Health

The Norwegian Lundehund is a small population breed with a limited genetic base due to its historical bottleneck. This makes thoughtful breeding decisions and long-term health awareness essential.

Like all breeds, individual health varies. Current available data does not indicate a consistent breed-wide pattern suggesting specific conditions such as luxating patella or inherited eye issues represent a primary health concern within the population.

Health screening practices vary between breeders and are not yet universally applied across the breed.

All breeding dogs in my program are health tested prior to breeding, and selections are made with both individual health and genetic diversity in mind.

Lundehund syndrome

LS is the most serious illness in this breed, when you're considering adding a Lundehund to your family, you need to make sure you know how to recognize this diseases.

Lundehund Syndrome is a combination of one or more of these stomach and intestinal diseases:

Intestinal Lymphangiectasia (IL)

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Gastritis

Protein Losing Enteropathy (PLE)

Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

Symptoms

Low serum protein, especially albumin (sometimes that is the only sign)

Diarrhea

Vomiting/nausea

Weight loss, especially loss of muscle mass

Loss of appetite

Lethargy, weakness

Swollen abdomen (looks pregnant) and/or swollen legs

Onset: any age, dogs from 6 months to 10 years have gotten it.

Cause

At this point, the cause is totally unknown. Certainly there is a genetic predisposition to the disease, and then something sets it off. Intestinal infections (viral, parasitic, and bacterial) have been implicated. Periods of stress (boarding, estrus, pregnancy, dog shows) seem to bring on episodes. The Lymphangiectasia component can be either a congenital blockage of lymph vessels or an adult blockage of the lymphatics by inflammatory cells. The IBD component is likely a hypersensitivity/allergy to protein antigens (either from food or bacteria) that are in or pass through their GI tract. In IBD the normal protective mechanisms of the intestines are reduced, allowing increasing leakage in the intestinal wall so that the intestines are exposed to substances they would not normally see.

Food

Appropriate food that doesn't cause irritation is very important to keep the body healthy. Our dogs are being fed a raw diet, based on the prey model, which is a very natural way of feeding. There are plenty of Lundies that do great on a high quality kibble too.

Prevention

The most important for the dog is a good and stable life with very little stress. The dog has to live in the house with the people he/she is living with. Neutering is strongly discouraged, as the procedure might trigger IL.

Some Lundies adapt difficult, so it's very important to get your Lundehund at a breeder who puts lots of time and effort in socializing the puppies, but of course the new owner has to continue socializing it's puppy.

Sebaceous adenitis

SA is quite common in the breed, about 6% has skin problems.

Sebaceous Adenitis (SA) is a hereditary skin disease in which the sebaceous glands become inflamed, often leading to progressive loss of hair. The disease is primarily seen in Standard Poodles, Akitas, and Samoyeds, although there have been reported cases in a number of other breeds and mixed breeds as well. The disease can develop in a wide age range, with age of onset documented as early as 1 year and as late as 12 years. Males and females appear to be affected equally. The exact mode of inheritance is unknown.

SA can be difficult as the symptoms vary by breed, the symptoms are similar to those of other diseases such as hypothyroidism or allergies, and the disease can vary greatly in its severity. Visible symptoms include excessive dandruff or scaling, hair loss, lesions, a musty odor, and even secondary skin infections. On the other hand, dogs affected with SA can be subclinical and show no outward signs of the disease.

There is no DNA test available to genotypically detect SA. Currently, diagnosis is based on skin biopsy samples, and unfortunately the current screening method may result in false negatives.