FDA CVM rankings
Which breeds lead the FDA adverse-event record?
Two ways to rank 506 animal breeds against 1,048,915 FDA reports: by how many reports were filed, and by the share that recorded a death. Both are reporting statistics, useful starting points, never a verdict on a breed's real health.
- 506
- breeds ranked
- 1,048,915
- reports
- 2
- ranking views
- 50+
- reports to qualify for rate
Most Reported Breeds
Top 100 breeds by total adverse event reports filed with the FDA
Highest Death Rate
Breeds with the highest death rate among those with 50+ reports
Top 12 Most-Reported Breeds (Preview)
- #1 Retriever - Labrador90,806 reports
- #2 Crossbred Canine/dog68,210 reports
- #3 Domestic Shorthair61,410 reports
- #4 Dog (unknown)47,381 reports
- #5 Retriever - Golden34,475 reports
- #6 Shepherd Dog - German31,142 reports
- #7 Chihuahua30,657 reports
- #8 Terrier - Yorkshire24,408 reports
- #9 Shih Tzu23,826 reports
- #10 Boxer (German Boxer)19,011 reports
- #11 Beagle17,507 reports
- #12 Pit Bull17,328 reports
Rankings are based on voluntarily submitted FDA adverse event reports and do not represent actual breed health risk. Higher report counts may reflect greater product usage or more active reporting, not inherently higher risk. Always consult your veterinarian.
How These Rankings Are Compiled
Every ranking on this page is computed directly from the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) adverse event database, the same counts shown on each breed's detail page. "Most reported" ranks breeds by the total number of adverse event reports filed; "highest death rate" ranks the share of a breed's reports that recorded a death outcome, restricted to breeds with at least 50 reports so that a handful of records can't dominate the list. Nothing here is hand-picked or influenced by advertisers, and the underlying numbers stay visible on the linked breed pages so you can check them.
What a Ranking Does and Doesn't Tell You
Report volume tracks how often a breed appears in voluntary FDA filings, which is driven largely by how common the breed is and how actively its owners and vets report events, not by how dangerous a medication is. A Labrador Retriever near the top of the "most reported" list reflects its huge population, not unusual risk. Death-rate figures are equally shaped by reporting bias: serious outcomes are far more likely to be reported than mild ones, so a high share can signal which events got documented rather than true mortality. These are reporting statistics, never a measure of a breed's real-world health.
Sources and Corrections
The data comes from the FDA CVM adverse event extract documented on our methodology page, which also lists the refresh cadence. If you believe a count is miscomputed or a breed is misclassified, email the address on our contact page with the specific breed and the expected correction and we'll review it on the next data refresh.
Every figure on PlainBreed is rendered directly from FDA openFDA adverse event data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from FDA openFDA data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.