New heart survey open to all breeds

The Kennel Club, in partnership with the Veterinary Cardiology Society (VCS), has developed a new online survey, which aims to improve understanding of prevalence and type of heart disease affecting different pedigree dog breeds.

The survey hopes to gain insight which will help get a better understanding of the need for heart testing across breeds, as well as any breed-specific nuances that may influence heart disease development. The results will be used to direct new research to areas that require further attention.

The survey is open to all dog owners of all breeds – for both dogs that may currently be living or who have sadly passed away.

Charlotte McNamara, Head of Health at The Kennel Club said: "Heart disease is a broad term used to describe a range of abnormalities that affect the normal function of the heart. We are asking dog owners to kindly spend a few minutes to complete the survey for all dogs owned, either now or in the past, even if they have never been affected by heart disease. The results will allow us to direct new research to areas that require further attention. We thank everyone for taking the time to contribute to this research and for help in improving canine heart health."

The survey will be managed and results collected by The Kennel Club. All personal information given will be kept confidential and be presented anonymously. To complete the survey, please click here. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

The Kennel Club takes insights from research and feeds them into its Breed Health and Conservation plans, so that we can work with breeders to give information and guidance about how to ensure the future health of pedigree breeds. These plans, which enable The Kennel Club to track progress and make meaningful changes to breed health, have been developed as a result of reviewing more than 4000 research papers, which makes these plans the most comprehensive review of pedigree health data anywhere in the world.

For more information about heart disease in dogs, see Heart disease in dogs | The Kennel Club.

Further information regarding this survey can be found by emailing The Kennel Club's health team.

More information about what The Kennel Club does for dog health is available at thekennelclub.org.uk/health.