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Photos of a Bulldog Calf

a deformed aborted foetus

(not for the faint hearted!)

As noted in the Paper, "A DNA Test for Chondrodysplasia in Dexter Cattle" by J.A.L. Cavanagh, I Tammen, P.A. Windsor. P.C. Thomson, F.W. Nicholas and H.W. Raadsma, a bulldog calf displays "disproportionate dwarfism, a short vertebral column, abnormally short legs, a relatively large head with retruded muzzle, cleft palate, protruding tongue and a large abdominal hernia" (p.1). 

In an article "Chondrodysplasia in Australian Dexter cattle" by P.A. Harper, M.R. Latter, F. W. Nicholas, R.W. Cook and P.A. Gill in the Australian Veterinary Journal, March 1998, vol. 76(3), the characteristic features of "congenital lethal chondrodysplasia (Dexter bulldog)" are described as including "abortion, disproportionate dwarfism, a short vertebral column, marked micromelia, a relatively large head with retruded muzzle, cleft palate and protruding tongue and a large abdominal hernia" (the full article, with a couple of distressing photos, can be found at www.ava.com.au/avj/9803/98030199.pdf). 

Duncan MacIntyre, a vet and Dexter breeder from Scotland, has kindly made available photos of a bulldog calf . These photos were taken in 1997 and show the characteristics noted above.

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