Brachycephaly

  • Understanding brachycephalic ownership

    It has become increasingly clear that understanding the motivations and desires of both current and prospective brachycephalic dog owners is key to devising more targeted human behaviour change interventions in the future. To date, RVC work in this area has uncovered a number of key findings.

  • Investigating healthy conformational limits

    While demand for brachycephalic dogs remains high, understanding whether the body shape of brachycephalic breeds can be refined to reduce the risk of conformation-related disease is of priority. RVC research in this area worked to identify conformational risk factors for common disorders, and define ‘healthy conformational limits’, thresholds beyond which the risk of disease becomes unacceptably high.

  • Outcome of corrective airway surgery

    It has been shown that corrective airway surgery can subjectively and objectively improve the way that individual brachycephalic dogs breathe.

  • Disorders of Persian cats

    Almost two thirds of Persian cats suffer from at least one health condition according to the largest ever study of this breed. The research, which was conducted by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, revealed that haircoat disorders, dental disease, overgrown nails and eye discharge are the most common conditions diagnosed in the Persian cat.

  • Disorders of bulldogs

    Ownership of the iconic British bulldog has doubled but the breed is particularly prone to ear infections, skin infections and obesity, according to the largest ever study of British bulldogs treated in first opinion veterinary practices.

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