Moonpig to stop selling cards with pugs over animal welfare concerns

theguardian.com:

Moonpig is to stop selling cards featuring pictures of pugs and French bulldogs after criticism from vets and campaigners who fear the images fuel demand for the breeds, which often have serious health complaints.

Last year, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) wrote to the Greeting Card Association and card retailers, including Moonpig, Paperchase and WH Smith, urging them to stop using pugs and other flat-faced dogs on cards.

There has been a sharp rise in ownership of flat-faced breeds, including pugs, French bulldogs and English bulldogs in the UK in recent years, with the BVA concerned that their growing presence in advertising as well as on cards and gifts is normalising perceptions of their short noses and big eyes.

While some perceive the squashed wrinkly faces of these breeds as “cute”, vets warn that dogs with short muzzles can struggle to breathe, even when doing day-to-day activities such as walking or eating. Other problems faced by brachycephalic, or flat-faced, dogs include eye disease and an inability to mate or give birth naturally.

A Royal Veterinary College study published in May 2022 suggested “urgent action is needed as many health issues of pugs are associated with their extreme body shape”.

It concluded that the health of pugs in the UK is now substantially different from and largely worse than other breeds, revealing they are almost twice as likely to experience one or more disorders annually compared with other dogs.

Despite this backdrop the popularity of these breeds has surged thanks to celebrity owners and social media exposure and in 2018 the French bulldog overtook the labrador retriever to become the UK’s most popular. That reflected an almost 3,000% increase in numbers in the previous 10