Naturally occurring spinal hyperostosis in dogs as a model for human spinal disorders.

Both spondylosis and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) are prevalent in humans and are considered distinct entities. Nowadays, the term spondylosis is in the biomedical literature mostly used when concurrently degenerative disc disease is present. In companion animals, many reports on spondylosis, often without intervertebral disc degeneration, are described. The nomenclature and the definitions of both spondylosis and DISH in biomedical and veterinary literature should be more in line to facilitate comparison. Spondylosis and DISH occur in dogs spontaneously and can co-occur in one animal. Specifically, Boxers may serve as translational disease models for the elucidation of the gene(s) involved in the (etio)pathogenesis of spondylosis and DISH or serve as a test population for newly developed treatment options.