality and morbidity data only.

  • Conduct a follow-up survey with the same questionnaire in 2-3 years to determine differences between the baseline data in this survey and the follow-up survey data.



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