On World Veterinary Day, Carmel Lino Vella highlights the health and welfare issues resulting from the breeding of dogs with excessive traits and/or genetic disorders.

In recent years, veterinarians of companion animals have been regularly faced with health and welfare issues. This is the result of breeding dogs with excessive traits and/or genetic disorders.

There has been an explosion in the popularity of certain breeds with exaggerated traits, especially those with extreme brachiocephalic conformation, such as pugs and bulldogs. This popularity has increased demand which is leading to an increase in the number of dogs produced by unscrupulous breeders or puppy farms.

The breeding of dogs and cats is centuries old – both Darwin and Linnaeus described less than 20 types of dogs. Originally, selective breeding was done to improve a dog’s hunting, guarding and herding skills. Since the mid-19th century, with the establishment of pedigree dog registers and so-called breed standards, the number of breeds increased dramatically – there are over 300 now.

Selective breeding has both a positive and negative impact on the health and welfare of companion animals. The diversity of breeds provides positive factors that play a role in human-animal interactions such as temperament, function and utility. However, selecting for certain traits, such as short muzzles, droopy eyes, excess skin, dome-shaped heads, may lead to severe health and welfare issues for the dogs/cats involved.

The breeding of both dogs and cats is definitely driven by consumer demand. The consumer is influenced mainly by celebrities, social media, advertising and films; certain breeds become fashionable and people follow trends. The fact that many fashionable breeds have their own Facebook and Twitter account, sometimes with millions of followers, certainly contributes to their popularity.

The veterinary profession is very conscious of the health and welfare of dogs and is trying to raise public awareness on the breeds that are being genetically modified to look cute.

The World Small Animal Association (WSAVA), the Federation of European Companion Animal Association (Fecava) and the Federation of European Veterinarians (FVE) are calling for urgent action on the breeding of excessive conformation traits in brachycephalic dogs – the so-called flat-faced dogs.

The increased popularity of these dogs, mainly pugs and French and English bulldogs, in Europe – including Malta – is of great concern to the health and welfare of the animals in question.

To make these breeds look especially cute, breeders have created dogs with a very short muzzle with the result that the nose is reduced to such an extent that it cannot fulfil its function in full. The dogs can hardly get any air and can only sleep with their head up and it is unfortunately normal for them to constantly snore and wheeze.

In creating these cute doll-like breeds, the skull is deformed, resulting in bulging eyes as the sockets are too shallow – it’s not the first time that an eye drops out of its socket!

The deformed skull leads also to mal-occlusion with the teeth spread out or crowded. A further concern is that  these manipulated breeds cannot give birth naturally and over 80 per cent need caesarian interventions as the puppies’ head is too big for natural birth . Another health factor is that the breeding for the screw-type tail in pugs affects the formation of the spine, with the result of hind leg paralysis.

Those who are thinking of getting a flat-faced dog should not buy them over the internet, should see the parents and make sure that these do not snore, wheeze or grunt when walking or simply lying down.

If one has doubts, one should consult his/her veterinarian and take professional advise. Other so-called emerging breeds, such as teacup dogs, designer dogs, apple head dogs are becoming popular and their concerns need to be addressed. It is time that the Animal Welfare Act be updated to include “mutilation by breeding” as a crime.

Carmel Lino Vella is director of the Federation of European Companion Animal Association (Fecava).