What is the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study?
by Dr. Noelle Weeks, Veterinarian, Veterinary Resource Center
Gilbert is “Hero” 668 in the study.
What is the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study and why is it important? The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is one of the largest, most comprehensive prospective canine health studies in the United States.
Nine years ago the Morris Animal Foundation funded a study that would involve 3,000 Golden Retrievers to look at various factors that affect their life and health over their lifespan. The Study’s purpose is to identify the nutritional, environmental, lifestyle and genetic risk factors for cancer and other diseases in dogs. Golden Retrievers were selected for the study because of the high rate of cancer within the breed; sixty percent of Golden Retrievers will be affected by cancer.
In order for Golden Retrievers to be enrolled in the Lifetime Study, dogs had to meet certain conditions and owners had to agree to yearly physical exam and laboratory tests. Each year enrolled owners complete an extensive questionnaire about their dog’s living conditions, food, behavior and health. Each year enrolled ‘Heros’ (every enrolled Golden Retriever is called a Hero) get a complete physical exam. Hair, toenails, urine, feces and blood are all collected and analyzed. Portions of each sample are kept in cold storage for future studies.
The results of the study will provide comprehensive data on diseases and other health challenges, including cancer. The findings will be used as a launching point for multiple health studies in dogs. The data is helping researches already.
For example, using data and samples from the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, researchers are analyzing the gut microbiome in healthy weight and obese dogs to determine if the microbiome differs between these two populations and could contribute to obesity in the breed. The database is free, open and available to the research and educational communities.
The Study will benefit dogs of all breeds over time as researches learn more about nutritional, environmental, lifestyle and genetic risk factors and how they affect dogs.