Survival time analisys in dogs affected by mixomatous mitral valve disease treated with different protocol: retrospective study

The management of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in dog, belonged to any ACVIM class, should be focused to obtain a good quality of life and a longer survival time . The literature referred the effects of different therapies on survival time in dogs selected with restricted criteria (prospective cohort study).The aim of our study was to analyse the survival time in a retrospective cohort of dogs with MMVD treated with different protocols. The lengthening of MST and a good quality of life (QoL) are significant aspects of the therapeutic strategy. Both are very important for the owners. The achievement of a longer MST in our study compared to the literature might be justified by a good compliance of the owners over time, even in the case of complex protocols (group 3) [5]. Prospective studies are needed to investigate the effects of the owners’ compliance besides the therapeutic protocol on the QoL and survival of MMVDiseased dogs.