Rat Terrier Statistics and Health Survey 
March 2004

Approximate Number of Dogs in the United States - 338,919

Mini's (10-18 Lbs) - 185,693
Standards (18-28 Lbs) -102,387
Toys-Tots (Under 10 Lbs) - 48,497
Decker Rat Terriers (22-40 Lbs) - 2,342

There are presently born approximately 6560 Litters Yearly resulting in 26240 pups
Mini's - 14,380
Standards - 7924
Toys-Tots - 3557
Decker Rat Terriers - 379
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Health
The General health of the breed is good and with the purchase of your Rat Terrier from a good breeder, you can expect a dog with a long and care free life. The breed has become very popular in the past few years. As a breed grows in popularly so do the problems, there is an increase of new breeders, dogs in puppy mills, pet stores and people looking to capitalize. An ongoing study of the breed has been made to chart what disease/defects exist in the breed. Shown below are problems that have occurred in the breed and a breakdown of the frequency of them showing up in any particular size of Rat Terrier.
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.

Survey
The Health survey results below is based on a Rat Terrier population
of 338,919 dogs with 29,628 reported problems
The survey shows that 8.7% of the total population shows at least one
of the below listed Diseases or Defects
.
Top 5 Disease/Defects affecting the Rat Terrier by Size.
*Complete list of all disease/defects located further down on page.

 
Size
Disease /Defect - Number Effected
Toy
Demodectic Mange - 1 out of  38
Hair Lip/Cleft Palette - 1 out of 83
Cryptorchidism- 1 out of 83
Allergies to Vaccine & Medicine - 1 out of  91
Skin Allergies  -  1 out of 91
Mini 
Airborne Allergies - 1 out of 63
Umbilical Hernia - 1 out of  71
Color Mutant Alopecia  - 1 out of 71
Soft Teeth - 1 out of 83
Demodectic Mange - 1 out of  91
Standard
Food Allergies - 1 out of  77 
Hip Dysplasia - 1 out of  77 
Patella Luxation - 1 out of 83
Entropion - 1 out of 83 
Seizures/Fits/Epilepsy - 1 out of 91
Decker
Allergies-Insecticides - 1 out of  333 
Hip Dysplasia - 1 out of 333 
Food Allergies - 1 out of 500
Allergies - Contact- 1 out of 500 
Monorchidism - 1 out of  500
Reported Problems and Percentage of Population Effected
 *This is an ongoing study and it is based on the problems reported to date.

Column 1 shows the order seen for each problem. A ranking of 1 means that it is seen most frequently of all the problems listed.
Column 2 lists the individual disease/defects reported.
Of all health problems reported; Column 3 shows the % that each disease/defect contributes to those problems.  Occurrences of any particular disease/defect may be seen more or less frequently. The % attributed reflects a higher or lower % of frequency of that particular disease/defect of the overall problems.
Columns 4-7 show the percentage affected for each size and the frequency of occurrence that one can expect.

 
 
Ranking
Disease /Defect
--------- 
# of Occurrences
% attributed 
% of Toy/Tot 
Population 
Effected 
% of 
Mini 
Population 
Effected
% of Standard 
Population 
Effected
% of 
Decker
Population 
Effected
1
 Demodectic Mange 
3636
12.3% 
2.6% 
1 out of 38
1.1% 
1 out of  91
1.0% 
1 out of 100
.1% 
1 out of 1000
2
Seizures/Fits/Epilepsy 
3420
11.5%
.5% 
1 out of 200
1.1% 
1 out of 91
1.1% 
1 out of 91
None 
Reported
3
Patella Luxation 
3276
11.1%
.6% 
1 out of 167
.9% 
1 out of 111
1.2% 
1 out of 83
None 
Reported
4
Bad Bite 
2700
9.1%
.7% 
1 out of 143
1.1% 
1 out of 91
.8% 
1 out of 125
.1% 
1 out of 1000
5
Allergies - Contact 
2268
7.7%
.4% 
1 out of 250
1.0% 
1 out of 100
1.1% 
1 out of 91
.2% 
1 out of 500
6
Food Allergies 
2160
7.3%
.4% 
1 out of 250
.9% 
1 out of 111
1.3% 
1 out of 77
.2% 
1 out of 500
7
Color Mutant Alopecia 
1188
4.0%
.6% 
1 out of 167
1.4% 
1 out of 71
.8% 
1 out of 125
None Reported
8
Umbilical Hernia 
1044
3.5%
.4% 
1 out of 250
1.4% 
1 out of 71
.8% 
1 out of 125
.1% 
1 out of 1000
9
Inguinal Hernia 
828
2.8%
1.0% 
1 out of 100
1.0% 
1 out of 100
.7% 
1 out of 143
None Reported
10
Allergies-Insecticides 
828
2.8%
1.0% 
1 out of 100
.6% 
1 out of 167
.7% 
1 out of 143
.3% 
1 out of 333
11
Retinal Atrophy 
684
 2.3%
 .9% 
1 out of 111
.9% 
1 out of 111
.9% 
1 out of 111
 .1% 
1 out of 1000
12
Monorchidism 
648
 2.2%
  .9% 
1 out of 111
.8% 
1 out of 125
.9% 
1 out of 111
 .2% 
1 out of 500
13
Hip Dysplasia
612
2.1% 
 .8% 
1 out of 125
.5% 
1 out of 200
1.3% 
1 out of  77
 .3% 
1 out of 333
14
Allergies - Airborne 
612
2.1%
.2% 
1 out of 500
1.6% 
1 out of 63
1.0% 
1 out of 100
None Reported
15
Soft Teeth 
504
1.7%
 .8% 
1 out of 125
1.2% 
1 out of 83
1.0% 
1 out of 100
None Reported
16
Entropion
504
1.7%
.2%
1 out of 500
1.0% 
1 out of 100
1.2% 
1 out of 83
.2% 
1 out of 500
17
Cryptorchidism
432
1.5%
1.2% 
1 out of 83
.7% 
1 out of 143
.7% 
1 out of 143 
.2% 
1 out of 500
18
Allergies to Vaccine & Medicine 
360
1.2%
1.1% 
1 out of 91
.8% 
1 out of 125
.8% 
1 out of 125
None Reported
19
 Skin Allergies 
360
1.2%
1.1% 
1 out of 91
.8% 
1 out of 125
.8% 
1 out of 125
None Reported
20
 Hair Lip/Cleft Palette 
324
1.1%
1.2% 
1 out of 83
.9% 
1 out of 111
.6% 
1 out of 167
None Reported
.

Additional Problems Reported with 1% or less occurrences
 
 
Ranking
Problem
Problem Percentage
21
Retained Teeth
1%
22
Stomach & Intestines
.9%
23
Tear Duct
.7%
24
Hydrocephalus 
.7%
25
Perthes Disease
.6%
26
Murmurs
.6%
27
Allergy to Insects
.5%
28
Long Hair
.5%
29
Other Bone
.5%
30
Missing Teeth
.4%
31
Ear Infections
.4%
32
Unknown Allergies
.4%
33
Liver
.4%
34
Pancreatitis
.4%
35
Hypothyroidism
.4%
36
Deaf
.2%
37
Excessive Shedding
.2%
38
Congenital Spine Malformation
.2%
39
Other CNS
.2%
40
Diabetes 
.2%
41
Eczema
.2%
42
Dandruff 
.1%
43
Cancer
.1%
44
Kidney
.1%
45
Luxated Lens
.1%
46
Bladder
.1%
47
Mega esophagus
.1%
48
Ear Drainage
.1%
49 Addison's Disease .1%
50 Severe Pulmonic Stenosis .1%
51 Granulometous Meningioencephalomyelitis .1%
52 Myasthenia Gravis .1%
53 Lupus .1%