Dermoid Sinus Janae Bickhart and Taylor Whitenight Animal Science Mrs. Smith-Wells 12 January 2010 Pd. 3

What is it? Dermoid Sinus is formed when the skin does not separate from the spinal cord. It is a tube like opening, generally in the back area.

History/Background Also known as dermoid, cyst, hair cyst, polynoidal cyst and African cyst Similar to dermoid cyst but was eventually found to be different Dermoid: A tube like structure Cyst: An actual cyst containing material

Causes Inherited, autosomal recessive trait Only apparent when offspring receives on defective gene from each parent Only one defective gene is inherited offspring is carrier but no symptoms

Classification Homozygous recessive Punnet square: DD- No dermoid sinus Dd- carrier Dd- dermoid sinus is present

Animals affected by Dermoid Sinus This disease is mostly found in the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Ridgeback crosses. But is also found in Shih-Tzu's, Boxers, and Kerry Blue Terriers. Also sometimes found in cats.

Signs/Symptoms of Dermoid Sinus Most often occur on or around the tail or on or around the neck area between the occipital bone and start of ridge Hard to find Recommended that a trained person checks the dog or cat for a Dermoid Sinus

As shown in the photo below.

Prevention and treatment of Dermoid Sinus In most cases the dog/cat is put to sleep when it becomes extremely infected Therapy consists in surgical removal of the sinus Give Mom Folic acid (vitamin B9) a week before mating and during mating through the first trimester; reduces by 72%

Work sited http://www.dermoids.com/ http://www.petplace.com/dogs/dermoid- sinus/page1.aspx http://rrcus.org/rhodesianridgebackhealth/resourc es.html http://www.canismajor.com/dog/rhode.html http://rrcus.org/rhodesianridgebackhealth/Docume nts-PDFs/Dermoid_Sinus_Article.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermoid_Sinus http://www.ridgebackrescue.info/dermoids/html/f aqs.html