Face up to this study about your pet pooch’s life expectancy.
An analysis of more than 584,000 canines in the United Kingdom has uncovered that dogs with squished faces and small noses are likely to live for far less time on average than those with longer faces and larger snouts.
The study was published in Scientific Reports on Thursday, and is likely to alarm owners of French Bulldogs — America’s most popular dog breed, famed for their smushed-in face and teeny nose.
“A medium-sized, flat-faced male like a bulldog is three times more likely to live a shorter life than a small-sized, long-faced female, like a miniature dachshund or an Italian greyhound,” lead author Kirsten McMillan declared.
The study examined data on 155 breeds, as well as popular mixes..
Although most French bulldog owners know that their dogs don’t live as long as the average pooch, researchers found the breed had one of the lowest life expectancies, at just 9.8 years.
Other short-nosed breeds, such as large mastiffs and English bulldogs, had average life expectancies of just 9 years and 9.3 years respectively.
“This paper is showing people that at a population level, these dogs are not doing well,” McMillan bluntly declared.
“This new research underlines these major health issues by revealing that flat-faced dogs live 1.5 years shorter lives than typical dogs,” Dan O’Neill, an associate professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London, said in a statement about the research.
“We urge anyone considering getting a flat-faced breed to ‘stop and think’ and to ensure that they acquire a dog with the best chances of a long and happy life,” he added.
Meanwhile, the study concluded that miniature dachshunds and Italian greyhounds — both breeds with long faces — lived for a lengthy 14 years on average.
Papillons lived for 14.5 years, while a healthy Shiba Inu could be expected to stay around as a family pet for almost a decade and a half (14.6 years).
The study did find one anomaly, however.
Lhasa Apsos, with their tiny noses and small, smushed-up faces, had an average life expectancy of 14 years.
The researchers did not say why smaller-faced canines lived for less time, but it’s possible to conclude that their small noses could create breathing issues which lead to other health defects.
But before you get you start to fret about your small-faced pup, the researchers acknowledge a variety of other factors that determine the average life expectancy of a canine.
Female dogs are more likely to live longer than male dogs, while physically smaller breeds generally outlive large ones.
