Shocking videos reveal the extent of breathing problems in short-faced breeds

This distressing video is included in a new online initiative by a team at Cambridge Vet School aimed at educating owners, breeders and veterinarians about the breathing problems in short-faced dogs (what's known as brachycephalic obstructed airway syndrome - BOAS for short).

The Bulldog above, for instance, is demonstrating the impact of an elongated and thickened soft palate.

What you can hear with this Pug, below, is laryngeal noise.  As the team explains:  "It is called 'stridor' and it is a high-pitched noise, similar to wheezing and different from low-pitched noises like snoring or snorting. Usually this type of noise indicates a narrowed or collapsed larynx."

It is also often obvious in the way the body heaves when trying to take in air.

Then there's this noise which indicates nasal obstruction - when nostrils are pinched (stenotic) or because the nose is blocked by scrolls of bone and cartilage called nasal turbinates.  This can be accompanied by nasal flaring, where muscles around the nose contract as the dog tries to suck in air - very evident in this short clip.

Here's a mix of both pharyngeal and nasal noise.

 

And, finally, this is reverse sneezing -  very common in brachycephalic breeds and not as bad as it looks because it rarely last for more than a minute. It's actually something many dogs do, including some of my own (non-brachy) dogs.  I've never seen anything as severe as this, though.

I am sure the Cambridge BOAS research group would like me to point out that these are quite extreme examples. Not every Bulldog, French Bulldog of Pug suffers like this. I should say, too, that it is important for owners to seek help way before their dogs' breathing gets this bad - and to remember that BOAS is progressive. Dogs that are only mildly effected when young can go on to suffer. BOAS experts now advise that surgery early on is more effective than waiting.

The Cambridge team is specifically looking for brachycephalic dogs with no respiratory issues to help with their research.  If you have a Pug, Frenchie of Bulldog with whisper-quiet breathing, find out how you can help here.

It is the first time researchers have put together videos to show how different types of respiratory noise reflect where the problem lies internally.  The problem in the dog that is.

The real problem for Bulldogs, Frenchies and Bulldogs lies in a small part of some people's brains that releases a neurochemical hit in response to seeing a dog with a face like a baby's, even if the poor creature is blue with the effort of trying to suck in air.

Hopefully, we can cauterise it with education.