English bulldogs have a greater health risk compared to other breeds of dogs

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) have recently released the findings of a study into the average health of English bulldogs when compared to other breeds. Through their VetCompass programme, a companion animal surveillance system with a focus for improving companion animal health, the study examined the health of 2662 randomly selected English bulldogs, and 22,039 dogs of other breeds were assessed and the incidence of a variety of common health disorders compared. They found that English bulldogs were twice as likely to have one or more disorders when compared to other breeds. Not only this, but of the 43 common disorders assessed for, English bulldogs showed an increased risk of experiencing 24 of them, and were only at a lower risk of 6 of them, when compared to other breeds.

Of these conditions, they were 38.1 times more likely to have skin fold dermatitis, 26.8 times more likely to develop cherry eye, 24.3 times more likely to experience a problematic protruding lower jaw, and 19.2 times more likely to suffer from brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome. Other conditions they were more likely to experience included cysts between the toes, dry eye, an inward rolled eyelid, mange, foot infections, skin infections, wet dermatitis and dermatitis.

The future of pedigree breeding in the UK is hoped to bring more considered and milder variations, with fewer exaggerated characteristics that have been shown to cause health problems in these breeds. This is also true of pugs, and French bulldogs, which have also been shown to suffer from health conditions as a result of their breeding.

“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’.” – Dan O’Neill, Lead Author and Associate Professor in companion animal epidemiology.

The conclusion of the paper was that an immediate redefinition of what makes an English bulldog is required to avoid the requirement to ban the breed entirely in the UK, joining countries such as Norway and Netherlands who are actioning the ban of breeding them on animal welfare grounds. Even this does not offer an adequate solution, however, as a “black market” for breeding and importing English bulldogs has resulted in poor living conditions and an inhumane farming approach to producing them and meeting the demand for the dog. Experts and advocates working with the Kennel Club and the Bulldog Breed Council are calling for better education of the general public when buying a puppy, and also hope to work with breeders to promote working to the bulldog breed standard which does not promote the exaggerations seen in some dogs, and promotes better health and life quality in these dogs.

PR representative for the Bulldog Breed Council, Sonia Saxon, said, “If all bulldogs were bred to this standard, and the health tools available utilised, we would not see some of the so-called bulldogs being advertised on social media of various types, coats, colours and size that are purposely bred for exaggeration with little regard for the health and welfare of the UK’s national breed.”