A vet has issued a warning against getting four types of dogs and cats, warning that these animals can suffer from health issues.
Taking to social media, the animal welfare influencer shared his thoughts on the breeds.
It was one of his many videos in which he discusses animal health issues as well as those pertaining to welfare.
The video was titled 4 Types of Dog and Cat to Avoid Getting.
In it, Ben the Vet, who has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok, acknowledged that the topic could be a sensitive one.
He said: ‘A difficult topic that I know is going to make some people feel instinctively feel upset or offended.
‘I know that most people who have these animals love them very much, because I see most of them all the time in my practice, but I do think we need to do better at confronting some hard truths.’
Among the types of dogs and cats Ben spoke about were Shar peis and Scottish Fold cats among others.
1. Shar peis
Speaking in the video, Ben said: ‘We need to be better about shar peis.
‘I remember first time I saw a shar pei and a graduate vet, and I assumed it had been stung on the face but it hadn’t – that is just what [they] look like.’
He explained that the ‘issue is that pretty much all of the hallmarks that make a shar pei hay a shar pei confer a disease risk for the dog’. That is to say that – all of this excess thickened skin is due to a genetic mutation, which doesn’t just affect their appearance, but also their health.
Ben continued: ‘It puts them at risk of an inflammatory disorder called shar pei fever, and over time, of kidney failure.’
In addition, he noted, they tend to have very narrow ear canals which ‘puts them at high risk of chronic, painful ear infection’.
Finally, he said: ‘And a lot of them have Entropian, caused by the excessive skin, where their eyelids roll in with some hairs outside of the eyelid scratching the surface of the eye.’
2. Scottish Fold cats
The second breed Ben commented on is the Scottish Fold cat – an animal which has become increasingly prominent due to Taylor Swift having one.
Speaking in the video, Ben said: ‘Number two [is the] Scottish Fold cat, another case where the blueprint of the cats’ appearance reads directly into their suffering.
‘They have these cute folded ears only because of genetic mutation that also affects the cartilage in all of their joints.
‘That means that they develop painful arthritis at a young age, but so many people have no awareness of this.’
3. Dogs with cropped ears
‘No dog is born with [cropped ears]’, Ben said in the video.
‘[This appearance] Is created by cutting off part of the ear flap and then posting the ears with tape and bandaging for several weeks or a couple of months until they stand up right.’
The vet explained that ear cropping is ‘purely about looks’.
He added: ‘It serves no health benefits, and although it might be written into breed standards for lots of different breeds by the American Kennel Club, it is a painful mutilation.’
Ben added: ‘It is illegal in many parts of the world, and to people who that say that “it doesn’t hurt really,” [if you] cut off part of this ear and then bandage your ears for weeks in this silly contraption, you don’t think that would be painful and irritating? Come on.’
4. Brachycephalic dogs
Moving onto the fourth animal type on the list, Ben listed Brachycephalic dogs – more colloquially known as flat-faced breeds.
These include dogs like pugs, bulldogs, French bulldogs.
Ben continued: ‘If you follow me, you know I was gonna talk about this. I just wish people had a window into a vet work and see how demoralising it is to see how much veterinary intervention these animals need, how much they suffer: the breathing problems are a huge issue.
‘And there’s something I think people coming more aware of […] the majority of them need a C section to give birth.’
He added that other potential issues can include skin infections, eye infections, skin fold infections, and corkscrew tails that require amputation.
‘It’s their inability to communicate like other dogs because they don’t have a normal tail and normal head,’ he continued.
‘It’s all of the dental issues because they have the same number of teeth crammed into that tiny mouth. It’s the young French Bulldogs that become paralyzed because of disc herniations, and I’ve seen too many of them to count..
Concluding his video, Ben said: ‘I know people love these dogs because I meet them every day, but we have come as a society too accepting of their health problems and their welfare issues.
‘There are some very dedicated people trying to breed the healthiest versions of these dogs that they can, but the issue a brachycephalic body shape is innately unhealthy. If you want to get a healthy dog, just don’t get a brachycephalic one.
