ADVANCES IN NEWBORN DOG VIABILITY: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH BULLDOGS - PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Still today, in canine species the perinatal losses reach high values, mainly occurring around the time of birth. For this reason, in the last decade, the Apgar score (AS), adapted to the dog, firstly proposed in 2009 by Veronesi et al [1], was widely used for the evaluation of newborn dog viability, to allow the recognition of normal newborns and the quick detection of those newborns needing special assistance or resuscitation. However, in 2014, Batista et al [2] posed a question about little adjustments of the former scoring system for a more precise newborn viability evaluation in some specific breeds. Whilst Batista and co-authors found that some parameters had to be modified for French Bulldogs (FB) and English Bulldogs (EB), Fusi et al. [3] reported that no changes to the initial scoring system and newborn classification are needed for the newborn viability assessment in Chihuahua puppies. However, questions about peculiarities of bulldogs remain: even if both “bulldogs” and both brachycephalic breeds, FB and EB are different one from the other, especially in body size (FB 8-14 kg, EB 23-25 kg) (ENCI), but up to now no data are available about possible differences in newborn viability between the two breeds. Moreover, according to the present authors clinical experience, differences in newborn viability between FB and EB are suspected. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate possible differences in newborn viability between FB and EB puppies. The study was done on 30 (12 males and 18 females) FB and 30 (17 males and 13 females) EB newborn puppies, all born by elective caesarean section from 7 FB (2-5 years old; 1-3 parity) and 5 EB (2-5 years old, 1-3 parity) healthy bitches. At delivery, all puppies were evaluated by AS [1], assessed for physical defects and weighed. Newborns were classified in the three classes of newborn distress: severe distress (AS 0-3), moderate distress (AS 4-6), no distress (AS 7-10) [1]. Survival was checked at 24 hours after birth (S1). Out of all born puppies, 1 FB (3.3%) and 0 EB were born dead. Among born alive, normal puppies, 1/29 FB was dead at S1 (3.4%), while in EB 6/30 (20%) were dead at S1 (2 test: p<0.05). A strong difference (p<0.0001) in the AS of surviving puppies between FB (7.9±1.15) and EB (6.4±1.13) was found by one-way ANOVA, while no difference was observed for AS in non-surviving puppies: FB (2.0±0.00), EB (1.7±0.52). The results of the present study showed that FB and EB, both brachycephalic and Bulldog breeds, should be considered differently in the evaluation of newborn viability. The reasons for a lower survival at S1 in EB need further investigations, while the lower AS in puppies surviving at 24 hours is very relevant for the neonatologist. In fact, while surviving FB were fully classified in the no distressed newborns, the EB puppies were grouped in between the moderate distressed and no distressed puppies, highlighting that these last newborns need to be closely surveilled, and maybe additional proper assistance is needed to improve their chance of survival.