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Pugs and bulldogs are known for having breathing issues due to being bred to have flat faces. A new analysis of veterinary records shows they are also more likely than dogs with longer snouts to develop painful eye inflammation and foot infections.

Dan O鈥橬eill at the Royal Veterinary College, UK, and his colleagues devised the first comprehensive database of British dog health records so that they could analyse the health risks to different breeds. The team analysed a random sample of more than 22,000 dogs. About 4000 came from 34 breeds of flat-faced dogs, such as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, shih-tzus, pugs, bulldogs and chihuahuas.

鈥淎 study like this has never been done before because there has never been access to a single database on the general UK dog population before,鈥� says O鈥橬eill. The database suggests that about 19 per cent of the British dog population is flat-faced.

The team found that these dogs are 1.3 times more likely to be diagnosed with at least one serious health condition in a given year than other types. They were also far more likely to experience certain conditions. For example, flat-faced dogs were 8.4 times more likely to have corneal ulcerations and 1.7 times more likely to have foot infections.

鈥淭his study is useful as it confirms what much research has suggested about flat-faced dog breeds but goes into greater detail about the type of disorder prevalent in those breeds,鈥� says Catherine Douglas at Newcastle University, UK, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the study.

The specific increased health risks could be explained by the traits the dogs have been bred for, says O鈥橬eill.

鈥淭he skulls of flat-faced dogs have been selectively bred to be flatter which also means that the socket for the eyeball becomes shallower,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t means that their eyes are more exposed to drying out and to injury.鈥�

O鈥橬eill also says flat-faced dogs are more likely to have foot infections because they usually have more skin folds.