Flat-faced dogs like pugs are more likely to suffer from sleep apnoea

By William On Jun 15, 2023

With their squashed noses and wrinkled faces, pugs have become a favorite among dog lovers and celebrities alike.

Gerard Butler, Paris Hilton and YouTuber Zoe Sugg are just a few of the famous faces who have shared their lives with the breed.

But vets are urging people not to buy pugs, as new research shows that flat-faced dogs are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea — a condition that leads to disrupted sleep patterns.

“Sleep apnea puts people at significant risk for conditions such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease,” said Iida Niinikoski, the study’s lead author.

‘Sleep affects the immune system, hormone secretion and metabolism. Sufficient, healthy sleep is essential for quality of life. For these and other reasons, we are also interested in dog sleep.”

Veterinarians are urging people not to buy pugs as new research shows that flat-faced dogs are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea – a condition that leads to disrupted sleeping patterns (stock image)

With their squashed noses and wrinkled faces, pugs have become a favorite with dog lovers and celebrities alike. Gerard Butler (left), Paris Hilton (right), and YouTuber Zoe Sugg are just a few of the famous faces who have shared their lives with the breed

What conditions are pugs at high risk for?

54x more likely to have brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome
51x more likely to have narrow nostrils
13x more likely to have corneal ulceration
11x more likely to get skinfold dermatitis
2.5x more likely to be obese
2x more likely to have overgrown nails

The short muzzled ‘brachycephalic’ features of flat faced dogs have not evolved naturally and are instead the result of selective breeding.

This facial structure puts them at high risk for a range of health problems, including skin fold dermatitis, respiratory and eye problems.

In the new study, the University of Helsinki team sought to understand whether these breeds — including French bulldogs and pugs — are also more likely to suffer from sleep apnea.

Just like in humans, sleep apnea in dogs is caused by upper airway obstruction.

During episodes, breathing is interrupted by blocked airways as the muscles of the upper airway relax.

This results in sleep interruptions during the night and daytime fatigue as a result.

However, so far measuring fitness in dogs has proven difficult.

“Previous methods of investigating sleep apnea required dogs to sleep while hooked up to all sorts of equipment or in a certain type of box in a lab,” Ms. Niinikoski explains.

Pugs are significantly more likely to suffer from respiratory, eye and skin conditions than other breeds, according to vets at the Royal Veterinary College

“This has made research challenging and limited our knowledge about canine sleep apnea.”

To combat this problem, the team used a wearable neckband system with a microphone and pulse oximeter to monitor 24 dogs (12 flat dogs and 12 control dogs) as they slept at home.

The results showed that flat-faced dogs were more likely to experience disrupted breathing during the night, as well as snoring.

When asked for a figure on how much more likely these dogs are to have the condition, Ms Niinikoski told MailOnline: ‘Unfortunately I can’t give you a number as research has been very sparse to date.

“However, there have been no reports of sleep apnea in non-brachycephalic dogs.

“None of the non-brachycephalic dogs involved in our recent study or the few previously published studies experienced significant amounts of apnea during sleep.

“This coupled with the marked amount of apneas in flat-faced dogs suggests that the risk is much higher in the flat-faced breeds.”

The study comes shortly after researchers at the RVC compared the risks of 40 common conditions in pugs with other dog breeds.

The team analyzed the records of 16,218 pug and 889,326 non-pug breeds, drawn from the VetCompass database.

Their analysis found that pugs were at increased risk for 23 of 40 common conditions.

Pugs were 54 times more likely to have brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome — a condition that affects the upper airways — and 51 times more likely to have narrow nostrils.

The breed was also 13 times more likely to have corneal ulceration, 2.5 times more likely to be obese and twice as likely to have overgrown nails.

Dr. Dan O’Neill, lead author of the paper and Associate Professor of Companion Animal Epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College, said at the time: ‘As humans, we have the power to ensure that every dog starts life with good natural health.

“When choosing a dog, it means selecting a breed that doesn’t have extreme conformations, such as folded skin that can lead to a lifetime of painful skin infections.

It is vital that people make informed choices when purchasing puppies and avoid dogs bred for extreme wrinkles – which are far from what is described in the breed standards – and instead “stop and think”, and a looking for a responsible breeder who puts their dog’s welfare first.’

DOGS WERE FIRST DOMESTICATED 20,000–40,000 YEARS AGO

A genetic analysis of the world’s oldest known dog remains revealed that dogs were domesticated at one time about 20,000 to 40,000 years ago by humans living in Eurasia.

Dr. Krishna Veeramah, an assistant professor of evolution at Stony Brook University, told MailOnline: ‘The process of dog domestication would have been a very complex process, involving a number of generations in which distinctive dog characteristics gradually evolved.

“The current hypothesis is that dog domestication probably arose passively, with a wolf population somewhere in the world living on the fringes of hunter-gatherer camps, feeding on man-made detritus.

“Those wolves that were tamer and less aggressive would have been more successful at this, and while the humans didn’t get any benefit from this process at first, over time they would have developed a sort of symbiotic relationship. [mutually beneficial] relationship with these animals, eventually evolving into the dogs we see today.”