Health
Just like most hunting spitzes, the finnish spitz is a quite healthy dog. Though, there are some inheritable defects that you should be particularly aware of when you buy or own a finnish spitz.
Epilepsy >>
Patellar Luxation >>
Lack of teeth >>
Just like humans, dogs can suffer from epilepsy, i.e. recurrent attacks of spasm. The dog are often unconscious during the attacks. There are many underlaying causes of epilepsy even if the symptom is the same. There are for example cases when poisoning, meningitis, brain injuries or deficiency diseases have led to epilepsy. It is also varying between different dogs when in life the disease make its debut; some dogs have their first attack as a "teenager" while other dogs are considerably older. Today, the researchers thinks that epilepsy partly is an inheritable disease but in what extent and how it is inheritabled is not well known.
Finnish spitz is one of the dog breeds in which epilepsy is more common than expected and therefore it is suspected that the diasease in this case is inheritable. Considering this; the breed association of Finnish spitz strongly recommends that dogs with epilepsy-like symtom should not be used in breeding. For this reason it is also important to check the pedigree of the puppy for signs of the diasease before you buy a finnish spitz.
Unfortunately the pedigree is not a 100% reliable source when it comes to epilepsy. This is due to that the disease sometimes debutes after the dog has been used in breeding and when you study older pedigrees it is not sure that the disease is recorded at all. Fortunately enough; the hard work of finnish spitz breeders has resulted in a decreased number of finnish spitzes that suffers from epilepsy!
If you, despite close investigations before you buy your puppy, end up having a dog with epilepsy; do not panic - even if the spasms look scary! The first thing you should do is to visit a vet. as soon as possible. Sometimes the attacks are due to something that is easily cured or are just temporary. When you visit the vet. it is useful if you have prepared the visit by writing down everything you know about the attack for example when and where it took place, what happened before, during and after the epileptic fit, the duration of the attack or if the dog has eaten something unusuall before the attack and so on. This helps the vet. to diagnose the dog.
After you consulted your vet. it can be necessary to give your dog preventive medicine. Many dogs are helped by the preventive medicine while other dogs are not or are affected by severe side-effects. Then it shold be considered to give the dog antispasmodic medicine during the attacks instead.
Since epilepsy is a symtom that can be caused by many different diseases, deficiency etc it is often very difficult and timeconsuming to investigate the cause of the spasm attacks and (if possible) find the right cure. As an owner of a dog with epilepsy its therefore very important to keep focused on the dogs quality of life and try to see how the attacks/ the medicine affects the dog. Sometimes, even if it is hard, you have to ask yourself the hard question; does the dog have a good-quality of life?
When a dog suffers from epilepsy it is not only the dog that is affected but also its human pack. It can be hard to live with such an uncertain diagnosis and the constant anxiety about if, and in that case when and where, the next spasm attack takes place.
Patellar luxation means that of the patella (kneecap) is easily dislocated laterally. Some dogs can live ther whole life without any kind of problems while other have pains and are limping. The condition is inheritable and mainly affects small sized dogs and is often due to an abnormal angle of the femur.
Patella luxation is a quite common condition among finnish spitzes but breeders in both Finland and Sweden are working hard to get rid of this problem by strict breeding recommendations.
As an owner of a Finnish spitz , it is very important to let a vet. check your dogs knees to
find out if the dog suffers from patella luxation or not. This is extremely important for the continuous work towards a healthier breed even if you are not interested in using your own dog in breeding.
Lack of teeth
It is well known that many finnish spitzes lack teeth. This is also an inheritable condition; but the theory of heredity is not fully investigated. Lack of many teeth can cause great suffering since the dog are not able to feed properly. To reduce the number of finnish spitzes that lack many teeth the breeders association recommends that dogs that lack more than 4 teeth should not be used in breeding.