Terziev, G. & I. Borissov, 2018. Prevalence of ear diseases in dogs – a retrospective 5-year clinical study. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 21, No 1, 76–85.

DOI: 10.15547/bjvm.1075

The purpose of the present study was to present the results from a retrospective study on the prevalence of ear diseases among 5870 dogs referred for examination and treatment at the Small Animal Clinic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014. According to the results, ear diseases were significantly less prevalent in dogs aged up to 1 year (P=0.0012) and between 9–12 years (P=0.0019), but predominated in male dogs (p=0.0206). Ear diseases were more frequently observed in Cocker Spaniels (20.77%; P<0.0001), Bulgarian Shepherd dogs (17.91%; P<0.0001), Shar Pei (15.58%; P<0.0001), Kangals (11.76%; P=0.0240), Dogo Argentino (10.81%; P=0.0351) and French Bulldogs (9.35%; P=0.0041). Dogs from breeds with pendulous ears were more commonly affected. The diseases were more frequently unilateral (63.94%; P<0.0001), with clear effect of the season and higher prevalence during the summer (38.29%). Among all ear diseases, inflammations were the predominating pathology (67.90%).

Key words: dogs, ear diseases, otitis, prevalence