Bulldog Prevent & Treat - By Body Part / System

Bulldogs and French Bulldogs are prone to a wide range of painful and debilitating breed-related medical conditions. Most can be prevented and safely treated at your home, at a minimal cost.

Category:   By Body Part & System

Reverse Sneezing

Bulldog and French bulldog reverse sneezing

What is that?

A condition that in most breed is "idiopathic" but in bulldogs often associated with BOAS (Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome)

Symptoms

Series of rapid scary sounding honking and snorting sound like something might have got stuck in the nose that often resolve within a few seconds

Treatment

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IVDD Intervertebral Disc Disease

Illustration of a herniated spinal disc compressing the spinal cord

What is that?

Bulldogs and French Bulldogs Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) happens when the intervertebral disc herniates compressing the spinal cord. The disk is a soft toothpaste-like gel that separates each vertebra.

Symptoms

Disc compression can lead to a wide range of neurological problems such as pain, loss of sensory as well as motor deficits, incontinence, and foot-dragging. The range and intensity of the symptoms depend on the injury location and degree of compression.

Treatment

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Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs

Bulldog supported beside an echocardiography machine during a heart ultrasound examination

What is that?

Dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM, is a disease that weakens the heart muscle. The pumping chambers enlarge but their squeeze becomes less effective, so a bigger heart does not mean a stronger one. It is better recognized in other breeds than in Bulldogs, which is exactly why it gets missed here: the tiring and the breathing effort look like an airway problem.

Symptoms

Falling behind on familiar walks, tiring quickly or seeming unusually weak, faster or harder breathing, coughing, eating less, fainting or collapsing, and a gradually swollen belly. In Bulldogs these overlap with airway disease, so the actual cause has to be identified rather than assumed.

Treatment

Treatment depends on how weak the heart is, whether fluid has accumulated, and whether an abnormal rhythm is present. It may include medication to help the heart pump more effectively, diuretics when congestion is present, medication to reduce the workload on the heart, antiarrhythmic medication, and dietary changes. A veterinary cardiologist should be involved wherever possible. No supplement replaces heart medication.

Hypothyroid

Hypothyroidism illustration of a French Bulldog seeking warmth, with weight gain, thinning coat and reduced activity.

What is that?

Bulldog hypothyroidism is caused by a deficiency of the thyroid hormone that regulates metabolism. This endocrine disease is more common to aging dogs and rarely seen in young bulldogs. It can be treated with synthetic oral thyroid Rx.

Symptoms

Bulldogs suffering from hypothyroidism are usually overweight, and less active, they often have thin hair, discoloration, and hyperpigmentation of the skin. Some will have a "rat tail" (bald tail), intolerance to low temp and hair that does not grow after clipping.

Treatment

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Seizures & Epilepsy

Bulldog looking up, nestled in a soft blanket.

What is that?

Seizures are episodes of disturbed brain activity that manifest in various forms, such as convulsions, sensory disturbances, or loss of consciousness. The most common seizure in young bulldogs is epilepsy, while older bulldogs, seizures is usually due to pathology and disease

Symptoms

Generalized seizures are usually recumbent, with leg peddling and teeth chattering, accompanied by other facial muscle spasms, and they might be unconscious. Focal seizures can present with fly biting and twitching behaviors.

Treatment

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Bacterial Pyoderma

bulldog skin infections guide with original Vet4Bulldog clinical imagery

What is that?

Most times, an infection is secondary to an allergy or immune suppression due to drugs like cortisone, a chronic disease such as parasitic infection, or an endocrine disease like hypothyroidism or Cushing's. Topical bully therapeutics are generally required and, at times, the most effective.

Symptoms

Often, itching that could be intense, hair loss, skin lesions, erythema, and bumpy papules. It could look like a "hot spot" or, in severe cases, oozy, deep draining tracks, fever, and illness.

Treatment

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Seasonal Flank Alopecia

bulldog flank alopecia

What is that?

Bulldog Flank Alopecia is usually seasonal. The baldness is likely related to melatonin deficiency and lack of sunlight.

Symptoms

Bilateral, hyperpigmented skin darkening, non-itchy, patchy hair loss, and baldness of the flanks mostly the abdominal sides and top

Treatment

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