Although Salukis are generally a hearty breed carved out of a harsh environment, all dog breeds are afflicted with health concerns that prospective owners should be aware of. Saluki owners can expect their dogs to live, on average, to about 12 years old with outliers falling on either side of the bell curve. It's important that any prospective buyer ask the breeder about the health testing on the sire/dam in question.
As of September 6th, 2023, Salukis have an established CHIC program, but it may take some time for breeding stock to regularly meet CHIC requirements because the required SSADHD test was also newly added to OFA on the same date, and there was also a bit of transition with where to test this disease with the recent closing of Vetgen. At the very least, at this time Salukis should have an Advanced Echocardiogram on file, preferably within the last year or two. Salukis are prone to having a few different heart problems, but most often there may be some valve leakage that may or may not affect them throughout their lives. Frequently Salukis affected by these problems are subclinical and thus not detected through auscultation until later on in life (if at all). This is not to be confused with an athletic heart which will cause a murmur that doesn't affect the health of the dog. Athletic hearts are common among this breed and an echocardiogram is the best way to determine if a murmur has an innocent cause or not.
Occasionally Salukis will fail an eye clearance, and while it's not a common test among breeders of the breed (that I know of), it is a cheap and easy screening that I believe is worth doing on breeding stock. After all, what is a sighthound without its sight? Now it is an elective option in our CHIC program but how much it will be used remains to be seen.
Hemagiosarcoma and Lymphoma frequently are the cause of death of Salukis, and unfortunately there are no genetic tests for that just yet, but it's important to ask your prospective breeder about the health history of the pedigree to make sure that there have not been numerous cases of ancestors dying young of one particular problem that could potentially be passed along to the puppy in question. Unfortunately, these problems usually occur after the age of breeding. Hopefully Saluki breeders will use the OFA DNA repository to help contribute to future researchers who may find DNA links to these diseases.
Salukis will sometimes come up positive for carrying the Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) gene, like many other breeds, but it is unknown to me if they are affected by it. Salukis do have two known relevant genetic tests for NCL8 & SSADHD. It is unknown how widespread these genetic problems are, and so it is important that breeders begin testing their breeding stock for these problems. I also think it's worth running diversity panels on Salukis for better matchmaking in the future as it is a rare breed and all rarer breeds are vulnerable to breed diversity problems whether or not there is an open studbook. There is currently not a widespread program being used in the United States for Saluki diversity; however, some European Saluki breeders are using a diversity test through the Feragen lab in Austria. Historically, we have checked our dogs' diversity via Embark and run matchmaking pairs through those dogs I have available, but without widespread use it is difficult to gauge COI beyond the pedigree in this breed.
In 2023 a test for post-operative bleeding (DEPOH) in several sighthound breeds was developed via Washington State University. They noted that the genetic problem was present in Salukis as well as many other breeds. This test may not necessarily be a pre-breeding screen, but is useful for Salukis who have a planned surgery or the potential for a surgery ahead so your vet can make the appropriate precautions to prevent excessive bleeding. When I asked for the data in late June 2023, I saw there were very few Salukis tested (28), but over half of those Salukis carried at least one mutant copy of the gene.
Liver shunts, seizures, and cystinuria: There are other problems that afflict our beloved breed less frequently that are worth asking your breeder about. In this breed, cystinuria seems to affect intact males who are mostly consuming a high protein diet and this causes bladder stones that are not dissolvable. Occasionally, this has deadly consequence. If your male puppy/dog has a relative who is afflicted by this, you may want to watch the protein % that the dog consumes, and have his urine checked for cysteine (through UPenn). There is no genetic test for this particular type of cystinuria. Seizures seem to occur somewhat rarely in the breed, but is not limited to one line of Salukis. It is worth asking any breeder you inquire with about seizure history within the breed. Liver shunts do occur in the breed and while there is no genetic test for it, if it is known to occur in the line of dogs that the puppy is related to, the puppies should ideally have Bile Acid Tests before going home. This does cause a delay sometimes in getting the puppy home by a week or two while waiting for results as it can't be done accurately when they're really young.
See: Saluki Health Research for breed specific heart, cancer, and thyroid information.
As of September 6th, 2023, Salukis have an established CHIC program, but it may take some time for breeding stock to regularly meet CHIC requirements because the required SSADHD test was also newly added to OFA on the same date, and there was also a bit of transition with where to test this disease with the recent closing of Vetgen. At the very least, at this time Salukis should have an Advanced Echocardiogram on file, preferably within the last year or two. Salukis are prone to having a few different heart problems, but most often there may be some valve leakage that may or may not affect them throughout their lives. Frequently Salukis affected by these problems are subclinical and thus not detected through auscultation until later on in life (if at all). This is not to be confused with an athletic heart which will cause a murmur that doesn't affect the health of the dog. Athletic hearts are common among this breed and an echocardiogram is the best way to determine if a murmur has an innocent cause or not.
Occasionally Salukis will fail an eye clearance, and while it's not a common test among breeders of the breed (that I know of), it is a cheap and easy screening that I believe is worth doing on breeding stock. After all, what is a sighthound without its sight? Now it is an elective option in our CHIC program but how much it will be used remains to be seen.
Hemagiosarcoma and Lymphoma frequently are the cause of death of Salukis, and unfortunately there are no genetic tests for that just yet, but it's important to ask your prospective breeder about the health history of the pedigree to make sure that there have not been numerous cases of ancestors dying young of one particular problem that could potentially be passed along to the puppy in question. Unfortunately, these problems usually occur after the age of breeding. Hopefully Saluki breeders will use the OFA DNA repository to help contribute to future researchers who may find DNA links to these diseases.
Salukis will sometimes come up positive for carrying the Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) gene, like many other breeds, but it is unknown to me if they are affected by it. Salukis do have two known relevant genetic tests for NCL8 & SSADHD. It is unknown how widespread these genetic problems are, and so it is important that breeders begin testing their breeding stock for these problems. I also think it's worth running diversity panels on Salukis for better matchmaking in the future as it is a rare breed and all rarer breeds are vulnerable to breed diversity problems whether or not there is an open studbook. There is currently not a widespread program being used in the United States for Saluki diversity; however, some European Saluki breeders are using a diversity test through the Feragen lab in Austria. Historically, we have checked our dogs' diversity via Embark and run matchmaking pairs through those dogs I have available, but without widespread use it is difficult to gauge COI beyond the pedigree in this breed.
In 2023 a test for post-operative bleeding (DEPOH) in several sighthound breeds was developed via Washington State University. They noted that the genetic problem was present in Salukis as well as many other breeds. This test may not necessarily be a pre-breeding screen, but is useful for Salukis who have a planned surgery or the potential for a surgery ahead so your vet can make the appropriate precautions to prevent excessive bleeding. When I asked for the data in late June 2023, I saw there were very few Salukis tested (28), but over half of those Salukis carried at least one mutant copy of the gene.
Liver shunts, seizures, and cystinuria: There are other problems that afflict our beloved breed less frequently that are worth asking your breeder about. In this breed, cystinuria seems to affect intact males who are mostly consuming a high protein diet and this causes bladder stones that are not dissolvable. Occasionally, this has deadly consequence. If your male puppy/dog has a relative who is afflicted by this, you may want to watch the protein % that the dog consumes, and have his urine checked for cysteine (through UPenn). There is no genetic test for this particular type of cystinuria. Seizures seem to occur somewhat rarely in the breed, but is not limited to one line of Salukis. It is worth asking any breeder you inquire with about seizure history within the breed. Liver shunts do occur in the breed and while there is no genetic test for it, if it is known to occur in the line of dogs that the puppy is related to, the puppies should ideally have Bile Acid Tests before going home. This does cause a delay sometimes in getting the puppy home by a week or two while waiting for results as it can't be done accurately when they're really young.
See: Saluki Health Research for breed specific heart, cancer, and thyroid information.