Vet Clin Small Anim 34 (2004) 1235–1244

Dr. Neil Harpster first described myocardial disease in the Boxer dog in the early 1980s. It was characterized as a degenerative myocardial disease with unique right ventricular histologic findings that include myocyte atrophy and fatty infiltration [1,2]. Affected dogs could be asymptomatic or syncopal with ventricular arrhythmias, and they sometimes developed congestive heart failure. The disease seemed to have a greater prevalence in certain families of dogs. In the early 1990s, Dr. Bruce Keene described a family of Boxers with myocardial dysfunction, tachyarrhythmias and congestive heart failure, and decreased myocardial carnitine levels [3]. For the full article, click on the title: Boxer dog cardiomyopathy: an update by Kate Meurs.2004