2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

In Family 1, two male dogs died suddenly at 9 and 12 months of age. Fourteen surviving dogs including the parents and littermates of the deceased dogs were evaluated with Holter monitoring. Three additional dogs (all female) were determined to be affected based on increased ventricular ectopy (656, 792 and 3912 VPCs per 24 hours, respectively). Both parents of all affected dogs had zero VPCs on 24 hour Holter monitoring. Echocardiography on one affected dog, and post-mortem evaluation on the two dogs that died of sudden death did not identify any structural lesions. A single female with zero VPCs was either the mother (two dogs) or grandmother (three dogs) to all of the sudden death and affected dogs. Additionally, four of the five affected shared a single father with zero VPCs.