Health

Watson - Little Scarface

Watson used to be called Little Fathead and his great grandpa Morris was the original Fathead.  They got the nickname because of their blocky heads.  Watson could also be Little Scarface as he sports a sizable scar over his left eye.  A few years ago Watson had a growth on his forehead that we had surgically removed.  I chose not to have it sent out for a biopsy because I would not have treated Watson for cancer if it had been cancerous  I can't see putting an already middle-aged dog through long, expensive and painful treatment to give him maybe another six months of life.  Perhaps a young dog, but not an older dog.  He's been fine ever since, so we dodged the bullet.

Coral's horny growth was not sent out either.  Dr. Ann said it was most likely benign and again I opted to just have the growth removed and to enjoy Josie for the rest of her natural life.  She's doing great, has left the wrapping alone, and her cheerful outlook on life is not diminished in any way.

It's very fortunate that Dals are one of the breeds with comparatively low cancer rates.  Cancer is not uncommon in dogs and is unfortunately very common in some breeds.  In general is more common in larger breeds.  I just read an interesting article on the subject and was pleased to find that Dals had the lowest cancer rate of all the medium and large sized breeds in the survey.  Their rate is actually very similar to that of many of the small breeds.

Although several health issues in Dals are well known including deafness and urate stones (although the latter is routinely blown out of proportion) Dalmatians are actually an extremely health breed with a very low incidence of many of the health issues that are common in other breeds.  They are also comparatively long-lived and the vast majority of well cared for Dals live to be 12 - 14 years of age, with a fairly good number of them living even longer.