24 Nov 2025
Veterinary teaching hospital has seen eight-times increase in operations linked to extreme canine body shapes than preceding decade, according to a new study.
Allister Webb
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Image: © Petra Richli / Adobe Stock
New figures have revealed a major veterinary teaching hospital performed more than eight times as many operations for breathing problems linked to extreme canine body shapes than a decade earlier.
RVC researchers warned of an unfolding “welfare catastrophe” as a new initiative that aims to promote more responsible breeding practices for a range of health issues was launched.
The study, published in Companion Animal Health and Genetics, examined case data from the college’s Queen Mother Hospital for Animals between 2008 and 2018.
It reported an overall increase in soft tissue procedures from 659 cases in 2008 to 1,001 in 2018, with 512 and 803 incidents recorded in dogs respectively.
But operations specifically to manage brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) soared from just 16 to 131 over the same period, with nearly half (45%) of the latter total being performed on French bulldogs.
Dan Brockman, one of the study’s authors, said: “It is impossible to ignore the dominant, stark and devastating finding that human ‘preference’ is creating a welfare catastrophe before our eyes and ‘on our watch’.”
The findings were highlighted as a new Innate Health Assessment (IHA) tool, which aims to help owners determine whether dogs are suitable to be acquired or bred from, was formally launched by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) in Westminster on 18 November.
Officials hope the tool, which is intended to be applicable to all breeds, can help to reverse what they describe as a “century of suffering” linked to irresponsible breeding practices.
Skin folds are one of 10 extreme conformations covered by the tool, along with the length of jaws, muzzles, tails and legs, plus whether the legs are straight or not, the condition of dogs’ eyelids, merle colouring and spine flexibility.
Dogs are expected to meet at least eight of the assessment criteria to pass the assessment, which project leaders say can be used without equipment or veterinary intervention.
The tool’s development has drawn extensively on RVC research and Dan O’Neill, who is part of the team behind it and another of the new study’s co-authors, said the findings showed the price being paid by dogs for human desires. He sees extreme conformation as the biggest current welfare issue facing dogs and argued change is necessary to help protect breeds for the future.
He said: “It is time for humanity to put the welfare needs of the dog ahead of our whims to own extreme and non-natural shaped animals, and to return to seeing the natural canine body shape as a thing of beauty.”
An accompanying economic impact appraisal, compiled by Frontier Economics, also argued the tool’s implementation could help to address workforce challenges within the veterinary sector because of the potential for such cases to contribute to feelings of burnout and moral distress, as well as potentially raising the risk of suicides.
It conceded there was currently an “evidence gap” on how many cases were directly attributable to the issue.
But it argued: “Reducing the prevalence of severe conformation linked health problems is likely to deliver substantial wider benefits to the veterinary profession, which has long struggled with recruitment and retention.”
Full details of the protocol can be found on its new website.
