Bulldogs World

One month ago my 3 year old English Bulldog Max had some sort of reaction to something, out of nowhere his face was swollen, to the point where his eyes would not open. The onset of this was sudden, I am not sure if he was outside prior to this. The swelling was limited to his face; I checked him thoroughly for a bite of some sort but was unable to find anything. His breathing was never compromised and he was pink. I gave him Benadryl and the swelling subsided completely within 24 hours. After the 24 hours he appeared to be somewhat lethargic and less active. Within a week the lethargy increased and he began limping on his right rear leg, his gait was also unsteady. On day 6 we sought the help of a vet. I recently moved to southwest Florida and had yet to establish a relationship with a vet here, so on the advice of a friend I took him to a vet he recommended. Long story short we walk out of the vet treating a GI issue with Imodium, flagyl and hydroxyzine. We had told the vet Max did have some episodes of diarrhea and one episode of vomiting (what else is new… this can be considered quite normal for Max). So lesson learned, we will not be going back to this vet.

Over the next 5 days Max continued to become more lethargic and appeared to be in a lot of pain from his back legs. Late one night it became too much for both him and me. I took him to the 24 hour emergency vet. He could barely walk. I left there with a prescription for Ultram and a referral to a surgeon; they said despite no mechanism of injury Max had cranial cruciate rupture in both rear legs, his right leg being worse. They said it can happen anytime doing anything, (Max had always had times when he would limp, but it was from doing something , like going to the beach). Next day I make an appointment with a surgeon to have Max examined and x-rayed and discuss our options. They were kind enough to get him in the next morning. We never made that appointment, late that same night Max was in incredible pain to the point that you could not touch him. We noticed that his rear end was swollen and red, his anus was, for lack of a better word prolapsed. We rush him back to the emergency vet and he is diagnosed with impacted anal glands, we send him off to surgery where they lanced open both glands and drain them. 2 days after that Max appears to be a little more alert and active, that lasted 24 hours. Max soon returned to being lethargic and in pain, I waited 2 days and found another vet, he puts Max under a general, takes x-rays and blood, x-rays do show the rupture of cranial cruciate ligament on both sides and his blood work was normal. We leave with a 14 day supply of Deramax and the understanding that surgery is in his near future.

Things do not add up, I have explained the entire series of events to these vets, the swollen face, the limping and the anal glands. The vets see it as 3 separate unrelated events, my instinct tells me different. Prior to this Max was in excellent health he weighed 74 pounds and we were very active. He now weighs 59 pounds can barely walk, I have also noticed that he has these small pea size growths under his skin, there also appears to be a growth on his left thigh muscle the size of a grape. I am both completely at a loss and completely out of money. Vet bills have added up to over 2000.00 so far. But more to the point I think there is something systemic going on here, his coordination is off, and the limping appears to now affect all 4 legs. He has not has a solid formed bowl movement in 2 weeks. He urinates wherever he stands. My kids keep asking me if he will be all right, I can’t answer that question anymore. Does anybody have any ideas?