Health Issues

The Bullmastiff is classed as one of the giant breeds of dogs. It reaches its full height within its first 12 to 18 months of life, and then takes another 2 to 3 years to fully physically mature. As with most giant breeds the life expectancy is only around 10 years.

With this rapid growth can come many problems associated with the skeletal system. Rapid bone growth can cause inflammation around the joints, and an improper diet and exercise regime can cause undue stress to these areas, resulting in either temporary or permanent problems. Do not over do exercise while the dog is growing, try to limit the amount of protein in the dogs diet as too much protein promotes rapid bone growth and if they grow too fast this can cause developmental problems.

Bullmastiffs are a social breed, so it is important that you socialise your puppy from the time you take them home. Puppy pre-schools are a great starting point. Then some basic obedience, also, plenty of interaction with other people, children and animals, will all help to make your puppy a very socially accepted animal, so when it grows you’ll have a dog that will be comfortable with most situations.

This breed also has some hereditary and congenital conditions. Some of these conditions are;

Hip Dysplasia; Elbow Dysplasia (oesteochondritis); entropian (eyelids turn in and irritate the eye) & ectropian; pyoderma (skin irritation) and various types of cancers (such as lymphatic cancer).

Other than cancer, most of the other conditions are not life threatening, but could cause poor quality of life, although these days many can be successfully repaired by surgery.

Not all Bullmastiffs suffer with these problems, and most reputable breeders test dogs and bitches for hip, elbow and eye problems before using them in their breeding programs but this in no way guarantees that the puppies will be free of these problems. Puppies are able to be screened for eye and heart problems prior to them being placed with their new homes, usually when they are receiving their first lot of injections, but this in no way can guarantee that they may not develop problems later in life.

As the new owner your responsibility is to ensure that your dog is given every chance to develop into the wonderful animal he or she has the potential of being. Therefore, you need to ensure that you follow the breeders instructions on diet and exercise to the letter. Most breeders have been breeding for years and know what works and what doesn’t in these areas and what will give your dog the best chance of a happy, healthy and pain free life.

Although reputable breeders, by screening their animals, try and reduce the incidence of these conditions occurring, they can in no way guarantee that a puppy won’t develop any of these problems during its lifetime and this is where you as the new owner come in, as a lot of these conditions are not just hereditary, but can and are impacted by poor diet & exercise during the dogs’ growth periods.

With proper nutrition, exercise and screening of breeding stock, we the Bullmastiff fraternity are trying to reduce, if not eradicate the problems associated with our beloved breed.


THE RULES ARE “ALWAYS BUY FROM REPUTABLE BREEDERS” & “DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS OF YOUR PUPPIES BREEDERS”

All we want is for our puppies to find loving family homes.