Wednesday 13 June 2012

Royal Canin: no prizes


Royal Canin have this pic up on their Facebook wall today (link here). It's a "fun" post asking people to guess the breed.

One day, I hope that when the folk at Royal Canin see a photo like they will wince and choose one of a dog with wider nostrils instead - you know, a dog that might have a fighting chance of being able to cool itself through wide-open pipes when the British summer actually arrives.

But then this is the pet food manufacturer that profits from the problems we've bred in to pedigree dogs and cats. It makes, for instance, special-shaped kibble for brachycephalics with the blurb for their pug-specific kibble saying:

"The Pug is a perfect example of the “brachycephalic” jaw type with a very short muzzle. The size, shape and texture of PUG 25 kibbles are specially designed to make it easier for your Pug to pick up and encourage him to chew."
Perfect?

I hate this kind of normalisation of a defective design, although I guess sales might be dented if instead the pack read: "There's something horribly wrong with breeding dogs that can't eat normal dog food. For God's sake, next time choose a dog with a muzzle!"

A while back, when we were working on the promo for Pedigree Cats Exposed, I asked Royal Canin for a packshot of their "specially-designed" food for extreme Persians (have a google - they're worse, even, than the shortest-faced Peke or Pug).

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that it was refused.

If you also feel that Royal Canin should not be using physically-compromised dogs like the Boxer in the pic above for a bit of "fun", please drop them a gentle comment to that effect here.

Update 14/6: Thank you to all those who contacted Royal Canin to raise the issue. After initially defending the choice of picture with the claim that the stenotic nares above were normal and just part of the natural variance seen in different dog breeds (see comments below), they have now removed the image and the thread from their Facebook wall.


Finally, here's part of an email I received from boxer breeder Dr Bruce Cattanach in response to the blog which I reproduce here with his permission:

I was also fairly ignorant re nostrils at one point, and then I got a dog of my own with pinched nostrils.  I had him operated to resolve the problem, my vet getting help from a Pug vet.  The difference to the dog was unbelievable within hours. I thought my dog with pinched nostrils was actually fine and healthy but I could not believe the immediate difference in the dog when the nares were opened up.  Livelier, bouncier and definitely happier.  In retrospect, one could say he was dampened down and even depressed before the operation but I certainly didn’t recognise this.  He had seemed fine.

27 comments:

  1. at teh very snap second this picture was taken the dog may have been breathing in and closing it nostrals, to make such a comment as you have shows you are willing to jump on anything with out any research..........wonder why the BBC only bothered to pay for 10 minutes new film of PDE2

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    1. If your nostrils closed like that every time you inhaled, I think your life would be a misery.

      No, this dog already had very narrow nostrils to begin with...

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    2. My dog's nostrils never close when he breathes in. Probably because he actually has a nose...

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    3. My nostrils DO close like that, and it *is* miserable. It wasn't so bad when I was younger, but now that I'm older I'm seriously considering nostril widening surgery. My nostrils are incredibly narrow. If I have a runny nose, I can't actually suck snot back in as not enough air comes in to do that, I have to hold my nostrils open to get enough air in. Which makes exercise really difficult as I age, and it's why surgeons think I always gave up on physical exercise as a child.

      If someone who can fix the problem, and is aware of the problem, struggles so much and is so miserable, think about how it is in a dog that has no options.

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  2. Dogs' 'nostrals' do not close when they breathe in. This is the dog's default physiology. I have some video that can prove this if you would like to see it - but suggest you just look closely at your own dogs.

    Jemima

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  3. Having just looked at my own dogs' wide-open nares, I can't look at that photo without shuddering! Breeders of Brachycephalic dogs should spend a day with a peg pinching their nostrils shut; it may give them some empathy for what their dogs go through every day of their lives. I hate having a cold and not being able to breathe through my nose properly - it disrupts my sleep - oh wait, don't Brachychepahlics suffer from snoring and sleep apnea too?

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  4. Very interested in your comment regarding doing a promo for PDCats Exposed..... Any indication of a viewing date yet?

    Hope it gives the cat community the same kick in the bottom that PDE did.

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  5. Poor pooch. How can he breathe? :(

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  6. The vet came out to vaccinate my horse today, however she was late, because she was held up in surgery. She had to remove 17 teeth from a Pug!!! And when I asked her what went so wrong that the poor dog needed such drastic surgery, the vet said that it was simply the disaterously wrong jaw shape that just couldn't accomodate all the teeth the poor dog was born with. How can anybody even attempt to deffend dog breeding that leads to this? I suppose Royal Canin could start manufacturing yet another type of kibble for pugs with 5 teeth or less - a niche market!

    Gloria

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  7. The criticism of the blurb is kind of ridiculous. How do you misunderstand a common term like "perfect example"?

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  8. http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/229191068506144623_XEshGDHh_c.jpg

    And to think, the torture is just beginning in June.

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  9. http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs13/i/2007/028/a/7/Persian_cat_skull_1_by_WarpSkellian.jpg
    Note that it is normal for a feline's orbital bones to barely or even not form an enclosed circle, so as freaky as that part looks, it is sound. But look at the crumpled nasal bones. The tissues and cavities inside are just as crumpled. People joke about the cats looking like they've smashed into a wall, and that's pretty much what the insides look like too.
    A historical-type persian: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Skull_of_a_Persian_cat.jpg
    And a wild-type cat: http://www.nhc.ed.ac.uk/images/collections/mammals/carnivora/catskull.jpg

    The angles are all different, but a little brain-power can determine which features are exaggerated by angles and which are exaggerated by fancy.

    http://www.vetsonline.com/actualites/detail/21667/brachycephalia-a-bastardisation-of-what-makes-cats-special.html
    Notice the "severe" cat's skull closely resembles an infant primate.

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  10. Royal Canin are actually quite generous to the Pug.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151011396917559&set=a.66670257558.100701.739062558&type=1&theater

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  11. Goodness. I urge everyone to look at Kate's link.

    Jemima

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  12. I'm not sure if you've seen the commercials for IAMS dog food, but they also use defective breeds to sell their products while still telling the owners that said breeds are "the picture of health" because of the dog food they eat.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZQfuvGoFcs

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-sPdv2mKLY

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  13. I've been concerned about brachycephalic breeds for several years, but it's not until more recently (probably by discovering this blog) that I noticed the pinched nostrils that nearly all those dogs, like bulldogs, pugs, pekingeses etc, have.

    It doesn't seem to be the length of the nose itself that causes the pinched nostrils - King Charles Spaniel, though flat-faced, often has good nostrils because they don't have the massive wrinkles that the bulldog, pug, pekingese and boxer (which has a longer muzzle) have.

    The same with Dogue de Bordeaux, Bull mastiff, and that poor indian Mastino you posted earlier - longer noses, but nostrils pinched shut because of excess wrinkles.

    Then of course the King Charles Spaniel (note that I'm not saying "Cavalier") still has the problem of any short-faced breed; which is that only the skull is shortened, the teeth, airways and soft palate are still the same size.
    The dogs that have short AND wrinkly faces are just in for twice the suffering.

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  14. I posted a question to Royal Canin and got this very quick reply -
    Royal Canin 13 June 21:19
    Hi Alison, There aren't really 'normal' nostrils. Nostrils are very different across the dog breeds and cross-breeds. You may not necessarily have noticed this unless you look at noses very closely - as in these pictures. We can assure you that all of these photographs are of perfectly healthy and happy dogs - as all of our animal images are.

    Hmmm

    Plus, my 5 year old -inherited I must add, I would never have chosen one - Cavalier has just had to have 6 teeth extracted because they were overcrowded and causing inflammation. This on top of his spinal problems, heart disease and eye trouble

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    1. Huh? abnormal is the new normal?? or the latitudes of 'normal' are so broad that normal is no longer a valid term for even assessing the expected and intended function of life sustenance attributes. The RC response is idiotic which is perfectly normal coming from an drone programmed to 'dribble' idiocy. "We can assure you..." Apparently not!

      Delete
  15. This boxer has pinched nostrils. There is no point in denying it. Something we should try to avoid in the puppies we produce.

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    1. But you don't mind cropped ears obviously

      Delete
  16. Frida, I think one factor is the overly short nose and then anothe factor is the extra-wrinkles/tissue, I think both contribute to narrow nostrils and bad breathing. I have noticed that Dogges de Bourdeaux often have pinched nostrils even though their noses aren't all that short.

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  17. And, conversely, Neapolitan Mastiff rarely exhibit stenotic nares - so it's certainly possible to have shortened muzzles + wrinkling and wide-open nostrils. You just have to make sure you select for them. I think the issue is that awareness of how important they are has been patchy - but it is growing. You don't see pinched nostrils being rewarded so often in breeds where it has been particularly highlighted - ie. pugs, pekes and bulldogs.

    Jemima

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  18. Just like to quickly add that after expressing my doubts at this being normal and my wish that they would not promote it as such they straight away replied -


    Royal Canin 14 June 11:14
    Thanks Alison - we take your comments on board.

    -a prompt response so thought I should copy this in also in fairness to them

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  19. I'm confused. Royal Canin seems to have taken the thing down, so can't refer to original. That doesn't look like a pug snout. What breed is it?

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  20. Now there is a happy new dog owner that just got her pug home, on a swedish dog forum.
    This is the dog: http://uploads.ifokus.se/uploads/eae/eaed1110a16848a5a93f4607567a66e6/img-8427.jpg
    ...and I'll TRY not to say anything, because I don't think I'll make the world a better place.
    But god do I feel sorry for that pup.

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  21. While not siding with Eileen, I find your views no less extreme. To assume that "everyone outside the show ring" shares them is crass arrogance. In effect here you say no more than "I hate show groomed poodles"; show grooming causes no suffering.
    They have to be groomed for their own wellbeing, ours mostly sleep on the table. To me, a well-groomed poodle is a work of art. You say art is an ingrown world irrelevant to the rest of humanity, I say you lack the imagination to consider that others may see something you cannot. However that may be, you certainly show no ability to see others' points of view.
    The only opinion that really matters to me is that of my 4-legged friends, covering the floor here after morning run. One does object to grooming, the process not the result, he is now in pet trim. Would re-home, but he's too attached to his "mum" - and vice versa. Another not relishing the show ring, these days does just agility: leaving two that happily 'strut their stuff'. Proving that dogs, like people, are different: respect individuality, you're not the model of normality.
    Fitness for purpose in a dog means fitting into human society. To that end, the abilities I'd require of poodles are: mins and toys, standing jump from floor to their lady's lap; standards, onto the grooming table. At least one of ours would love a duck between her teeth, but we're far from the wild, and local park-keepers would not be so thrilled. Human society has its eccentricities, poodle-showing a harmless one, can't you accept that?

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  22. Actually it depends on what kind of breed you have!!!

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