Table 4 Comparison of key health-related welfare impact metrics for eight common disorders of UK dogs with evidence for breed-related status
PREVALENCE | DURATION | SEVERITY (individual metric sub-scores: 0–3 [none – most severe]; Overall score: maximum 21) | HEALTH RELATED WELFARE IMPACT | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All-breed annual UK period prevalence estimate (%) | Median annual disorder duration (% of year affected) | Severity metric 1: Disorder as reason presented for primary-care veterinary attention | Severity metric 2: Frequency of disorder-related primary-care veterinary clinic visits | Severity metric 3: Disorder-related analgesia/anti-inflammatory therapy | Severity metric 4: Disorder-related non-analgesic/anti-inflammatory intervention groups | Severity metric 5: Disorder-related procedures under general anaesthesia/sedation | Severity metric 6: Disorder-related overnight hospitalisations | Severity metric 7: Disorder-related referral | Overall Disorder Severity score | VetCompass Welfare Impact score | |
Dental disease | 9.6 | 76.4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2.47 |
Osteoarthritis | 2.3 | 81.9 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 2.24 |
Overweight/obesity | 5.7 | 69.6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1.67 |
Lipoma | 1.2 | 54.5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1.41 |
Otitis Externa | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 1.30 |
Dermatitis | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1.19 |
Anal sac disorder | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1.05 |
Conjunctivitis | 2.3 | 2.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0.96 |