The
Silken Windhound is a remarkably healthy breed
ISWS
(International
Silken Windhound Society) keep records and databases of every
health aspect known about Silken Windhounds, so we have a pretty
good knowledge about the health status of our breed.
Silkens
have, out of sheer luck, managed to dodge some of the problems
in the founding breeds (Whippet, Borzoi and to some extent Shelties).
So far we
have not seen any PRA (Whippet), bloat
(Borzoi) and we have only had one single "sudden
death", in this case caused by dilated cardiomypathy,
to my knowledge the only cardiomypathy ever diagnosed in the breed.
There is
the occasional but very rare heart murmur, upon
further examination they all seem to be of different kinds, usually
harmless to the dog. Even so, these dogs are not bred. Just because
the same kind of heart murmur has not appeared more than once,
it is not safe to assume it is not something that can be inherited.
Better to be safe than sorry.
One thing
the breed did not escape from the founding breeds is cryptorchism
(Whippet).
Another thing
that was quite rampant in the breed originally, but now has been
reduced to a rare phenomenon, is umbilical hernias.
They have
almost always been outer, closed hernias, not bothering the dog,
but nevertheless they are a nuicanse and it is good to see that
breeding selections have proved to be working to steer away
from it.
In my experience,
with 15 years of having several different Borzoi of different
blood lines, they had a lot of problems with tonsillitis. Very
often recurring tonsillitis.
So far none of my Silkens have had tonsillitis
at all. Better immune system ? I really can't say, but they do
seem to be more resistant to tonsillitis at least.
Fake
pregnancies, when females act
like they are pregnant but are not, seem to be unheard
of in Silkens. Fake pregnanices can be quite a problem,
in many breeds it is also very frequent.
I've never
heard of over sexual males, humping everyone and everything either.
You may think this is related to behaviour and not health, but
I disagree because I think it has to do with the hormone
system and that obviously seem to work quite well for
Silkens.
While we
are into hormones, Silkens are extremely willing to breed and
you seldom hear of females that do not get pregnant when bred.
It happens, but not very often. The resulting litters are typically
3-7 puppies.
You never
hear of Silken females getting pyometra, but
that may be explained by the simple fact that the vast majority
of Silkens live in USA where they are big on spaying and neutering
...
So,
are Silken Windhounds completely without problems?
No, unfortunately not. But for the problems we do have, we have
the scientists on our side.
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Starcastle Hounds Silken Windhounds, Sweden
Silken Windhounds since 1998
