One study indicates that chocolate labs have a shorter shelf life than other labs

Some not-so-sweet news for chocolate collectors in Labrador.

According to Live Science, a new study published in the October 21 issue of the newspaper Canine genetics and epidemiology found that chocolate labs are less healthy than yellow and black labs and have a shorter shelf life than laboratory dogs of different colors.

For the study, researchers examined data from 2,000 Labradors living in the UK in 2013. This group of dogs was derived from a larger dataset of 33,000 laboratories collected as part of VetCompass. , a research project led by the University of Sydney. the Royal Veterinary College of the University of London.

Looking at these 2,000 dogs, the researchers found that the chocolate labs had an average lifespan of 10.7 years, while the labs without chocolate had an average lifespan of 12 years.

In addition to dying earlier, researchers found that Chocolate Labs had a higher rate of skin and ear infections. According to the data from the study, chocolate labs are twice as likely to contract pyotraumatic dermatitis as yellow and black labs. The study shows that chocolate labs also have a higher risk of otitis externa or swimmer's otitis.

What this study did not reveal is if / how the links between the color of the dress and the state of health of the chocolate lab are related. Further investigation is needed to explore this avenue. The lead author of the study, Professor Paul McGreevy, chairman of the VetCompass board, believes that breeding could play a role in the study's findings.

"Relationships between coat color and disease may reflect an unintended consequence of breeding some pigmentations," McGreevy said in a statement from the University of Sydney. "Since the color of chocolate is recessive in dogs, the gene of this color must be present in both parents for their puppy to be chocolate. Breeders targeting this color may therefore be more likely to reproduce only Labradors carrying the chocolate mantle gene. The resulting reduced gene pool may include a greater proportion of genes that are favorable for ear and skin conditions. "

Along with these specific findings from the chocolate lab, the study also found that joint problems, obesity and ear infections were the most common health problems for the Labrador retriever breed as a whole.