The aim of this study was to characterize the orthopedic diseases of the hind limbs in dogs examined at the Veterinary Hospital of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Univ Estadual Paulista (UNESP) - Botucatu (São Paulo - Brasil), during a period of 7-years. A total of 889 dogs were evaluated: 31.9% had fractures of the long bones, 15.1% hip dysplasia, 13% medial patellar luxation, 11.7% cranial cruciate rupture, 11.5% multiple pelvic fractures, and 7.9% hip dislocation. The low-prevalence disorders (4.4%, n=39) were tibiotarsal and tarsometatarsal luxations, avascular necrosis of the femoral head, osteomyelitis and bone tumors, among others. Fractures of the tibia/fibula (14.5%) were more common than femoral fractures (14.2%), and males (54.2%) were more affected than females (45.8%). Considering the dogs with hip dysplasia, 67.9% were aged between 2 and 12 years, and the most common breed was the German shepherd (21.6%) followed by Rottweiler (17.2%) and Labrador (11.2%), while the mixed-breed dogs were 15.7% of total. Of the dogs with patellar luxation, 89.6% had medial luxation, and 36.2% were Poodle, 16.4% were mixed-breed and 12.9% were Pinscher. Cranial cruciate rupture was observed especially in Pit Bull (14.4%), Boxer (11.5%), Poodle (10.6%) and Rottweiler (10.6%) dogs, and mixed-breed dogs constituted 29.8% of the total. According to the age, 62.5% of them had less than 7 years. The most important cause for pelvic fractures was motor vehicle accidents (89.2%), being 52% of the dogs less than 3 years old and 45.1% of them were males. In 86.3% of the cases there were multiple fractures of the pelvis. Considering the dogs with hip dislocation, 57.1% of the cases were associated with motor vehicle accidents. The age ranged from 2 to 18 years, with high prevalence in mixed-breed dogs (44.3%), followed by Poodles (32.9%). In conclusion, the most often orthopedic diseases in decreasing order of occurrence were fractures of the long bones, automobile-induced; hip dysplasia, medial patellar luxation, cranial cruciate rupture, multiple pelvic fractures, and traumatic hip dislocation.
dogs; epidemiology; orthopaedic