One of the givens in this world is that things never stay the same, we are always learning and we are always improving. This is as true for the veterinary profession as it is anywhere else. The information changes are based on must come from somewhere though.

Many of us will be aware of the change in recommendations as to the timing of desexing dogs. When I trained it was almost written in stone that it was by 6 months. It would now appear that the timing isn’t quite that simple. Early spey and neutering has been associated with an increase in non-traumatic orthopaedic injuries. Where did this information from?

One of the major studies the updated recommendations are based on is The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study run by The Morris Animal Foundation (https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/)

The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is one of the largest, most comprehensive prospective canine health studies in the United States. The Study’s purpose is to identify the nutritional, environmental, lifestyle and genetic risk factors for cancer and other diseases in dogs. Each year, with the help of veterinarians and dog owners, the Foundation collects health, environmental and behavioural data on 3,000+ enrolled golden retrievers and has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Today we have a chat to Dr Kelly Diehl, Senior Director of Science and Communication for The Morris Animal Foundation about:

· An overview of The Morris Animal Foundation

· What is The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study

· Why Golden Retrievers?

· Some of the results to date

· The relevance to other breeds of dogs, species (even humans)

· Future areas of interest