About the French Bulldog

The chromosome-12 FGF4 insertion makes the spinal discs degenerate early, which raises the risk of a disc rupture that can cause pain or paralysis, and one copy is enough to raise it. It is near-universal in this breed — in a screen of more than 13,000 French Bulldogs almost every dog carried it and about three in four carried two copies — so a test can only lower the risk across a litter, not avoid it.

An inherited eye condition, first described in Mastiff-type breeds, that causes raised patches on the retina from puppyhood; it changes how the retina looks but rarely affects sight. It is recessive, and in a screen of more than 13,000 French Bulldogs roughly one in ten carried it.

An inherited eye condition, first described in Mastiff-type breeds, that causes raised patches on the retina from puppyhood; it changes how the retina looks but rarely affects sight. It is recessive, and in a screen of more than 13,000 French Bulldogs roughly one in ten carried it.

The shortened muzzle packs a normal amount of soft tissue into a much smaller airway, obstructing airflow. It shows as noisy breathing, snoring and poor heat tolerance, and can worsen with age or weight gain; severely affected dogs need surgery to breathe adequately. A VetCompass study of over 2,700 French Bulldogs found the breed 30.9 times more likely than other dogs to be diagnosed with BOAS, and 42 times more likely to have narrowed nostrils (stenotic nares).