01075-A: Description and Characterization of a Hair Coat Disorder in Schipperkes
Grant Status: Closed
Project Summary
Since the initial announcement of this project the researcher received many, many emails, letters and phone calls from individuals with information to share in regard to their personal experiences with abnormal coat conditions in Schipperkes. Through email communication a number of affected dogs were identified; unfortunately very few were within reasonable travel distance to Ames, IA, where they are located. It was intended that one of the investigators involved with the project would examine the majority of the dogs enrolled in the study but this was not possible for most that wished to participate. The challenge of acquiring consistent and reliable sample material from a distance was one we were able to deal with, however a few cases required subsequent sample submission since directions were not followed initially. This mostly affected the owners of dogs enrolled due the additional time and effort associated with repeat visits to the veterinarian responsible. Ideally traveling to a breed associated meeting would be ideal for any future investigations so that multiple animals could be sampled at once with minimal time commitment from veterinarians and owners. The researchers have appealed to the veterinary dermatology community in order to broaden the net and potentially identify some additional study participants that are existing patients of veterinary dermatologists. This particular hair coat disorder may share some characteristics with what is referred to as Alopecia X in other breeds, namely the Pomeranian. To date they have preliminary findings only, and since only a portion of dogs has been evaluated additional information from other affected dogs is very important in order to gain a better understanding of this disorder. They focused on collecting data from related dogs in order to further identify a possible genetic cause for the development of this hair coat problem in the Schipperke breed.
Publication(s)
May, E. R., Frank, L. A., & Sula, M.-J. M. (2019). Description and characterization of a hair coat disorder in schipperkes. Veterinary Dermatology, 30(1), 36-e10. https://doi.org/10.1111/vde.12711
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