Canine and feline models of human inherited muscle diseases

Animal models are of immense importance for studying mechanisms of disease and testing new therapies, and rodents have been used extensively in the field of neuromuscular disorders. Mice and rats can be genetically manipulated to over-express or not express genes that are important to muscle function, and these animals can be available in large numbers for analysis. Other species, such as cats and dogs, cannot be manipulated in the same ways or be used in large numbers, but they have spontaneously occurring muscle diseases with clinical presentations more closely resembling those of the human disorders. Therefore, cats and dogs may become valuable as intermediate disease models. This review focuses on canine and feline models of human inherited muscle diseases with comparisons to rodent models and an emphasis on the muscular dystrophies.