Why do Bulldogs have to have their puppies by C-section?
When a bulldog free whelps (delivers without a C-section) usually some pups are born dead. Any dog can take a long time to deliver an entire littler of puppies. An hour or more between pups is not unusual, and if the litter is large, the delivery can last eight or more hours. Bulldogs will just forget it and go to sleep. Because the bulldog is higher in the rear, it is difficult to free whelp. The head and shoulders are so wide it is difficult to push the pups through the narrow pelvic area in the birth canal. AKC once described it as trying to put the circus fat lady into the tightrope walkers leotards. Bulldogs, also, have a higher than normal record of producing “Anasarca” puppies. These are fetuses that do not drain fluid in a normal manner, and end up as water filled puppies, often weighing two or three times what a normal puppy would weigh. They become so large that they can not fit through the birth canal.
