Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome

Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome

Are you one of the people that think flat faced dogs are cute? Well, maybe they are, but you shouldn't be supporting them. They are kind of a joke among veterinarians--every time a lecturer mentions them it's always with a snicker. You see, they can't really breathe. And it's entirely on purpose. It's a genetic disease that is entirely preventable, but people think it's cute, so people keep breeding for it.

They live their entire lives snorting and snuffling because they have tissue falling down the back of their throat. When we anaesthetise dogs we put a tube down their trachea, and most dogs rather resent it when they're waking up. These dogs actually don't mind because it's probably the first time in their lives they can actually breathe.

Brachycephalic airway syndrome is a combination of stenotic (narrow) nostrils and an excessively long soft palate. That is the tissue that separates your nose from your mouth near the back. The theory is that as we breed for shorter faces, the genes for bones respond and the skull gets short, but the soft tissue doesn't respond as quickly, so that's relatively too big. What's even worse is that bulldogs commonly have hypoplastic (underdeveloped) tracheas, so not only is there a bunch of tissue to try and breathe around, they are also breathing through a straw.

So remember, if you buy one of these dogs, you are supporting the breeding of dogs with a genetic disease. You may think its cute but your dog will live its entire life without being able to breathe properly. I don't think it's very fair to the animal.