Today i witnessed an elective c - section on a Bulldog.
I have never been so discusted in all my life,breeders have so much to answer for !,and IMHO should be done for cruelty.
The dam was at the point where she could barely breath due to the pups putting pressure on her already compromised respiritory system.
10 pups were "born"...not one survived! most were unable to start breathing despite all our efforts,and some were actually deformed..or so it appeared,the hind legs were swollen and seemed to be turned backwards on themselves,and even the most healthy of the litter looked like no other newborn i had ever seen. And even at this young age you could see the tails so tightly curled into the body,had they survived they would suffer infection and be unable to daefecate proporly.
We thankfully see very few Bulldog pups at this age,and so managed to contact the stud dog owner. We were told that this is normal,and occasional they "come right"!!!!
The poor little s**ds were puffy with fluid (oedema). This too we were told "normal" for the breed. But is it "normal" for a litter to die like this?
I was b***dy discusted,and have even less respect for the breeders of such misshapen exaggerations than i ever had. And before this i had less than zero !
Mel

You are of course entitled to your own opinion, but there are plenty of other breeds who have to have a C section for varying reasons, and plenty of Bulldogs who give birth naturally. It depends on a number of factors including the care taken by the breeder. Just look at the number of human babies who are born thus, do you think we should stop breeding them?

That is a very hard line to take! yes some breeders do have c.sections done to order that is up to them, some litters do have pups with legs that turn back but they are not deformed they come right by the time the pup is 4 weeks old, and some litters are born with a lot of fluid but again if cared for correctly they will be okay, tails look to tight but will be fine, you need to know what you are doing when whelping bulldog litters did the owner of the bitch not help in any way? and if they did not know why did they breed? Which is why i and most other good breeders have vets that are BULLDOG VETS ones that know what they are doing with the breed and the things that can go wrong and how to offer help if it does? not all vets can do this, and no nothing about the breed.

too bloody angry to reply to this one yet!!. .

I love the few bulldogs i have met - i knew about the caeasareans but didn't know pups legs may be turned backwards - can anyone tell me why this is?

If the legs come right that's OK, but if say, half don't then what happens, presumably the pups are put to sleep?

What worries me is that you state the dam was already barely able to breathe.....i occasionally get asthma and eating a big meal can make it worse - not sure about the phusical mechanices there, but i am concerned about your experience. I'll be interested to see what owners and breeders of bulldogs may say :)

Best wishes

Lindsay

Not wishing to stir up more controversy but have not the KC and the Bulldog clubs agreed to amend the breed standard to prevent over exaggeration. Clearly, therefore, it has been accepted that maybe the dogs have not been bred with the best intentions of the dog in mind if they feel they have to alter the standard to comply with possible furture EU legislation?

Jesse

A litter of 10 seems very large for a dog the size of a bulldog, although I admit I know nothing about average litter size for the breed. I would ask, though, how much of this unfortunate story is directly due to the breed - could some be down to other factors - large litter, inexperienced breeder etc?
Edited to say Surely if it was an elected C Section, the reason could have been because the litter was large, not purely because of the breed? Surely anyone would request a section if their bitch was in such difficulty?