French Bulldog
What a French bulldog costs to insure and keep in the UK, what the UK vet data says about the breed's health, and how to find a puppy that can breathe properly.
What a French Bulldog costs to own
One of the most expensive dogs in the UK to insure, and the gap is not small.
Insurance
Frenchies sit at the top end of almost every insurer’s pricing, and several will not offer them lifetime cover at all beyond a certain age. The reason is not that they are unhealthy dogs day to day, but that when they do need treatment it is often surgical, often airway-related, and often more than once.
What insurers are pricing for
These are risks the breed is predisposed to, not things your dog will get.
- Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS)
- The flat face that defines the breed narrows the airway. Corrective surgery is common and not cheap, and heat becomes genuinely dangerous rather than just uncomfortable.
- Spinal problems
- The screw tail comes with malformed vertebrae in some dogs, and intervertebral disc disease is more common than in most breeds. Spinal surgery is among the largest claims any insurer sees.
- Skin fold dermatitis
- The folds that make the face need cleaning, and when they get infected it is a recurring vet visit rather than a one-off.
- Eyes
- Prominent eyes are easier to injure and more prone to ulcers.
Grooming
Coat care is minimal, which people take as low maintenance and it is not: the folds and ears need cleaning regularly, and neglecting it is what turns a free job into a vet bill.
Size, food and kit
Small, so food and kit are cheap. This is the one place a Frenchie costs less than a big dog, and it does not come close to offsetting the rest.
The one people underestimate
Buying cheap. A low purchase price for this breed usually means the parents were not health tested, which is exactly the thing that determines whether you spend the next ten years at the vet.
Getting a real number
We deliberately do not print premiums here. What you pay depends on your postcode, your dog’s age, the cover level and the month you ask, so any figure on a page like this is wrong for most people and out of date within a year. Get quotes from a few providers instead, and compare what the policies actually cover rather than the headline price.
What a French bulldog is like to live with
As companions, Frenchies are easy to love. They are affectionate, funny and usually good with people, they cope with flat life better than most breeds, and the Royal Kennel Club lists their exercise needs at up to an hour a day. They do not need a big garden or a marathon walker.
Almost all the difficulty is physical, and it comes from the shape of the face. It is better to understand that before you buy one than to learn it at the vet.
Origin
The Royal Kennel Club traces the breed to small toy bulldogs in England in the mid nineteenth century. Nottingham lace makers who lost work in the Industrial Revolution moved to northern France and took their dogs with them. The dogs became fashionable in Paris, came back to Britain later in the century, and The Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1906.
They have been companion dogs ever since, which is why the temperament is so straightforward.
What UK vet records show
The best evidence on Frenchie health in the UK comes from VetCompass, a Royal Veterinary College programme that studies anonymised records from ordinary vet practices.
A 2021 VetCompass study compared 2,781 French bulldogs with nearly 22,000 other dogs. Frenchies had higher odds of 20 of the 43 common disorders studied. The biggest differences were:
- narrowed nostrils, at 42 times the odds of other dogs
- brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), at 31 times the odds
- ear discharge, at 14 times the odds
- skin fold dermatitis, at 11 times the odds
- difficulty giving birth, at 9 times the odds
The Frenchies in that study had a median age of about a year and a half. These are young dogs, so the list reflects problems that show early, not everything that builds up with age.
An earlier VetCompass study found ear infection was the single most common problem, recorded in 14% of French bulldogs in a year. The narrow ear canals are part of the same body shape. Check ears weekly and see a vet about head shaking or smell early.
Breathing: what normal looks like
The cost section explains how BOAS drives premiums. Day to day, the useful thing is knowing which signs are not normal, because many owners have been told they are.
Snoring, snorting, noisy breathing at rest, tiring quickly on a walk, gagging or bringing up froth, and struggling to sleep lying flat are all signs of an airway working too hard. They are not the breed being characterful. If your dog shows them, ask your vet about an airway assessment. Surgery to widen the nostrils and shorten the soft palate is common in the breed and can make a real difference.
Heat is the other half. A dog cools itself mainly by panting, and a Frenchie pants inefficiently. Walk early and late in warm weather, never leave one in a car or conservatory, and know the signs of heatstroke from our dog first aid guide.
Weight matters more than in most breeds, because fat around the neck and chest narrows an airway that is already narrow. Use the calorie calculator and feed to a visible waist.
Grooming and skin
The coat needs a weekly brush and not much else. The folds are the real job: wipe the facial wrinkles and dry them properly a few times a week, and more often if they get damp or smell. Keep an eye on the area around the tail too. Folds kept clean and dry rarely cause trouble; folds left damp get infected.
Health tests to ask a breeder for
The Royal Kennel Club treats one test as essential for French bulldog breeders:
- Respiratory Function Grading under the Royal Kennel Club and University of Cambridge scheme. A trained assessor listens to the dog's breathing before and after an exercise test and grades it from 0 to 3. Grades 0 and 1 mean clinically unaffected by BOAS. Dogs can be graded from 12 months old, and should be regraded every two years while they are being bred from.
It also recommends, as best practice:
- a DNA test for hereditary cataract (HC-HSF4)
- an eye certificate under the BVA/RKC/ISDS Eye Scheme
- hip scoring under the BVA/RKC Hip Dysplasia Scheme
- elbow grading under the BVA/RKC Elbow Dysplasia Scheme
Ask for both parents' breathing grades first. A breeder who has never heard of the scheme, or who says their dogs do not need it, has told you what you need to know.
Before you buy
Choose the least extreme puppy, not the cutest. In 2021 The Kennel Club changed the breed standard so that the muzzle should be clearly visible in profile and the nostrils visibly open. Use that as your checklist: a visible nose, open nostrils rather than slits, and parents who can walk and play without noisy breathing.
Be wary of "rare" colours. Merle is not a colour that belongs in the breed, and the Royal Kennel Club will not register merle French bulldogs, partly because the merle gene carries a higher risk of deafness and eye problems. Blue, lilac and similar shades are not recognised in the breed standard either. A premium price for colour usually means the breeding was chosen for looks rather than health.
See the puppy with its mother, and walk away from any seller who will not show you the parents' breathing grades. Then get insurance in place from the day you bring the puppy home. The cost section explains why this breed is expensive to cover; our UK pet insurance comparison explains which policies are worth the money. The pug and English bulldog pages cover the same airway issues in the other two flat-faced breeds in the grading scheme.