15 Jun 2022
New study from the RVC demands urgent action to reduce serious health issues associated with the popular breed’s exaggerated features.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Health of the UK’s English bulldogs is substantially lower than other breeds and urgent action is needed to reduce serious health issues, say researchers.
In the latest study from the RVC on a specific dog breed, health issues known about for a century were still compromising the breed, while extreme body shape in today’s dogs also adds to the problems.
Popularity of the breed has risen in the past decade, but its distinctive and exaggerated short muzzle, protruding lower jaw, and stocky body shape have been linked to breathing problems, skin and ear disease, and eye disorders.
The RVC’s VetCompass programme, which compared the health of a random 2,662 English bulldogs and 22,039 other dogs to allow information on disorders to be extracted, found the breed was twice as likely to have one or more disorders in a single year.
Of 43 common disorders found across both study groups of dogs, English bulldogs were at a higher risk of suffering from 24 of them, or 55.8%, and at a lower risk of 6, or 14%, with no difference in the remainder.
The breed was 38.1 times more likely to have skin fold dermatitis and 26.8 times more prone to cherry eye, and would suffer protruding lower jaw 24.3 times more than other dogs.
Among the other findings, English bulldogs were:
Also, the average age of English bulldogs assessed in the study (2.7 years) was younger than the dogs that were not English bulldogs (4.42 years).
Last month, a similar study found pugs were twice as likely to have one or more disorders and should no longer be considered a “typical dog”, while VetCompass reached the same conclusion for the French bulldog in December.
While they have not made a similar proclamation while promoting the latest research for English bulldogs, the research team said that despite substantial efforts by the UK Brachycephalic Working Group to discourage extreme exaggerations, more work was needed to reduce the health issue rate in English bulldogs.
They said the public needed to be persuaded to follow the example of progressive breeders in moving away from the current extreme body shape, so they could be loved for having a longer face, smaller head and non-wrinkled skin in the future.
Dan O’Neill, lead author of the paper and associate professor in companion animal epidemiology, said: “Every dog deserves to be born with equal and good innate health by having a natural ability to breathe freely, blink fully, exercise easily, have healthy flat skin, mate and give birth.
“For breeds such as English bulldogs, where many dogs still have extreme conformations with poor innate health, the public has a huge role to play by demanding dogs with moderate and healthier conformations. Until then, prospective owners should ‘stop and think before buying a flat-faced dog’.”
Alison Skipper, co-author and veterinary historian, said: “Around 1900, some bulldog breeders were already concerned that the exaggeration of ‘certain typical points’ was ‘intensifying predispositions to disease’ and producing ‘cripples and deformities’ with ‘a sadly shortened duration of life’.
“This new research provides strong evidence that modern bulldogs remain troubled by many diseases linked to their body shapes – most of which have been recognised for more than a century. It confirms the need to follow the example of more responsible breeders who prioritise health in breeding decisions to improve the welfare of this popular and iconic breed in the future.”
The research was part-funded by The Kennel Club (KC) Charitable Trust. Bill Lambert, welfare and breed services executive for The KC, said: “Careful, responsible breeding can help address health problems, and progress has been made to improve and protect bulldog health by those reputable breeders and caring owners who make use of evidence-based tools, like The Kennel Club/University of Cambridge Respiratory Function Grading Scheme.
“However, as this research shows, there are increasing numbers of bulldogs bred outside any sphere of influence and in a certain way because it is perceived to be ‘cute’, with little regard for health and welfare.
“A collaborative approach to tackling these issues is crucial; we must continue to work together with breeders, vets and welfare organisations to reduce and ultimately eliminate the health problems faced by brachycephalic breeds, as well as reduce mass demand for these dogs.”
