Nasal stenosis.
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
Stenotic nares, otherwise known as "pinched" nares, are a problem for a few breeds, Bulldogs included.
Stenotic nares make it more difficult for your dog to breath and increases the negative pressure in the upper airways which leads to secondary changes such as everted saccules. These secondary changes contribute and exacerbate BOAS.
Stenotic nares are considered hereditary (some researchers believe that the DVL2 mutation has a part to play here resulting in collapsed and malformed cartilage in the nostrils of the nose).
Moderate to severely stenotic nares have been shown to increase the risk of BOAS in French Bulldogs by 20%.
Nare surgery is simple and effective in opening the airways and any Bulldog that does not have naturally open nares will benefit from this.
However, breeding from a dog with moderate to severely stenotic nares will most likely result many of the progeny with the same condition and inturn increase the risk of BOAS in the progeny also.
Nares must be carefully considered when selecting breeding pairs.
In order to reduce the incidence and severity of stenotic nares in our future generations, dogs with severely stenotic nares should be considered carefully on whether to breed the dog at all, whilst dogs with moderately stenotic nares should be paired with dogs that have more open nares.
Over the years I have been breeding for more open nares in my Frenchies and I have found that when pairing 2 dogs with nice open nares, the majority of pups will follow suite but the odd pup with pinched nares still occurs
Here are a couple of research articles regarding stenotic nares as a risk factor for BOAS and comments are open below to share your thoughts, experiences and pictures of nares :)
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