Vets are urging the public to stop buying flat-faced dog breeds, amid a surge in expensive and time-consuming operations.
Data from the Royal Veterinary College shows a huge 2,075 per cent rise in surgeries for French Bulldogs, a popular flat-faced breed in the UK.
With their squashed little noses and wrinkled faces, English and French Bulldogs, Pugs, and Boston Terriers have become favourites among dog lovers and celebrities.
Paris Hilton, Lady Gaga, and Reese Witherspoon are just a few of the famous faces who have shared their lives with these breeds.
But according to experts, these dogs are enduring a ‘lifetime of suffering’ as these extreme disfigurements cause pain and health problems.
Dr Dan O’Neill, professor of animal epidemiology at Royal Veterinary College, says these troubling abnormalities are the cause of selective breeding by humans.
‘These findings show the huge cost that dogs are paying for our human desire to own dogs that no longer look like natural dogs,’ Dr O’Neill 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.’
In recent years the breed has seen a soaring popularity among celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon (pictured with her dog Pepper)
The RVC vets recorded a huge rise in soft tissue surgical procedures from 659 in 2008 to 1,001 in 2018, largely driven by the requirement of RVC surgeons to offer care for flat-faced dogs
The researchers looked at changing patterns in referral surgery in dogs and cats at the the RVC’s Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA) in London, Europe’s largest veterinary referral hospital.
The experts analysed theatre log data of soft tissue surgeries performed on different breeds of cats and dogs in 2008 and 2018 at the QMHA.
In all animals, soft tissue surgical procedures – those performed on tissues like muscles, tendons and skin rather than bones – rose from 659 in 2008 to 1,001 in 2018, researchers found.
French Bulldog was the breed with the greatest change between the study years (four soft tissue surgeries in 2008 and 83 in 2018 marking a 2075 per cent increase), rising to become the most common breed presenting for soft tissue surgery in 2018.
Procedures for brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), a serious breathing condition affecting flat-faced breeds, rose from 16 surgeries in 2008 to 131 in 2018 – an increase of 813 per cent.
Tellingly, almost half (44.6 per cent) of all BOAS surgeries performed in 2018 were on French Bulldogs – 58 in all at QMHA that year.
The average age of referred French Bulldogs in 2018 was just 26 months, suggesting there’s a strong demand for young dogs and a shorter lifespan linked to chronic health issues.
‘This could reflect demographic effects from both the high demand for puppies of this breed and a very short predicted lifespan for those French Bulldogs that are purchased,’ say the team.
Earleir this year Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson said the death of his beloved French bulldog left him ‘numb’
With their squashed little noses and curly tails, pugs have become a favourite among dog lovers and celebrities like Paris Hilton
The experts say a growing public preference for abnormally flat faces in dogs is driving a ‘canine welfare crisis’ in the UK.
Vets are treating increased numbers of animals for conditions caused by extreme body shapes that simply do not exist in nature such as short muzzles and skin folds
These traits often seen as cute or fashionable come with severe lifelong health issues that frequently require complex and costly specialist surgery – resulting in emotional and financial strain for owners.
French and English bulldogs are riddled with painful deformities, because physical features have been exaggerated by centuries of inbreeding.
Their abnormally narrowed nostrils restrict airflow, making it difficult to breathe, especially when going for a walk or trying to chase a ball.
This lack of exercise ability makes it especially prone to obesity, which can worsen joint problems, metabolic and digestive disorders.
What’s more, their misshapen skulls cause the dogs’ eyes to bulge, which can result in infections and corneal ulcers, while their excessively wrinkled skin makes them prone to infection and dermatitis.
Co-author Dan Brockman, professor of small animal surgery at the RVC, said a growing preference for flat-faced breeds ‘has to stop’.
French Bulldogs – like the one called Oscar owned by Sadie Frost – are being bought as a fashion accessory by fans in the UK who are persuaded to buy them by photos of the stars
‘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’,’ he said.
The researchers think of breeds as akin to ‘brands’ – because both are created and sold by humans and have great monetary value.
Over a couple of hundreds of years, canines have been bred to accentuate ‘cute’ features in an effort to fuel sales.
‘Most dogs these days are produced as a product to sell rather than bred in the sense of aiming to meet some breed standard,’ Dr O’Neill told the Daily Mail.
‘We might love to own these dogs with extreme conformation but those dogs may not like to live in that body where they have much higher health and welfare issues.’
The findings are detailed further in a paper published in Companion Animal Health and Genetics.
