What is the brachycephalic syndrome?
Brachycephalic syndrome is the condition that affects the short nosed breed of dogs and cats, as Pugs, French and English Bulldogs, Boxers, Boston terrier, Shih Tzus, Pekingese, Himalayan, Persian and others.
Brachycephalic syndrome is the condition that affects the short nosed breed of dogs and cats, as Pugs, French and English Bulldogs, Boxers, Boston terrier, Shih Tzus, Pekingese, Himalayan, Persian and others.
These breeds have been bred to have short muzzles and noses for a child-like appearance and this have caused them many problems. The brachycephalic syndrome consists of few anatomical abnormalities like narrow nostrils, elongated soft palate, everted laryngeal saccules and narrowed trachea (windpipe). All these abnormalities make their breath noisy and difficult, reduce their physical activity and don’t allow adequate cooling of the inhaled air, in other terms they suffer from heat much more that any other breed. Especially in the UAE climate they suffer the most, it gets very difficult to walk those dogs the hot months of the year, with result to gain weight and reduce their physical activity even more, making all this process a vicious circle.
As well we experience make heatstroke cases during the hot months of the year and all the dogs suffering are mainly short nosed.
The cornerstone of managing the brachycephalic syndrome is keeping our short nosed pets slim, avoid walking them during the hot hours of the day and performing some surgical interventions to improve the circulation of the air in their upper respiratory system. A great time for this procedure is during spaying/neutering.