Uga Has Surgery Prior to Flying

by Mo Johnson
(SEC Country)

I read an interesting article today about how Georgia's bulldog mascot "Uga" had a medical procedure to lessen the risk of overheating while flying to an away game.

Apparently, "short-nosed" breeds like bulldogs, Pugs, etc are far more likely to overheat during a flight than "long-snout" dogs like labradors or collies.

The reason is that the long nosed dogs have more surface area in their nasal cavity where heat exchange can take place. Most of the cooling off dogs do is through panting and exchanging heat with the air in their nostrils, etc.

So, Uga (as an English Bulldog) had surgery to clip away some muscles and tissue in his nasal passage in order to open it up a bit and allow for a bigger air passage.

Anyway, interesting. I guess something anyone who owns a bulldog might consider doing before taking them on an airplane flight.