The effects of breed, age, sex, and body weight on electrocardiographic parameters in military working dogs

Vet World Vol.13 May-2020 Article-25

Research Article

Veterinary World, 13(5): 1001-1004

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2020.1001-1004

Wichaporn Lerdweeraphon¹, Surangkhana Thanwongsa², Suriya Youyod², Sermsawat Imsopa², and Wootichai Kenchaiwong¹

1. Applied Animal Physiology Research Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Thailand.
2. Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Thailand.

Background and Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effects of breed, sex, age, and body weight on different electrocardiographic parameters in military working dogs (Labrador Retriever and German Shepherd).

Materials and Methods: Electrocardiographic recordings (paper speed = 25 mm/s and calibration = 10 mm/mV) were performed to obtain all the standard bipolar limb leads (leads I, II, and III) and unipolar augmented limb leads (leads aVR, aVL, and aVF). A total of 16 Labrador Retrievers and 14 German Shepherds were restrained manually in the right lateral recumbency without any tranquilizer or anesthetic drug. Amplitude and duration of P, QRS, and T wave, PR and QT interval, mean electrical axis, and heart rate were measured in each recording.

Results: There was no significant difference in electrocardiographic parameters across breed and sex. However, QRS duration tended to alter by breed (p<0.1) in Labrador Retrievers (0.04±0.005 s), which is lower than German Shepherds (0.05±0.005 s). PR interval was influenced by sex (p<0.1). PR interval was higher in females (0.13±0.005 s) than males (0.11±0.008 s). In addition, electrocardiographic values were not significantly affected by age and body weight, except that the amplitude of R wave was statistically affected by age (p<0.05). A correlation was found between the decrease in R wave amplitude and increase in age of dogs.

Conclusion: Different electrocardiographic parameters were within the normal range. A significant effect of age was seen on amplitude of R wave. However, the effect of breed, sex, and body weight was not significant on different electrocardiographic parameters in Labrador Retriever and German Shepherd dogs. Keywords: age, breed, dogs, electrocardiogram, sex.

Keywords: age, breed, dogs, electrocardiogram, sex.

How to cite this article: Lerdweeraphon W, Thanwongsa S, Youyod S, Imsopa S, Kenchaiwong W (2020) The effects of breed, age, sex, and body weight on electrocardiographic parameters in military working dogs, Veterinary World, 13(5): 1001-1004.

Received: 03-02-2020 Accepted: 17-04-2020 Published online: 30-05-2020

Corresponding author: Wichaporn Lerdweeraphon E-mail: wichaporn.l@msu.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.1001-1004

Copyright: Lerdweeraphon, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.