Bulldogs World

This is a normal thing with bulldogs. I would suggest your daughter do a food change to see if that stops them. In the meantime, you can give a tablespoon of Karo syrup or some ice cream, or even a teaspoon of peanut butter to stop the shakes. It works almost immediately. I am of the opinion, and this is only MY opinion, that head shakes are caused (food related ones anyways) by low carbohydrate intake. I have seen these occur in Sophia on different foods, and she is fine once I change feed.

The second sounds like a reverse sneeze to me. They are also very common in this breed. It sounds as if they are gasping for air and their sides heave, but in reality they are fine and this will pass after a minute or so. Sophia has these as well....the first time she did it I almost rushed her right to the vet, but posted teh question here and within minutes I knew what she had done was fine:-)

They sure can scare the daylights out of us, can't they!

Ok, some info for you!

No, Natural Balance is not sold in Petsmart, but it is sold in Petco:-) It is expensive there, I would try a specialty pet food store and price shop it some. If you go to the home page of BDW, it is sponsered by Natrual Balance and they should have store locator information there.

Tail pockets. Ah yes, fun:-) A tail pocket can be found on lots of bullies with corkscrew or bun type tails, but bullies with long tails can have them too. It can be found if you check under the tail above the anus, there may be an area under the very base of the tail that can go in pretty deep. It is like a fold on the face...needs to be cleaned regularly. This is my routine for Sophia. 

I put her in my tub and use a hand help extendable shower head sprayer. I use luke warm water and spray really well right up into the pocket all the way around it. Then I use antibacterial soap and put some on my fingers (yuck, I know, but gotta be done. I sometimes use surgical gloves when I have them handy). Get as deep into the tail pocket as possible and rub gently to cleanse all the way around the tail itself. Then rinse really well. You will see lots of dead hair come out, and sometimes gunk you would rather not see, but it's all good. Gotta get that pocket clean! I always clean and rinse twice. Then I make certain after the second rinse that it is really free of soap. I dry with paper towels, they absorb better. After it is as dry as I can get it, I put a dab of Desitin Diaper ointment or Gold Bond powder into the pocket to dry it out all the way. Sophie can go a week between cleaning, but every dog is different and it will just depend on how often you want to do this.

You can also rinse the pocket after the cleaning with Apple Cider Vinegar and let it dry out before putting anything in there. That will kill any yeast that may be present.

It isn't as bad as it sounds, but prevention is everything! You do NOT want an infection back there:-)

If you have any other questions, we are right here for you! Welcome to loving and being owned by these fantastic little piggies!