Von Willebrand's disease is a blood loss disorder found in many breeds of dog as fine as other animals. It is distinguished by hematomas, nosebleeds, and intermittent limping (due to blood loss into the joints). Likewise to hemophilia A, dogs with this disorder are deficient in clotting factor VIII activity. One of the primary distinctions of von Willebrand's disease though, is that this disorder is not sex-linked.
Inherited von Willebrand's disease is intricate. Each breed of dog will have a various set of "typical symptoms" of the disease. Indication can range from abnormally long bleeding time due to a cut toenail, to bleeding during minor surgery, to spontaneous nosebleeds, with a wide assortment of presentations between. Injuries that are followed by blood loss may or may not need a transfusion. Even a small injury may necessitate veterinary treatment. Carrier of this confusion can live their entire lives with no external indications of this disease.Only through hard of all prospective breeding stock and choosy breeding is there a hope of eliminate this disorder. The test is simple and cheap, and will show if the tested dog is a high, low or non carrier of the disease. The common sense process of not breeding from high carriers and of not breeding low carriers to other low carries may eliminate vWD evermore from our breed.
