Medical Information of Cocker Spaniels

Video Transcript

"What is some medical information on Cocker Spaniels? Well Cocker Spaniels are a great smaller breed of dog. But like any purebred dog they do come with certain genetic medical complications that can be there especially in overly in-breded or overly bred species of the dog. Potential problems could be things like patella luxation which is actually a slipping of the patella inside the knee cap, atopic dermatitis. There can be, make sure you pay special close attention to the ears as they are so floppy and overly long. Ear infections are very very common as is a certain sort of a lower lip infection that can cause swelling and pus. So you know, so special attention should be paid to the lower lip, making sure the teeth aren't rubbing on it too much. They can also have of course hip dysplasia problems, there's progressive retinal atrophy, which is of course genetic disease that will slowly progress and cause the dog to go blind, as well as what we call the bleeder's disease which is hemophilia which is basically a lack of blood clotting and so the animal gets a cut they could bleed profusely more than normal. You know, any breed of animal, especially dogs that are bred over hundreds of years for specific purposes and reasons are going to have certain medical ailments that are inherently there in their genetics. You pick any breed out of the AKC and point at it and there's a list as long as your arm of potential health problems. So don't let that discourage you from getting that particular breed but be aware of the health problems so you can spot them before they become too much of an issue and hopefully some sort of corrective procedure or action can be taken to help the animal."