Spinal hyperostosis in humans and companion animals

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 also 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 the biomedical and veterinary literature should be more in line to facilitate comparison. DISH occurs in dogs but has not been described in cats yet. DISH and spondylosis can co-occur in dogs in one animal. Boxers may serve as translational disease models for the elucidation of the gene(s) involved in the (etio)pathogenesis of DISH or serve as a test population for newly developed treatment options.