A Chow Chow, much like any other breed, isn’t immune to disease or other health problems. They do get quite a few, most of them affecting their eyes or their bones. Here are some of the more relevant ones: Bone Problems As mentioned earlier, bone problems are some of the most common health problems that medium and large sized dogs face in the later stages of their life given how poorly their center of mass is positioned. Usually, it's hip and elbow dysplasia that strike, be it at birth, or developing somewhere down the line as your dog’s joints slowly wear themselves down. This is why it’s important to feed your dog adequate amounts of phosphorus and calcium throughout his life, to keep his bones strong. The other bone-related issue that happens is patellar luxation, an issue where the knee shifts out of alignment with the femoral groove Needless to say that all three of these are rather painful and create more difficulties for your canine companion Eye Problems The next most common problem they face is related to their eyes, namely glaucoma and entropion, both of which can be rather annoying to deal with. If you see something wrong with your Chow Chow’s eyes, make sure to take him to a vet as soon as you can to not risk further damage to his sight as these two issues can be a real pain if left untreated. Sadly, these things do come with time, but early detection can help with treatment options. Bloat The notorious problem that plagues many dogs is that of bloat, a condition where the dog’s intestines can literally tangle themselves up and trap gas inside the intestinal tract. This also leads to cutting off blood supply to some major organs which is going to get real problematic, real fast. As soon as you see this developing, immediately get your dog over to a vet to help treat this issue before it causes permanent problems for your dog, or even fatal ones. The reason why this occurs in the first place is due to bad eating habits. Your dog not chewing his food and eating too much can lead to stomach distension. Then, when it tries to retract, it can tangle itself up and lead to this. This is why all that training is important, especially teaching your dog proper portion control and restraint when eating as it will improve his overall health Intestinal Parasites Another plague of the canine world in general are intestinal parasites. While not exclusive to dogs, these parasitic worms often wriggle their way inside your dog’s digestive tract. The reason why this is a big issue is due to them siphoning all those nice nutrients and vitamins that your dog should be getting and taking it for themselves instead. This can lead to malnutrition, malnourishment and rapid weight loss as well as loss of energy and overall lethargic or sluggish behavior. The most common ones that dogs face are tapeworms, hookworms and ringworms, to name a few. The way they find their way into your dog’s intestines is through contaminated foods that weren’t boiled enough to kill the parasites or eating anything off the ground that may have had one of them inside. In any case, the symptoms of a parasitic worm are pretty severe and can cause problems in development if they end up infecting a growing puppy of all things. This is why most breeders and vets recommend deworming your dog regularly, every 2 months or so, even if his stool sample turns out to be negative. So, if you see your dog acting slower than usual or having bouts of nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, take either him or his stool sample to the vet so he can determine whether or not parasites are afoot or if it’s something else entirely. Difficulties Breathing As mentioned earlier, the Chow Chow is a brachycephalic dog breed. The term brachycephalic means that a dog has some sort of facial feature that’s obstructing his airways and making it harder for him to breathe. In dogs, this is attributed to bad breeding practices which is why we have so many breeds nowadays suffering from this problem. Thankfully, it’s not fatal, but is annoying for the dog, though there’s very little that you can do to improve the situation other than not forcing him to exert himself too hard. Thyroiditis And finally, an issue the Chow Chow shares with his distant cousin, the Shar Pei, thyroiditis. While not usually fatal on its own, autoimmune thyroiditis often increases the risk of heart disease and other heart-related problems. The symptoms related to it usually involve an increased appetite and an increased need to pee or defecate.