The study, which was published in the journal Canine Genetics and Epidemiology, has shown that chocolate Labrador retrievers often experience health problems and die faster than dogs of the same breed, but with a different coat color. According to scientists, this is due to a bottleneck — reduction of genetic diversity due to high consumer demand. It is known that chocolate colouring retrievers is very popular in the United States.
The results of the study showed that the chocolate labs live 10% longer than other dogs with black or yellow hair. Scientists believe that this is due to reduced gene pool and loss of genetic diversity. The fact that the birthday chocolate puppy it is necessary that father and mother definitely had a chocolate coat color with no exceptions.
Researchers from the Royal veterinary College in London believe that the breeders who deliberately breed cats of a certain color provoke puppies for predisposition to diseases. The conclusion was made after studying the VetCompass database about 33 320 Labradors, brought to a veterinarian in the United Kingdom.
It was found that the average duration of life of the Retriever is equal to a 12.1 years. If only chocolate representatives, the average life expectancy equal to 10.7 years. According to the database, the death of most of the animals came because of problems with muscles and bones as well as cancer.
As an example, scientists have brought a disease called pyotraumatic dermatitis. She was found in 4% chocolate retrievers and only 1.1% and 1.6% in the breed with a black and yellow coat color. Also 8.8% of dogs are overweight, which can cause problems with the legs and hip joints.
This is just one of hundreds or thousands of studies on dogs. Recently, scientists have proven that dogs do understand human speech.
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