Vertebral Malformations in French Bulldogs

Year 2017, Volume: 43 Issue: 2, 149 - 153, 21.06.2017

Mária Kurıcová Valent Ledecký Jaroslava Kvetková Tomáš Lıpták

https://doi.org/10.16988/iuvfd.322981

Abstract

The aim of this study
was to detect vertebral malformations among French Bulldogs admitted between
the years 2011 – 2016 due to the high popularity of the breed and the
intentions to increase the breed welfare by reducing the occurrence of
congenital anomalies. Besides, we aimed to look for gender predisposition,
possible vertebral predisposition, occurrence of clinical symptoms and
radiographic findings. A total of 73 French Bulldogs met the inclusion criteria
(radiographs of the whole spine). In 67.12% (49) dogs we confirmed a vertebral
anomaly and 32.88% (24) dogs were free of any vertebral anomaly. We identified
a total of 67 abnormal vertebrae in 49 dogs, 13 cervical vertebrae (19.4%), 43
thoracic vertebrae (64.2%), and 11 abnormal lumbar vertebrae (16.4%). In this
study, we found 44 hemivertebrae (65.7%) out of 67 abnormal vertebrae. We
identified 64.4% (47/73) dogs with clinical signs (30 males, 17 females) and
36.6% (26/73) dogs without clinical signs (19 males, 7 females). Although the
incidence of male dogs was higher in this study, the statistical evaluation did
not confirm any predisposed gender, and we found no statistically significant
predisposition for any particular abnormal vertebra.

Keywords

Chondrodystrophy, dog, hemivertebrae, spinal cord compression, vertebral anomalies

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