Bulldogs World

I know it's been a while since I've posted an update. But I'm happy to say he is doing just great! After the initial problems of skin issues (nose fold, under eye, and patch of skin on his lower back), bladder stones, and possible cancer scare, he is now cleared of all three. The nose fold and eyes are infection free, and he passed his bladder stones within two weeks. The skin issue on his lower back is still "healing", but there is definitely no more chunks of hair and skin sloughing away. Fatboy had been given a strong round of antibiotics, Ums medicated shampoo, and eye ointment. I don't know how/why the infection was so bad, but it was very hard to keep it in check. The second checkup prompted the vet to put him on another round of antibiotics to see if we were dealing with an enlarged prostrate or possible cancer. It turns out the inflammation went down so a specialist is not needed.

After all of this, my husband and I decided (yet again) to change his food. I hated doing this, but it seemed that no matter what prior cleaning/treatment he had been given, the issues never went away. Fatboy is SO picky, but he was either going to starve from not wanting his new kibble, or eat it to sustain himself. We are now feeding him Nature's Variety Instinct Grain Free Turkey. And it turns out he actually likes it (hooray!) The change occurred in the midst of his treatment. And now that the major portion of his medical treatment is over, the skin issues seem to be staying gone. Could it be his former food, his all-time favorite, was the culprit? I hope so, because he's doing so much better now that he's not eating it.

Aside from this ordeal, we had a lot of fun on our road trip during Christmas. The 17 hour drive from CA to WA had us nervous for the Fats because he didn't like the first road trip we took during the summer last year. However this time he did so much better. He didn't whine, he didn't bark, and he even slept laying down this time too. We arrived at mom's house at 7 in the morning. Mom has 2 dogs, so when we got inside, our tired Fatboy became so animated. He was so excited, you'd think he thought we did all of that just for him. He was running up and down the rooms, jumping up at us, and just being silly in general. It was cute.

Sorry this has been such a long post; guess I'm just making up for lost time. Thanks for all the well wishers and thinking of the Fats. We are both happy to be back on track :)