Intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (PSS) occur in several large dog breeds. PSS is a congenital malformation of liver vessels. In PSS affected dogs waste products of the body are not detoxified in the liver but directly transported into the body circulation where they lead to damage in the brain and other organs. Without an elaborate and expensive therapy (diet/surgery), affected animals suffer greatly and their life expectancy is short.

A first study supported by the GKF and the German Hovawart clubs RZV and HZD demonstrated that PSS in the Hovawart is inherited as a complex trait rather than in a monogenic autosomal recessive mode of inheritance.

We would like to further investigate the genetic causes for PSS together with the university veterinary hospitals in Utrecht and Giessen. Our aim is the development of a genetic test to allow the unquivocal diagnosis of animals that carry genetic risk alleles. We therefore need EDTA blood samples from affected dogs, ideally together with their parents and siblings (Hovawarts and other large dog breeds). We therefore ask breeders and owners to donate samples for our research. 

Contact: Elisabeth Dietschi