As another poor deerhound has died from osteosarcoma, I thought it time to remind all of the ongoing genetics and health project. I am also writing to promise you hope for future deerhounds. As you probably know, I have been working on the deerhound project for the last 2 1/2 years in conjunction with the SDCA and John Dilberger. I have a very personal stake in its' success as I have lost 3 dogs to this horrible disease. When I started this project we had a database of ~100 dogs with incomplete health histories. To date, I have collected information on ~3,000 deerhounds (health, etc) and am continuing to collect more information. It is vital that deerhound owners and breeders continue to supply this health information (noting problems such as cancer, heart disease, and bloat) so that heritability can be determined and genetic risk factors identified.

I want to remind any who have ever owned a deerhound that this database is a unique resource for the breed. In the future, I plan to add ever more information to the database, including such factors as height and weight, etc. I also want to remind all that this project is the only study currently looking specifically at deerhounds and their health problems. While there are other studies currently enrolling deerhounds, I want to make it clear, this project is the only study currently trying to identify genetic risk factors for the development of these health problems in deerhounds. The other studies are primarily geared toward other breeds (specifically Rottweiler and Golden Retriever).

The initial information from the deerhound project is due to be published within the next few months. This paper dicusses the database and the heritability of osteosarcoma in the breed. The information allows me to determine such measures as penetrance and susceptibility (likelihood of being affected at some point in time) for any deerhound to develop osteosarcoma. I have similar (though not as complete) information for bloat and heart disease. Owners and breeders will be welcome to contact me if they are interested in discussing any of this information.

The next step in this project will be two-fold:
1) To define a genetic test to identify potential affected dogs and,
2) To identify new therapies for dogs affected with osteo

For those of you who don't know, I have moved my research to the University of Tennessee. At UTenn, we are currently working on both of these goals. Over the next few years, our group of 4 veterinary oncologists at UTenn will be able to offer genetic testing and counseling for deerhounds; in addition to offering novel therapeutic options for the treatment of osteosarcoma.

If any are interested in discussing current or future therapeutic options for osteosarcoma at UTenn please don't hesitate to contact me directly. I would also encourage all to contact me directly if there are any questions about the genetic project, health information to update, or questions on the database.

This report from Dr. Phillips was reproduced here with his kind permission.

For more information on osteosarcoma in Scottish Deerhounds, or in other breeds of dog, please click on the links on the right.