Basset Hound
Breed Description- see AKC for detailed standard
A quiet, mild tempered, gentle dog, bassets make wonderful family pets.
The basset is a medium size dog - large boned, large head and very short legs. He possess a great sense of smell and make a excellent field dog.Loyal and extremely devoted.
Can be hard to housebreak
Life span 8-12 years
Breed problems can be both inherited or diseases and disorders seen frequently in a breed and mode of inheritance unknown. Both are listed.
Breed problemsPatellar luxation
Lameness problems
Achondrodysplasia of the limbs (dwarfism)
Basset Hound Cervical Deformity - anomaly of the third cervical vertebra - results in parylasis
Oseodystrophy
Otitis externa
Entropion, Entropion,
Glaucoma ( primary and secondary)
Inguinal hernia
Wobbler Syndrome
platelet disordersOne of the breeds most likely to have bloat are Basset
hounds. Torsion of lung, spleen and gastric torsion
Questions and Answers
Panosteitis
Question: Hello--I'm one of your subscribers. I have an 11 month old basset
puppy (spayed female) who developed a limp in her left front leg about 6
weeks ago.
Our vet. x-rayed the leg, and found nothing. They found a sore
place on her right rear leg also. They think it is pano. Since then she's been on
buffered aspirin, rimadyl and another non-steroidal anti
inflammatory--started with an e--. None seemed to have helped her
limp much, and now she appears to be chewing on the right rear leg where they
found the sore spot. How long will this go on? Is there anything I can do to
help her feel better?Thanks for any advice. Sharon
Answer: Sharon-
I have been trying to research this some because there is a difference
between what I have heard about this condition in basset hounds and
what I can find in the literature. The difference is that I can't find any
strong evidence for panosteitis occurring in bassets based on the literature
but I know two or three Basset breeders, and their vets, who really believe
that this is a fairly common problem in the breed. Unfortunately, I am still
unable to figure out how much of a problem panosteitis is in Basset hounds.Panosteitis is pain in the bone that usually occurs during growth and
is most common in German shepherds and giant breeds of dogs. The pain can
be pretty severe and it seems like pain relievers are sometimes not
sufficient. At the present time carprofen (Rimadyl Rx) seems to be the
favored pain reliever, although others have been advocated at various
times. Etodolac (Etogesic Rx) is similar to carprofen. This condition
usually has a waxing and waning course, in which there are times of
pain and times when the puppy seems to be OK. For this reason it can
be hard to tell which pain relievers are really working well, since the pain
can go away on its own. The presence of a fever is supportive of the
diagnosis. There isn't a strong correlation between the amount of increased
bone density seen on X-rays and the amount of pain so this disease does
sometimes present as sort of a mystery.There are other growth defects that might be worth thinking about as
possible problems. For a front leg lameness the one that I would worry
about the most is an ununited anconeal process. There are several
studies on this condition in the chrondrodysplastic breeds like the Bassets
and it is apparently not uncommon. I find this condition a little hard to
diagnosis in some cases even when I suspect it and often have to send
the X-rays to a radiologist for review to obtain a more definite diagnosis.
This would cause persist pain in most cases and in our experience pain
relievers often are not effective enough to control the discomfort
associated with this condition. I have also heard of osteochrondritis
(osteochrondrosis) dissecans in Bassets but couldn't find a lot of
information on it in the breed, either. In any case, this would be
another thing to look for. We have diagnosed this once in a Basset
and it was affecting the shoulder joint in our case.I think that some Basset hounds are pained by the deviations that occur
in their legs that are just breed characteristics and we see a lot of
Basset hounds with interdigital pyoderma (infections between the toes) who are
lame as a result of this problem. Treatment for the inflammation and
infection usually resolves this problem and then it usually comes back
later on and has to be treated again.These are the things that I can think of that cause forelimb pain in
Basset hounds at least on an occasional basis. There are probably some other
things that aren't coming to mind. If this is a persistent problem keep
working with your vet to resolve the problem or consider asking for
referral to an orthropedic specialist as long as the interdigital
pyoderma problem doesn't seem likely.Mike Richards, DVM
10/15/2001
Autoimmune thyroid disease, Pred, Breeding
Question: Hi,
I have a 2 1/2 old male basset hound who just earned his conformation
championship. As a result, I took him to a breeding specialist to have his
semen checked for future breeding prospects. He did collect the semen and
what little sperm there was, was dead. He suggested a thyroid test which
we did. The Thyroid test showed that he has borderline autoimmune thyroid
disease. My vet started him on 40mg pred for 2 weeks than 20mg for 2 more
weeks at which point she collected and the sperm was thriving. She
repeated the thyroid panel (currently waiting for results) and reduced the pred to
20mg every other day. She said the pred is necessary to suppress the
immune system to get viable sperm and the goal will be to work down to the lowest
dosage of pred but still maintain his ability to breed.My questions are as follows:
I'm concerned about the long term use of pred. What are your thoughts on
this treatment plan?Are there reasons other than breeding that he should be treated for this?
I understand that if we do not treat, his thyroid will eventually burn itself
out and he will require lifetime thyroid meds. Will this happen regardless
of treatment?Is he prone to other autoimmune problems because of this?
Should we breed a dog with this potential problem? Our vet says it may not
be genetic. Another option is to collect and freeze the semen while he is
producing. My thought is to do this and get him off the pred as soon as
possible unless there are other reasons to keep him on it.Thanks for your response. Brian
Answer: Brian-
I am sorry about the delay in responding to your question. It is difficult
to answer questions without knowing exactly how conclusions were drawn and
without being certain of the whole situation. There are some things about
your note that are hard for me to understand but perhaps they will be more
clear after you have a chance to discuss them further with your
veterinarians.It is not unusual when collecting semen samples from dogs, especially from
inexperienced dogs or with inexperienced collectors, to get as sample that
has few sperm in it and when this happens there is often reduced mobility
of the sperm, as well. This usually happens because the dog does not fully
ejaculate or the person collecting the semen does not get the sperm rich
fraction of the ejaculate. Dogs normally have three portions to their
ejaculate. The second one is the sperm rich fraction. For these reasons,
most breeding specialists recommend against interpreting fertility based on
a single collection of ejaculate from a male dog.So truthfully, I have to question whether or not there is anything wrong
with your dog, at all, at least as far as semen viability goes. It seems
more likely to me that the first collection was not meaningful and the
second one is more indicative of your dog's ability to produce sperm. The
best measure of breeding ability are test breedings, in which the male is
bred to a known fertile female (or at least a female with a fertile track
record). Production of puppies is a the conclusive sign of fertility.Clinically significant hypothyroidism would be unusual in a dog as young as
yours and infertility resulting from hypothyroidism in a male dog of this
age would be rare. However, there is evidence that immune mediated
hypothyroidism, lymphocytic thyroiditis, can be passed genetically so it
seems reasonable to think about whether you wish to take a chance of
passing this trait on.This leads to the question of how likely the diagnosis of hypothyroidism is
to be correct. The best current test for hypothyroidism is measurement of
thyroxine (T4) by equilibrium dialysis. If this value was tested for and
was within normal ranges, hypothyroidism is unlikely. If it was tested for
and was lower than normal, hypothyroidism is likely, if there is no other
concurrent illness. The presence of autoantibody titers against T3 and T4
does not reliably correlate with development of hypothyroidism (not all
dogs with autoantibodies develop the disorder) but dogs that are producing
autoantibodies are more likely to develop hypothyroidism than dogs without
the antibodies.I have never heard of using prednisone to treat hypothyroidism, including
the lymphocytic thyroiditis type of this disease. Hypothyroidism is
treatable using thyroxine supplementation and this is much less likely to
cause side effects than corticosteroids.Since you are really trying to discover whether your dog is a suitable
candidate for breeding purposes, it really seems to me that it would be
best to slow down and figure out whether hypothyroidism and low sperm
production are actually present and then decide what the best course of
action is. One of the old issues of the VetInfo Digest is on thyroid
disease and it has more information on this disorder.Please feel free to write for clarification if you need it on any part of
this note.Mike Richards, DVM
1/25/2001
Autoimmune thyroiditis, Breeding
Question: Hi,
Thanks for your response. The original diagnosis is autoimmune thyroiditis
aka "Hasa Moto's" (spelling?) disease. He is not hypothyroid yet, but the
vet says he will be eventually since the thyroid is producing more than
normal to supplement those hormones being killed off by the autoimmune
disease and the thyroid will eventually burn itself out.The reason he was started on the pred was to suppress the immune system to
see if his reproductive capabilities would recover. After he was on pred
for 6 weeks, the sperm sample was good. The vet reduced his pred and we
tested him 2 weeks later to discover the sperm sample was not good at all.
Now we have increased the pred again to try to see if he will produce usable
sperm.Before the pred was started his test results were as follows:
TT4 32
TT3 1.1
FT4 27
FT3 18.9
T4 Autoantibody 5
T3 Autoanitbody 9
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone 23
Thyroglobulin Autoantibody 221After being on Pred for 6 weeks the results were as follows:
TT4 22
TT3 0.8
FT4 18
FT3 Quantity not Sufficient
T4 Autoantibody 1
T3 Autoantibody 3
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone 0
Thyroglobulin Autoantibody 174I would appreciate any additional insight you might have for us.
Brian
Answer: Brian-
The newer tests for antithyroglobulin antibodies (thyroglobulin
autoantibodies) is a pretty good indicator of the presences of lymphocytic
thyroiditis. This is the condition that leads to hypothyroidism in many
dogs. Hashimoto's Disease is one of the names of this condition in humans.
Some dogs appear to be able to tolerate lifelong lymphocytic thyroiditis
without ever developing hypothyroidism, though. Many dogs will have
elevated levels of thyroglobulin antibodies for a very long time prior to
the onset of hypothyroidism. For these reasons, it is important to
understand that elevated thyroglobulin antibody levels do not necessarily
indicate that hypothyroidism is present and are not a sure indication that
it will ever be present, at least with the information we have available in
veterinary medicine to date. Over time, a clear picture of which dogs will
be affected may emerge. The original concept behind measuring for
antibodies against thyroglobulins was to try to determine which dogs should
not be used for breeding among the breeds in which this condition is known
to be inherited, or suspected to be inherited, including golden retrievers,
dobermans, beagles, Borzois, great Danes, Irish setters and Old English
sheepdogs. The original theory was that if a dog could be shown to have
high levels of thyroglobulin autoantibodies it should not be bred. At the
present time, the lab values do not support a diagnosis of hypothyroidism
for your dog but they do support a diagnosis of lymphocytic thyroiditis,
which may eventually lead to hypothyroidism. If you follow the original
thinking, you should not breed a dog with high levels of thyroglobulin
autoantibodies, as this condition may be inherited. There is no absolute
proof of this for most breeds and so it may be reasonable to breed a dog
that has other really outstanding qualities, at least until more is known
about how lymphocytic thyroiditis progresses in the majority of dogs and
what the true mechanism of inheritance is.Your vet may be much better than I am at collecting semen samples but the
most common cause of poor sperm numbers and poor sperm motility in my
practice is the difficulty in obtaining a good sample for analysis and then
being able to analyze it without causing cold shock or other problems with
the sample before it is examined. It is hard to keep the equipment warm
while waiting for the dog to decide to produce a sample and while going
through the manipulations necessary to collect the sample and then to
collect the proper portions of the semen from an only semi-willing patient.
I know that I am not the only vet with this problem, because almost all of
the information on reproduction in dogs mentions that test breedings are
the only really reliable way to determine fertility in dogs. I can not say
what the situation is in your vet's practice, but in my practice, obtaining
two poor semen samples out of three collections is only slightly below our
expectations for normal dogs. So still think that you have to maintain a
strong suspicion that there is not a problem with your dog's sperm
production, even with the progression of things, so far.This does cause sort of a "Catch-22" situation. You can't know with
certainty whether your dog can breed successfully without giving him the
chance. However, you may not want to give him the chance because he has a
condition that may be inherited and could possibly be reduced or eliminated
in the breed by choosing not to breed affected individuals. This sort of
dilemma occurs often in breeding situations and there are no absolutely
clear cut answers about what the best course of action is. You just have to
decide if the value of this dog's total makeup outweighs the risk of
furthering a condition like lymphocytic thyroiditis in the breed.Mike Richards, DVM
1/26/2001
Basset Hound - Spondylosis and Dysplasia
Q: Dear Dr. Have you ever heard of hip displasia in the Basset Hound? I raise the wonderful creatures and one of the pets I sold has been diagnosed with hip displasia and spondilosis. He is only 2 years old. As far as I know, all Bassets have hip displasia to a certain extent because of the shallow sockets in the hips. I think this dog is crippled from the spondilosis. Because of this, both parents and all siblings have been neutered and spayed including the ones I was showing. We really can't have this going on. It causes pain and suffering to animals and broken hearts to owners. The spondilosis must be genetic for this dog to get it at such a tender age (my hounds do not become completely mature until about 2 1/2 years of age). What do you think?
A: Spondylosis is the excessive bone production that occurs between spinal vertebrae in dogs. It is only rarely a cause of lameness or disability and should be considered as the cause of such problems only when there is nothing else that would explain the symptoms. So it would be unusual, but not impossible, for it to be the cause of a crippling lameness.
I have heard of hip dysplasia in Basset Hounds but I do not know the prevalence of the problem offhand. How was the diagnosis of hip dysplasia made? I find Basset Hound X-rays to be hard to read for a number of orthopedic problems and often submit them for evaluation by a specialist. This is especially easy to do in the case of hip X-rays, since the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) uses specialists to evaluate X-rays for them.
Basset hounds have problems with luxating patellae as well. This is often part of the problem when there is debilitating lameness associated with hip dysplasia in Bassets. Their anatomy is such that often their entire leg is involved in almost any lameness.
Michael Richards, DVM
This page was last edited 04/29/08
