Do you have a Border Collie? I am a veterinarian and I will explain to you which symptoms and diseases to watch out for

Among dog breeds, the Border Collie deserves a special place. A cheerful, sociable and jovial dog, he is a faithful and very adaptable friend. In theory, a perfect breed for everyone, given its sociability, even families with children. If we really have to make one note about this breed it is its high level of energy: it is a very active dog both physically and mentally, therefore perhaps not suitable for lazier personalities or the elderly.

A second note, however, concerns the Border Collie diseases: unfortunately there are several diseases, both acquired, congenital or hereditary, that can affect this splendid dog breed.

The most common acquired diseases of the Border Collie

The Border Collie is a medium sized dog breedwhose average lifespan it is between 12 and 15 years. Of Scottish origins, this apparently robust and very athletic dog can develop a number of acquired pathologies more or less serious over the course of his life.

These are pathologies that, in reality, can affect all dogs, regardless of breed, but which become quite common in Border Collies. Just to complicate things, some of these diseases have both acquired and congenital or hereditary causes. Let’s think, for example, about the rupture of the cruciate ligament. There are some breeds that are born with a predisposition to ligament weakness, but nothing prevents traumatic cruciate ligament ruptures even in non-predisposed breeds.

Or again: let’s think about epilepsy. It can recognize congenital or hereditary causes, but it often happens that it arises following trauma or infections, therefore acquired causes. But let’s look at some of them most common acquired diseases of the Border Collie:

The most frequent congenital diseases of the Border Collie

Like all dog breeds, even in Border Collie we can have a series of congenital diseasesthat is, present from birth and which can manifest themselves as puppies (but not always: there are also some congenital diseases whose symptoms are seen when the dog is older) or hereditary (i.e. inherited from parents).

For some, but not all, of these diseases, medications are available genetic testing. They are used both to know whether that dog is sick or healthy, and to identify healthy carriers, i.e. dogs that have a diseased gene and a healthy one. In this case they will not manifest the disease, but will be able to transmit it to their offspring. It is important to establish which dogs are carriers of these diseased genes so as to exclude them from breeding and not continue to produce diseased dogs.

But let’s see what they are most frequent congenital and hereditary diseases in the Border Collie.

Cardiovascular diseases

Dermatological diseases

Musculoskeletal, orthopedic and neurological diseases

Ocular diseases

Urogenital diseases

Other diseases

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