More often than the average dog, and for good reason
Every adult Bulldog should have a full wellness visit at least once a year, and this is a breed where moving to twice a year from around six years old is a sensible default rather than a precaution for the anxious. Puppies attend the standard early series, where breathing, hips, elbows, eyes, and skin are all assessed as the dog takes shape. The Bulldog concentrates several chronic themes — airway, skin, ears, joints, weight — into one compact dog, and each of those themes changes slowly enough that a yearly snapshot can miss the direction of travel that two visits a year reveal.
Breathing sets the agenda
The Bulldog's very short muzzle comes with narrowed nostrils and crowded airway tissue, so breathing is assessed carefully at every visit: how he sounds at rest, how quickly he recovers after walking the corridor, how he sleeps. Owners adapt to gradually louder breathing and call it normal Bulldog noise, but a dog whose rest breathing has become effortful, who snores far worse than he did, or who has ever gone blue-tongued or collapsed in heat needs that history told plainly. Weight is discussed in the same breath, because fat around the neck and chest measurably worsens an already tight airway — for a Bulldog, the diet conversation is a breathing conversation.
Folds, ears, and eyes need hands, not glances
Skin folds on the face and around the tail collect moisture and debris and can stay quietly infected under a cheerful expression, so folds are lifted and inspected at each visit, and you should be shown how to clean and dry them at home. Those small, sometimes narrow ear canals get checked for the infections Bulldogs are prone to, and the prominent eyes are examined for irritation, dryness, and lashes or lids that rub the surface — cherry eye and eyelid problems are part of the breed's known list. Teeth crowd in the shortened jaw and are checked for the gum disease that follows crowding.
Joints and the cost of the build
Hips and elbows in Bulldogs frequently form imperfectly, and a heavy front-loaded dog who starts bunny-hopping, scuffing, or refusing stairs may be telling you about joint pain in the only language available. The annual — ideally twice-yearly — exam includes watching him move and manipulating the major joints, and your report of what he no longer does matters: the walk shortened, the sofa no longer attempted, the play that ends sooner. Pain relief and management plans in this breed are built on exactly that kind of owner evidence gathered across visits.
Heat and breathing emergencies do not wait
A Bulldog who is panting hard and not settling, drooling thickly, or staggering in warm weather is an emergency — cool him and go; this breed overheats faster than owners believe possible. Book promptly, too, for fold redness with odor, head shaking, a squinting eye, or any breathing change. Keep his weights, breathing notes, and skin findings together in the Pet Passport on KinsLe, so the slow changes this breed specialises in are documented visit to visit.