Who doesn’t love the cute a cuddly pug dog?
They’re so adorable with their wrinkly faces and sweet personalities, but anyone thinking of adopting one should be aware of some serious pug health problems that affect the breed.
The Pugs flat face really makes him a cutie, but it’s also what causes some of his problems. For one, the shape of his face and placement of his eyes causes the eyes to “stick out” which can cause them to become ulcerated if they touch his food bowl or anything else for that matter. Luckily this isn’t a life threatening problem, just something you should watch for.
Another problem that has to do with the shape of the Pugs face is elongated soft palate. The soft palate is the soft skin at the back of your throat but in a pug it can stick out longer than it should and constrict the airway. This can cause the wheezing or funny breathing you hear in a lot of pugs and can also cause them to cough up food and snore pretty loudly. Luckily, this problem can be fixed with surgery.
Unfortunately, the other two pug health problems I want to talk about are a lot more serious in nature.
One of these is Pug Dog Encephalitis – a deadly disease. This is an inflammation of the brain and usually affects Pugs that are between 2 and 3 years of age. Unfortunately a lot is not known about this disease except that it is always fatal. A dog with this disease might have seizures or exhibit muscle weakness and have trouble walking. These symptoms are not unique to Pug Dog Encephalitis, though and you should definitely take your dog to a Veterinarian if he shows these symptoms.
The other is called hemi-vertebrae and is a defect that is present from birth. Although there is not a lot you can do about this and if your dog has it, you’ll likely have to put him to sleep, you can avoid adopting a dog with this as it’s presence can be revealed by an x-ray. What happens is that the vertebra do not grow properly causing an imbalance in the spine. As the dog grows, this imbalance puts pressure on the spine which can cause paralysis of the back legs.
These pug health problems are something anyone who is thinking of adopting a pug should consider. However, don’t let it weight too heavily as only a small percentage of Pugs will suffer these horrible problems.