Journal article
Conformational risk factors of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) in pugs, French bulldogs, and bulldogs
NC Liu, EL Troconis, L Kalmar, DJ Price, HE Wright, VJ Adams, DR Sargan, JF Ladlow
Plos One | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2017
Abstract
Extremely brachycephalic, or short-muzzled, dog breeds such as pugs, French bulldogs, and bulldogs are prone to the conformation-related respiratory disorder—brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS). Affected dogs present with a wide range of clinical signs from snoring and exercise intolerance, to life-threatening events such as syncope. In this study, conformational risk factors for BOAS that could potentially aid in breeding away from BOAS were sought. Six hundred and four pugs, French bulldogs, and bulldogs were included in the study. Soft tape measurements of the head and body were used and the inter-observer reproducibility was evaluated. Breed-specific models were developed t..
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Awarded by Kennel Club Charitable Trust
Funding Acknowledgements
The Kennel Club Charitable Trust (RG71960, https://kcchantabletrust.org.uk) provided financial support and sources for data collection to DRS, LK. NCL, and JFL. Cambridge Overseas Trust (https://www.cambridgetrust.org/ about/cambridge-overseas-trust/) supported NCL for her PhD. The current study was conducted during her PhD but was not included in her thesis. VJA runs her own commercial consultancy company, Vet Epi. VJA was involved in data acquisition and manuscript preparation and was remunerated for her work on the project from the research grants. Vet Epi did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the 'author contributions' section.