French Bulldog
Breed description - see AKC for detailed standard
Breed problems can be both inherited or diseases and disorders seen frequently in a breed and mode of inheritance unknown. Both are listed.
Breed problemsBrachycephalic syndrome - Problems associated with this syndrome range in severity, with most brachycephalic dogs snuffling and snorting to some degree. Some will have no further problems but many will have problems such as increasingly noisy breathing, coughing and gagging, fainting or collapsing episodes, and tiring easily.
Overheating is especially dangerous in these breeds, because increased panting or excessive panting, the normal dog cooling system, can cause further swelling and narrowing of the already constricted airways, which can increase anxiety. Excitement, exercise, or warm weather (and especially a combination of these factors) can trigger this cycle. These dogs can also have gastrointestinal problems, because of difficulties coordinating swallowing when they are working so hard at breathing. This can result in vomiting and/or gagging because of swallowing so much air, or aspiration pneumonia, because of breathing in saliva or food particles.
Cataract
Cleft Lip
Cleft palate
Distichiasis: abnormally growing eyelashes.
Elongated soft palate
Entropion: an abnormal rolling in of the eyelid.
Factor II deficiency or hypoprothrombinemia: a rare deficiency of prothrombin, a clotting factor needed to control bleeding.
Factor VIII deficiency or hemophilia A: the most common severe inherited clotting disorder of humans and nonhuman animals. Inhereited as a sex-linked recessive trait (carried by females and manifested in males).
Factor IX deficiency or hemophilia B: same as hemophilia A, but more rare and involves a different clotting factor.
Hemivertebra
Histiocytic ulcerative colitis
Intervertebral disk disease
von Willebrand's disease: a type of bleeding disorder caused by defective blood platelet function. An autosomal trait affecting both sexes.
French Bulldog - American Kennel Club
This page was last edited 04/29/08
