Marie-Christine Cadiergues and others, Royal Veterinary College

A breed-associated condition has been recognised in golden retrievers involving a non-pruritic skin disease characterised by excessive scaling of large, variably pigmented flakes of skin in otherwise healthy dogs. The authors describe the clinical, histopathological, ultrastructural and genetic features of this cornification defect in 17 affected animals. The condition affects young dogs of either sex and appears to be a recessively inherited genetic trait. They suggest the probable cause is delayed degradation of corneodesmosomes.

Veterinary Dermatology 19 (3): 120-129.

Abstract reproduced by kind permission of Veterinary Practice magazine