Sources & Legal

Every number on this site, and where it came from.

Questa pagina è pubblicata solo in inglese. Ogni fonte qui sotto è citata nella lingua in cui è stata pubblicata.

One page for the whole site. If a figure appears anywhere on laudenya.com, its definition, its population and its source are here.

We publish a figure only with the population it was measured in, the case definition used, the year, and the study it comes from. Where no defensible figure exists we say so on the page rather than estimate one. Rates and populations are published separately and never multiplied together, so no “animals affected” count appears anywhere on this site.

These are epidemiological figures published for editorial use, not clinical guidance. Diagnosis in any individual animal needs a veterinarian; for the cattle figures, a herd decision needs a herd-level assessment rather than a published average. The full terms are below.

Cattle

• 42% · 15%Subclinical and clinical mastitis, pooled across dairy cattle and buffaloes. Prediction interval 10–83% and 1–81%; studies conducted 1967–2019. Pooled prevalence, not annual incidence.Krishnamoorthy P et al. Research in Veterinary Science 2021;136:561–586.
• ≈US$22bnModelled annual global loss from clinical (US$13bn) and subclinical (US$9bn) mastitis across 183 milk-producing countries, adjusted for comorbidity with eleven other dairy diseases. A model output, not observed expenditure.Rasmussen P et al. Journal of Dairy Science 2024;107(9):6945–6970.
• 5–68%The published span for postpartum endometritis. The range reflects differences in examination timing, discharge scoring, cytology method and neutrophil threshold — not differences between herds.Multidimensional review of endometritis pathogenesis, 2026; systematic review of bovine subclinical endometritis, Reproduction and Fertility 2024;5(5):2.
• 54% → 33% → 14%Discharge-defined disease in one Córdoba herd, examined on days 21, 31 and 41 postpartum. Same cows, same definition.Giuliodori MJ et al. Journal of Dairy Science 2013;96(1):210–218.
• US$202Mean attributable cost per affected cow, purulent vaginal discharge; stochastic range US$152–265. 11,051 cows across 16 US herds examined at 28 ± 7 days in milk. US herd and price context.Ojeda-Rojas OA et al. Journal of Dairy Science 2025;108:2710–2720.
• Ceftiofur, 37 of 45First-choice metritis treatment on 37 of 45 surveyed California dairies. In a separate 2024 study, ceftiofur-resistant Gram-negative faecal bacteria rose one week after treatment and remained elevated through week three.Espadamala A et al. J Dairy Sci 2018; Vasco KA et al. J Dairy Sci 2024.

Postpartum uterine disease — how the definition moves the number

• 5–10%Retained placenta in dairy cows, measured at calving.LeBlanc SJ. The Veterinary Journal 2008;176(1):102–14. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.12.019 · PMID 18328749Closed access — cite, link and summarise only
• 15–20%Clinical endometritis in dairy cows, 4–6 weeks postpartum.LeBlanc SJ. The Veterinary Journal 2008;176(1):102–14. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.12.019 · PMID 18328749Closed access — cite, link and summarise only
• 30–35%Subclinical endometritis, in addition to the clinical figure above — 4–9 weeks postpartum. The two describe different cows and are stated separately for that reason; they are not alternatives to each other and must not be presented as one number.LeBlanc SJ. The Veterinary Journal 2008;176(1):102–14. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.12.019 · PMID 18328749Closed access — cite, link and summarise only
• ≈2×Among 222 clinically healthy cows across two herds, roughly twice as many were classified as diseased when examined at week 4 rather than week 6 — at every cytology threshold tested. The week of examination, on its own, doubles the count.Barański W et al. Theriogenology 2012;78(9):1939–47. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2012.07.018 · PMID 23110950Closed access — cite, link and summarise only
• 19–75%The full classification span across those same 222 cows, driven by herd, examination week and cytology cut-off acting together. This is the clearest demonstration on this page of why a prevalence figure without its definition and its examination window carries no information.Barański W et al. Theriogenology 2012;78(9):1939–47. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2012.07.018 · PMID 23110950Closed access — cite, link and summarise only

Horses

• 5 of 28 · 14 of 24 · 6A 30-horse referral series of chronic proliferative pododermatitis (canker): first recognition correct in 5 of 28 evaluable cases; 14 of 24 horses with follow-up recurred within a year; six were euthanised because of recurrence. These measure diagnostic and treatment difficulty, not population frequency.Oosterlinck M et al. Equine Veterinary Education 2011.
• 22.3% · 3.3%Among 974 horses aged 15 and over, 22.3% had a clinical history of ocular discharge while 3.3% of owners reported an ocular problem. Age-selected cohort; not a general-population rate.Prevalence of owner-reported ocular problems and veterinary ocular findings in horses aged ≥15 years. Equine Veterinary Journal 2018.

Dogs

• 7.3%One-year period prevalence of canine otitis externa (95% CI 6.97–7.65) — 1,631 of 22,333 dogs sampled from 905,554 under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2016. A UK figure; not surveillance for any other country.O'Neill DG et al. Canine Medicine and Genetics 2021;8:7.
• 3.1%Atopic/allergic dermatitis coded among 31,484 dogs attending 52 US private practices, data year 1995 (95% CI 2.9–3.3). The widely repeated 4.7% is a miscitation of this same study.Lund EM et al. JAVMA 1999;214(9):1336–1341.
• 0.25%One-year incidence risk of aural haematoma (95% CI 0.24–0.26) — 2,249 newly diagnosed dogs among 905,554 under care, UK 2016. Incidence, not prevalence.O'Neill DG et al. Scientific Reports 2021.
• 17 of 48 · 1 of 24Same-site recurrence one month after treatment, in a retrospective comparison of 51 dogs with 71 haematomas: 17 of 48 ears treated by local injection versus 1 of 24 drained through multiple holes. The published 33% is arithmetically incorrect; the counts are given instead.Itoh T et al. JAVMA; appraisal in Veterinary Evidence 2022;7(1).
• 0.36% · 27.8%Annual prevalence of conformational eyelid disorders among 2,250,417 UK dogs under primary care in 2019 (entropion 0.33%, ectropion 0.04%); epiphora recorded in 426 of 1,540 incident entropion cases. A cause, not a measure of tear staining itself.Conformational eyelid disorders in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK. PLOS ONE 2025.
• 14 dogs, 17 yearsThe classic case series of primary seborrhoea, accumulated over seventeen years in English Springer Spaniels. No population frequency has been established for seborrhoeic phenotypes.Scott DW, Miller WH. Journal of Small Animal Practice 1996.

Canine atopic dermatitis — incidence and diagnostic context

• 1.7 per 1,000 dog-yearsIncidence of canine atopic dermatitis — new cases per unit of dog-time, not prevalence. Insured Swedish dogs, claims 1995–2002.Nødtvedt A et al. Veterinary Record 2006;159(8):241–6. doi:10.1136/vr.159.8.241 · PMID 16921013Closed access — cite, link and summarise only
• 21 per 1,000 dog-yearsIncidence in the highest-risk breed — bull terriers, within the same insured Swedish population. A breed figure, not an all-dog rate.Nødtvedt A et al. Veterinary Record 2006;159(8):241–6. doi:10.1136/vr.159.8.241 · PMID 16921013Closed access — cite, link and summarise only
• 59.1%Proportion of pruritic cases diagnosed as canine atopic dermatitis. 743 itchy dogs across 17 Swiss practices, sampled over two cold and two warm months. A proportion among dogs already presenting with itch — not a population prevalence.Brem B, Antoine N, Maina E, Favrot C. Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde 2025;167(1):33–43. doi:10.17236/sat00441 · PMID 40641263Closed access — cite, link and summarise onlyDiscloses a Boehringer Ingelheim co-author affiliation
• 26.1% · 22.6% · 7.1%The next most frequent diagnoses in the same 743 pruritic dogs: otitis, pyoderma and ectoparasites. Conditional among itchy dogs, and overlapping — these cannot be summed.Brem B, Antoine N, Maina E, Favrot C. Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde 2025;167(1):33–43. doi:10.17236/sat00441 · PMID 40641263Closed access — cite, link and summarise onlyDiscloses a Boehringer Ingelheim co-author affiliation
• 36.3%Integument recorded as the most-affected organ system among 148,741 UK dogs in primary care. Context for how much of veterinary work is skin — not a figure about atopic dermatitis specifically.O'Neill DG et al. PLOS ONE 2014;9(3):e90501. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090501 · PMID 24594665Open access — quotation permitted with attribution

Cats

• 17.2% · 55.1%Otitis externa in 35 of 204 systematically examined owned cats at one Italian teaching hospital (2026), and cytological otitis in 103 of 187 trap–neuter–return cats. Two distinct populations; not comparable with each other, and neither is a national rate.Animals 2026;16(5):706; Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
• 60.1% · 43.0% · 37.7%Reaction patterns among 263 cats diagnosed with feline atopic skin syndrome: self-induced alopecia 60.1%, head and neck pruritus 43.0%, and 37.7% carrying at least two patterns at once. Conditional among diagnosed cases — these percentages cannot be summed.Feline atopic syndrome — an update, 2021; Santoro D et al. Veterinary Dermatology 2021;32:26–e6.

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Nature of the information on this site

The figures on this site are epidemiological data published for editorial use. They are not clinical guidance. They describe populations, not patients: no figure here can tell you what is wrong with a particular animal, and none should be used to reach or rule out a diagnosis.

Diagnosis in any individual animal needs a veterinarian. For the cattle figures in particular, a herd decision should rest on a herd-level assessment — your own records, your own testing, your own vet — and not on a published average drawn from other herds, other countries and other decades.

This material is disease education. It is not a claim for any product. Laudenya's development programmes are described as objectives under investigation; nothing here should be read as a statement that a Laudenya product treats, prevents or cures any condition.

Use of published research

Every source on this page is treated in one of two ways, and the difference is the licence, not our preference.

Open access — quotation and figures permitted, with attribution. Where a paper is published under an open licence we may reproduce its figures and wording, always with full attribution to the authors and the journal. This applies to the PLOS ONE VetCompass study. It also applies to the Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica validation paper, subject to checking that paper's individual licence before anything is reproduced from it — the journal being open access is not by itself sufficient.

Closed access — cite, link and summarise only. The Veterinary Record, Theriogenology (both papers — Sheldon et al. 2006 and Barański et al. 2012), The Veterinary Journal and Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde articles are behind a paywall. We cite them, link to them, and describe their findings in our own words. We do not reproduce their figures, tables or text.

The default is closed. Any source not explicitly cleared as open — including every source listed above whose licence we have not individually verified — is handled under the closed-access rule. Nothing is reproduced on the strength of an assumption about a journal.

Disclosure

The Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde paper carries a co-author affiliated with Boehringer Ingelheim. Wherever that paper is cited as support for a figure on this site, that affiliation is disclosed alongside it.

Images

The anatomical plates throughout this site are original artworks made for Laudenya. They are illustrations, not photographs of clinical cases, and they are not derived from any published figure.

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