Bulldogs World

you made me chuckle a little...first NO MORE table scraps......everything from the table stops...please dont say you cant...becasue you have to....at this time stop the yogurt a little to much sugar.....

ditch the dog food....cant say enough thier.....BOIL some hamburger and make some BROWN rice (not the instant kind) for  TWO weeks this is all he gets nothing else NOTHING.....you can make up a weeks worth at a time....

this is it for two whole weeks....no cookies...no kibble...no yogurt...no table scrapes.... if you do this i know your dog will be fine ...his feet and ears will improve 100%

i also want you to give him 500mg vit c every other day.....and 1 capsule of cod liver this is every day.....

explain to the family how important this is for the dogs health.....

keep us posted  and then in two weeks we can try a few additions to the food

Judy Wilson is definitely the "raw diet" expert here so I'll let her cover those bases for you.  At the very least I'd recommend that you change your food from Royal Canin (it's actually not a great food) to a grain free food (like Taste of the Wild or similar).  Most bulldogs as they age tend to develop worse allergy symptoms...what may have caused a minor reaction when the dog was younger will cause a more persistent problem as they age and their immune systems start to slow down.

Your vet might also be correct in that there are other irritants in the air/environment causing the symptoms to become worse, but I really think that with a lot of our bullies finding the right diet/food can really help them out a lot.  I'd also recommend buying a Brita (or similar) water filter and giving your dog only filtered water...this too will help eliminate possible allergens and remove a lot of "undesirables" from his system.  Once you get him on a good and consistent diet (no table scraps for the time being, as sad as that will make him) you can start to get to the root of the cause of his problems.  If they persist after the change in diet it might be worth further examination in to the environmental irritants.

For temporary relief I do give Winston Benadryl during the peak of allergy season (he has seasonal allergies that really flare up in the spring) to help ease the "itchies" that he suffers through.  My vet recommends 1mg of medication for every pound of weight of the dog (so for Winston at 50 pounds I give him 2 Benadryl tablets).  But, I'd only give this to your dog if your vet thinks its ok...however, it may "disguise" some symptoms of what is going on and not really let you figure out what is causing your guy so much grief.

I also recommend finding a good ear cleaner (I use oti soothe II cucumber melon) to help with the ears day to day (not that you should clean them that often, unless your vet recommends it...just that it can help prevent the frequent trips to the vet for the cleanings there).

Good luck and let us know how things go! :)

Thank you all for the great advise. We will switch him over to "raw diet" and curtail the treats and scraps (although it will pain me as much as if pains him - it makes him so happy).

One question though: How much burger and rice should we be feeding him? We usually feed him 2 cups of royal canin bulldog a day, broken into three meals. (He is 6 years old, and weighs about 59 lbs. The vet says he is a good weight, active and healthy.

Thank you again! Pictures to follow!

Hi. My bulldog puppy has been coughing, hacking and sneezing just in the AMs during the past couple days. He's fine during the day. My boyfriend and I think it's seasonal allergies--what can we do to help the poor guy feel less stuffed up? Do we need a dehumidifier?
He does a fair amount of scratching and biting his paws in the am as well.
I read the other posts about food and do not think it's his food just because it's only a morning thing.

Any advice or similar situations would help! Thank you