Everyone has seen these super typed Persians and
exotics where the poor things they can, they can barely blink.
So we see what's corneal sequestration, so where the central part of the cornea dies,
goes black and eventually falls off.
Can be very, very painful.
Because their noses are, are so pushed up they're very, you know,
the, the ultra types they, very similar features to the pug.
So they've got their nostrils up, you know,
on level with their eyes, which means their tear ducts don't work.
It also means they're much more likely to have entropion where the bottom lid
folds in and so the hairs are directly irritating those poor eyes.
And the, they get really bad skin folds, and they get infections,
fungal infections particularly in the skin folds.
Not only that of course their teeth don't match, so they can't actually chew.
And while I know some of the food companies are now designing food
specifically for brachycephalic cats, I really feel that's the wrong way around.
We shouldn't be designing food to assist these cats,
we should stop breeding them so typed so they can't chew properly.
Because of course, when you teeth don't meet properly,
you get a lot of dental disease.
So these poor cats get a lot of gingivostomatitis and
they often end up having all of their teeth removed.
So, you know, just by being a little Persian that's got ultra typed,
all of those things can be a problem.
Their nostrils could be so small that to get any oxygen in,
they're really working hard, to the point that we actually see much more of the,
the brachycephalic airway syndrome-type picture with them.
And we can even see them with increased right side of the heart
because they are trying so hard to, you know, to, to, to breathe.
It, it's really, really frustrating to see these cats.
Typically when you, the, the Persians with the ultra type,
when you take their heart rate, you actually have a sinus arrhythmia.
Something you don't see in cats unless they've got upper sper, obstruction, or
they're sleeping quietly at home.
Because the minute you stress a cat by bringing it into a clinic,
then it's got enough catecholamines in it that the heart rate lifts up, and
you don't see that sinus arrhythmia.
But with these poor guys, their respiration is so
labored, that you start seeing the sinus arrhythmia come back in again.
So you know that every breath they're taking is hard work.
And we have shown in another study, looking at radiographs of Persian cats,
that Persian cats have a, a, a narrower trachea, on average, than normal cats.
So again, that is part of the brachycephalic airway syndrome.
You know, the tiny nose, the everything's squashed up the, the, the narrow trachea.
So yeah, they're not as bad as the pubs, but
unfortunately they're heading in the same direction, and that is really, really sad.