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Breeds > Boxers
Pet Insurance for Boxers
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Boxers are popular family dogs for their lively personalities, medium size, and known loyalty to their owners.
The Boxer is excitable as a puppy, bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm for playing, exploring their environment and surroundings, and experiencing all that life has to offer.
As a Boxer matures, more dignity and deliberateness emerges; and your pet will become a stately and much calmer fixture in your family’s everyday life. Mature Boxers make excellent watchdogs for this reason.
Boxers, as with most larger dog breeds, have shorter life spans, but counter that by making the most of every day. Pet health in Boxers is, in some measure, determined by your dog’s exposure to heat – the breed as a whole cannot tolerate extreme heat and so it is important to ensure that you want an inside dog before choosing a boxer.
Boxers are susceptible to a wide variety of pet health concerns; chief among them are hip dyslplasia, bloat/gastric torsion, deafness, and cardiomyopathy. Many of these concerns are considered heritable, or genetic, disorders that are common in the Boxer breed.
Hip dysplasia causes lameness due to osteoarthritis. Bloating is a very common issue resulting from the Boxer’s tendency to over-inhale while eating; it is a serious condition that can cause severe suffering and death.
An even more serious condition is gastric torsion, which Boxers are vulnerable to because of their wide torsos and narrow waists. When the stomach twists, it cuts off circulation to the stomach and spleen, and death soon follows without professional treatment.
An estimated 20 percent of white Boxers suffer from deafness, another heritable condition that the breed is known for. Cardiomyopathy, or heart arrhythmia, causes the heart to beat erratically and can result in sudden collapse and death. It is difficult to screen for, which means Boxer owners must always be vigilant for signs of the disease.
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