Brachycephalic animals
have a shortened muzzle
they're also known as flat-faced bree
The problem with this sort of short m
is that quite simply
there are multiple levels of obstruct
between the air getting in
from the outside into the lungs
I think people think that
if their dog's snoring
or toppling over that it's
actually quite cute
and actually
if your child is breathing this way
you'd be taking that child down
to hospital immediately for attention
Violet is a three year old French Bul
that's come into Battersea
and is very sweet natured
but like a lot of these breeds
she has problems with her breathing
that necessitated surgery
and that's why she's with us today
So in her case
that means opening up
these little constricted nostrils
that she has
we'll need to trim
an overlong soft-palate
and they're also some little soft tis
extensions at the back of the throat
that we'll need to remove
This is anything but routine surgery
having said that we do an awful lot o
I think it's probably easy
to think that this is just
a cure-all procedure
but often I probably describe
it more as a salvage procedure
in that you can usually improve situa
but you can't always return them
back to normal
and sadly for some of the cases we se
particularly some of the older ones t
struggling with this issue for a long
the larynx actually
collapses in on itself
and there's nothing that we can do
for those dogs
Staff member Ali has rehomed
two brachycephalic dogs
from Battersea
Enid and Ernie have not only struggle
with their breathing
but also with their eyes
teeth diet and hygiene
Both have their issues
I can't give Enid or Ernie a chew
because if they swallow it
it can quite easily get stuck
Enid and Ernie
because their faces are so flat
they can't wash themselves properly
so you have to do a lot of cleaning
for them as well
Living with an unhealthy
brachycephalic breed has issues
and medical costs as well
So it's not just dogs that
are brachycephalic or flat-faced
there are actually
several breeds of cats
that are brachycephalic
and flat-faced as well
Social media does have a part to play
in the glamorizing of these cats
which
sadly means that the more
and more exaggerated features
become the sort of
desirable features
for potential new owners
And unfortunately
they maybe don't understand
what those exaggerated features
might mean for the cat's
sort of welfare and it's life.
One of the more extreme sides of it
is the fact that their breathing
can be like really impacted
and this can mean that
doing cat things you know
like jumping or climbing
or running the things that
we think about cats
they can't do that
Happily for Violet
her surgery was successful
and she's breathing
a lot more comfortably
The French Bulldog
I’d probably barely seen
one six or seven years ago
but just last year
they were at the top
of the Kennel Club list
of most popular breeds
Of course dogs look this way
because we bred them to look this way
studies show that people are attracte
to this sort of foreshortened face
these protruding eyes and this dome f
and I think that society
we just have to get away from our
love of dogs with these extreme
facial characteristics
and odd anatomy
that might be appealing to us
but causes real health issues for the
It's difficult because certainly peop
don't choose what they fall in love w
but I think if you are considering
getting a flat-faced breed
then you really do need to do your ho