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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Comparative and Clinical Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1351225

Cortisol measurements in saliva in brachycephalic dog breeds as part of a standardized stress test

Provisionally accepted
Elisa Kähler Elisa Kähler Andrea Meyer-Lindenberg Andrea Meyer-Lindenberg *Yury Zablotski Yury Zablotski Maike Schroers Maike Schroers *
  • Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is a common condition in brachycephalic dogs, with Pugs (PG) and French Bulldogs (FB) appearing to be particularly typically affected. Objective and easy-to-perform tests are necessary to detect the disease at an early stage and to exclude dogs affected by BOAS from breeding. The present study investigated the extent to which vital signs and salivary cortisol concentrations can be used to distinguish between healthy and BOAS-affected dogs in a standardised fitness test. A total of 57 PG, 56 FB and 27 meso-and dolichocephalic dogs were studied as control group (CG). In addition to vital signs, salivary cortisol concentrations were measured before and after the exercise test. It emerged that non-brachycephalic dogs showed a higher fitness level than brachycephalic dogs. The PG recovered significantly slower than the FB after the exercise test. In unaffected PG, cortisol levels rose significantly after the test and then fell again, in unaffected FB they fell significantly during the test. Unexpectedly, cortisol levels remained constant in BOAS affected dogs of both breeds. A possible explanation could be a disturbance of the pituitaryhypothalamic-adrenal axis, which could be due to the chronic stress of affected animals. This would have to be clarified in further studies. In conclusion, a submaximal fitness test may be a useful method to identify dogs suffering from BOAS as it is imperative to prevent the breeding and reproduction of affected dogs.

    Keywords: dog, stress, Saliva, cortisol, fitness, test

    Received: 06 Dec 2023; Accepted: 17 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kähler, Meyer-Lindenberg, Zablotski and Schroers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Andrea Meyer-Lindenberg, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
    Maike Schroers, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.