Congenital heart defects in dogs cause lifelong welfare impacts that are often heritable, requiring responsible breeding practices to reduce their prevalence.
Congenital heart disease causes a progressive decline in exercise tolerance, respiratory comfort and quality of life that accelerates as the disease advances. Dogs in early stages may show only mild exercise intolerance. Dogs approaching heart failure experience breathlessness, coughing at night and inability to perform activities they previously enjoyed. Congestive heart failure episodes are medical emergencies involving severe respiratory distress. The welfare burden is substantial and prolonged. The tragedy is that in breeds where the condition is highly heritable, responsible breeding using cardiac screening could significantly reduce the prevalence across generations.