This study is closed to enrollment at this time.  Study updates are below.

May 23, 2019

Dear NTCA Breeders,

We have an update to share from Dr. Kurt Williams about his CHF-funded Puppy Lung Development Study. See below:

“I’ve got 35 puppies at this point.  I think I’m going to place a pause for now on additional puppies as we work to get the whole genome sequencing data together and analyzed.  I’m hoping that we’ll gain insights from the genome data to propel the project forward in novel directions and then the need for additional puppies may need to be restarted.”

The study is progressing due to the contributions of our breeders who donated deceased puppies.  We remain in close contact with Dr. Williams and will keep you informed about the study progress and if more puppies are needed later.  Let us know if any questions.

Susan Miller Hall & Jane Schubart

NTCA Health Committee Co-chairs

November 16, 2018

Lay abstract provided by CHF:  CHF 2507 Lay Summary

If you have a puppy die, please support the study by sending the body to Dr. Williams.  He also needs puppies whose cause of death are known, for example, a puppy euthanized at birth due to a congenital defect.

Refrigerate the body, do not freeze.

Contact Dr. Williams right away via email (will1273@dcpah.msu.edu) with “Norwich Terrier Lung Study” in the subject line of the email.  Dr. Williams will provide shipping instructions.

OVERNIGHT SHIPPING IS PAID BY THE STUDY!

Dr. Kurt Williams
DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVP
G380 Veterinary Medical Center College of Veterinary Medicine,  784 Wilson Road Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1314

** Your participation is kept confidential by Dr. Williams.  Pathology results will be provided directly to you. **

June 27, 2018

Dr. Kurt Williams has had 21 submissions of puppies for his CHF-funded study, “Characterizing Developmental Lung Disease as Cause of Sudden Death in the Norwich Terrier”.  All have evidence of developmental lung disease that is similar between puppies. Please continue to support this important work. In the unfortunate event that you have a young puppy die, refrigerate the body (do not freeze) and contact Dr. Williams right away via email: will1273@dcpah.msu.edu and include “Norwich Terrier Lung Study” in the subject line of the email.    

~ Susan Miller Hall, Health Committee Chair

January 18, 2018

GOOD NEWS!!! CHF NORWICH TERRIER PUPPY LUNG STUDY HAS BEEN FUNDED!!!

Dear NTCA Members and Friends,

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Kurt Williams DVM, PhD (Michigan State University) has been awarded a competitive Canine Health Foundation grant award to study developmental lung disease in Norwich Terrier puppies.  This award is for a 2-year project beginning March 1, 2018.  The CHF award amount $116,076.

The project title is:  Characterizing Developmental Lung Disease as Cause of Sudden Death in the Norwich Terrier.

In his preliminary work to collect pilot data for this grant application, Dr. Williams found that early unexplained deaths of Norwich Terrier puppies are associated with abnormal lung development and pulmonary vascular disease.

Norwich Terrier breeders can help advance this work.  In the unfortunate event that you have a young puppy die, refrigerate the body (do not freeze) and contact Dr. Williams right away via email: will1273@dcpah.msu.edu and include “Norwich Terrier Lung Study” in the subject line of the email. As of today, he has received 18 puppies total.  We will keep the website updated.

 -Jane Schubart   

September 2017

Presented at the Society for Pediatric Pathology 2017 Fall Meeting, Denver, Colorado, Sept. 7-10.

Early unexplained deaths of Norwich Terrier puppies are associated with abnormal lung development and pulmonary vascular disease. K Williams, L Huang, S Abman, C Galambos

Norwich Terrier Puppy Lung Health Study

As members of the Norwich Terrier Club of America doubtless know, unexplained deaths are a common occurrence early in life in Norwich Terrier puppies. Recently, in cooperation with members of the NTCA, Dr. Kurt Williams at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University has been investigating the role that abnormal lung development may be playing in contributing to the problem of mortality in young Norwich Terrier puppies.  An initial study of 2 such puppies documented severe abnormalities in lung development.  Since that time, Dr. Williams’ study has expanded to include a total of 7 Norwich Terrier puppies that died early in life (< 2 weeks of age).  Five of the seven puppies (the remaining two arrived to Dr. Williams at the time of this writing and are still being studied) have been evaluated thus far and all have similar lung abnormalities, suggesting strongly that developmental lung disease is a significant contributing factor in the deaths of Norwich Terrier puppies.  

Dr. Williams is interested in continuing to research this finding in the Norwich Terrier breed with the ultimate goal of identifying the cause so that this important disease can be eliminated from the breed.  If you would like to contribute deceased puppies to the research project, see below for instructions on how to participate in this important study.

Abnormal Lung Development as a Cause of Neonatal Death in Norwich Terrier Puppies

Unexplained deaths are reported to be a common occurrence early in life in Norwich Terrier puppies.  The NTCA Health Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Kurt Williams is collecting pilot data to study issues of abnormal  lung development that may be contributing to early life mortality in puppies.

Recently (October 2016), in cooperation with two Norwich Terrier breeders, Dr. Williams documented severe abnormalities in lung development as a cause of death in Norwich Terrier puppies that died early in life (less than 2 weeks of age).  The microscopic findings are quite characteristic and strikingly similar. Because of this finding, and the anecdotal knowledge of early life death as an important problem in Norwich Terriers, he hypothesizes that lung developmental abnormalities may be an important and unrecognized cause of death early in life.

To further explore this hypothesis, he is looking to obtain Norwich Terriers who died under 14 days of age. The goal of this pilot study is to have 10-15 puppies submitted for evaluation.

Dr. Kurt Williams
DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVP