Great Dane Health Care & Feeding

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Great Dane Health Problems

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Complete list of Great Dane health problems

This gentle giant is prone to so many health problems it's hard to know where to begin.

Three Top Killers of Great Danes

Here are the three health issues that are responsible for the most deaths in Great Danes:

• Bloat (or gastric torsion) is the number one killer of Great Danes. In fact, of all breeds, the Great Dane is the most likely breed to develop this deadly gastrointestinal syndrome – 1 of every 2 Great Danes is expected to suffer bloat during its lifetime. About half of those dogs will die within just a few hours.
• Of all breeds, the Great Dane is the second most likely to develop a deadly heart disease called cardiomyopathy. Other life-threatening (or life-shortening) heart diseases in Danes include subaortic stenosis, valve diseases, patent ductus arteriosus, and others.
• The third deadly disease that claims the lives of many Great Danes is cancer, especially osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Many, many Great Danes suffer bone cancer and require a leg amputation, which only slows the cancer for awhile.

Orthopedic diseases in Great Danes

As you might expect from looking at the big rectangular head perched on the l-o-o-o-ng neck, and the heavy body supported by relatively skinny legs and knobby knees, orthopedic problems are common in Great Danes.

• Of all breeds, the Great Dane is the most likely to develop a serious disease of their neck vertebrae with the odd but descriptive name of Wobbler's syndrome.
• The Orthopedic Foundation of America evaluated the hip X-rays of over 14,000 Great Danes and found 13% with hip dysplasia. Of 3000 elbow X-rays, 4% had elbow dysplasia. On the plus side, that rate of elbow dysplasia is not bad for a large dog.
• Young  Great Danes are susceptible to two syndromes that cause pain and lameness. The milder one is called panosteitis and is usually self-limiting. The other is called hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD), which ranges from moderate to severe.

Eye diseases in Great Danes

The most serious eye disease is cataracts, which can appear before 2 years old and can result in blindness.

Eyelid abnormalities (ectropion and entropion) and cherry eye are fairly common in Great Danes.

Glaucoma and progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) can also occur.

Hormonal/endocrine system diseases

Hypothyroidism and Addison's disease are the two main concerns. According to the Michigan State University Thyroid Database, up to 20% of Great Danes have low thyroid levels.

Skin diseases in Great Danes

Skin diseases include allergies (which cause itchy skin), pyoderma (folliculitis and the more severe furunculosis), zinc-responsive dermatosis, and lick granuloma.

A skin disease called color dilution alopecia is common in blue (gray) Great Danes. It causes patchy hair loss resulting in a moth-eaten look, along with chronic skin infections that require medicated baths.

Demodectic mange is regularly seen in Great Dane puppies and adolescents.

In addition to cancerous growths, non-tumorous skin growths occur regularly on Great Danes.

Miscellaneous health problems

Other serious health issues in Great Danes include epilepsy, blood-clotting disease (von Willebrand's), megaesophagus, and cystinuria (urinary disease).

Some harlequin Danes are born partially or completely deaf.

Preventing health problems

Some health problems are inherited. For example, if your dog inherits from his parents the genes for an eye disease called PRA, he will go blind and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

But most health problems can be prevented by the ways you raise your dog.

FREE eBOOK! My free online health care program, 11 Things You Must Do Right To Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy shows you how to raise your Great Dane in all the right ways that help prevent health problems. Become your dog's health care champion!