Author: BigBulldogs

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Pet Food

I have tried many types of food throughout the years. I know the sales pitches regarding most, too much corn, too many byproducts, it goes on and on. I have landed on IAMS and have experienced good luck with it. The dogs like the taste, look good and have nice solid poops. How many of you know that solid poops are a Good Thang? I am sure there are many great foods out there and I am not here to discredit any of them. If you speak to 20 breeders, you may have 25 different opinions. Below is merely the way I choose to feed my Bullies.

When you take your Bully home from us, he is eating (IAMS ADULT) Mini Chunk. (GREEN BAG) Adult food has less protein therefore your pup will grow slower which is BETTER for your Bullies growth patterns. (See Hips & Joint Problems)

We feed our 8 week old pups 6-8 oz of dry kibble, 2 X daily approx 12 hour apart. If you notice the poop get soft and/or runny, skip a feeding. My adult English Bulldogs only eat 3 Cups (24oz) 1 X daily. My adult Frenchies eat 2 cups (16oz) 1X daily.

Use common sense when judging what amount to feed your dog. If he looks fat feed him less, if he looks skinny feed more.

Our Bulldogs are strong, athletic and healthy, as opposed to fat, lethargic and lazy. Each time I go to my vet I see many unhealthy overweight Bullies. Usually there are a minimum of 20 Bulldogs in the waiting room at any given time.

Remember, over feeding can be extremely hazardous. A Bulldog will eat until he is gorged if you allow him to. More Bulldog problems occur due to over feeding rather than underfeeding. Overfeeding also can cause soft or liquid stools. “Yuck”…. If Bully gets runny, skip his next feeding and see if it changes.

Since Adult food does not have the same amount of vitamins and minerals as puppy we recommend to supplement with a really good multiple vitamin. We use NuVet Labs (Nu Vet Plus and Nu Joint Plus.) See our products page for further information on ordering these Vitamins.

We do not claim to know everything, but we have done this a time or two.

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FAQ's

Vets & Your Bully – Choose Wisely

THE VET can be your BULLDOG & your WALLETS worst nightmare?

What I am about to write is merely my opinion. However these opinions were derived based on factual occurrences that I have been privy to in my many years as a lover and breeder of the mighty BULLDOG. 

After carefully researching Bulldogs, you must conclude that they are high maintenance, high price and highly esteemed as a wonderful part of any family. From the beginning, Bulldogs must be artificially inseminated, C-Sectioned and the moms can and will accidentally crush and kill the babies in the first few weeks unless around the clock supervision is not maintained. Often times we must take the pups away from mom completely in the first few days and raise them ourselves. To successfully raise a litter of Bulldog pups to 8 weeks old is a miracle in itself.

Here is how it works. Bully goes to his new home. Ahhhh sooooo cute. Then Bully goes to get puppy wellness physical. Vet usually assures the new owner that he/ she has lots of experience with Bulldogs and scares them to death by parroting back what they were taught in vet school about Bully. However in The Vets defense, a person only knows what they have been taught or have experienced. Many of these Vets are very nice wonderful people that I would happily to go out and eat with. But just because a Vet has a good bedside manner, does not mean that they are competent. Most simply lack the experience.

Below are a few short versions to long stories, but after reading you will get the idea. I have literally 100 or more stories, but these are a few good ones.

REAL STORY: A customer once called and told me that I would be happy to know that her Vet was quite experienced with Bulldogs. When I asked what the Vets credentials were, she exclaimed that her Vet attended the University of Georgia and she was the primary Veterinarian caretaker for Uga the schools Mascott….

Are you kidding. One Bulldog and she is experienced. You’ve go to be joking. My Vet see’s approx. 50 + – Bulldogs per day and performs almost any general and sometimes special surgery that a Bulldog necessitates. That is what I consider experience.

REAL STORY: This exact story happened 3 times last year. All were separate occurrences, took place in different cities and obviously with different Vets. 
Symptoms: Bully has a green snotty nose and becomes lethargic. Customer calls me frantic from the Vets office stating that their Vet told them that they must return the Bulldog immediately to the breeder because it had Distemper. All three times I spoke the Vet on the telephone in the presence of the customer and told them that the dog had a simple upper respiratory infection that needed to be treated with antibiotics and so forth. Neither of the 3 Vets would concede so I made each of them this wager. I told them that if the dog has Distemper then I would give him $10,000 cash and if it does not he waives the Vet fee for the customer.

What do you think happened? Yeah you got it. I still have my 10 Grand and the customer paid the bill. On all 3 occurrences, I picked up the dog from the customer, treated it and returned it 5-7 days later completely well. (By the way Distemper is usually a death sentence for any pup that contracts it and if a pup has it then all of the siblings will have it as well. Distemper is also extremely rare these days..)

REAL STORY: My good friend and partner breeder told me this story several years ago. Bully was approx. 12 weeks old and the front right leg near the paw was becoming twisted and the dog began to hobble. Customer did not call him first, she took Bully to The Vet. This Vet from UC Davis (A very prominant Vet School) sent her to a Specialist (I cringe when I hear that word SPECIALIST) My experience has been that many Specialist specialize in taking your money. Anyhow the Specialist concluded that Bully had a genetic birth defect that caused one bone to be longer than the other in the lower leg. Prognosis, break the shorter bone and put a pin in it. Price tag $3300. Luckily after scheduling the procedure, the lady called my partner to convey the information. Long story short, he told her The Vet was smoking crack and to leave the leg alone and it would straighten out in a month or so. What do you think happened? Yeah you got it. No surgery and a perfectly formed Bully Leg. Cost of the tests…..$800 bucks.

REAL STORY: My good friends Mom purchases pup. Pup was totally healthy for several years then one day becomes lethargic and throwing up. Mom who loves the Dog more than herself, hurries over to a well known Veterinarian Specialist Hospital located in Escondido California. After several days my friend called to ask my opinion because they had performed test after test to no avail. I told him to get the dog and go to see Dirk Butchko. What do you think happened? He did not heed my warning but finally removed the dog from the hosapital after 8 days. The dog was no better than when he first went in. He took the dog home it went outside and ate some grass and has been 100% ever since. Price tag $9800. I know this for sure because I have a copy of the bill.

As the owner of a Bully, it is most important to choose your Bulldogs Vet most carefully. Here is a checklist that may help when you are choosing your Bully’s Vet.

The BIGBULLDOGS WARNS you to choose your Vet carefully. Most all Vets will tell you that they are experienced with Bulldogs but sadly some of these poor Bulldogs have found this to be far from the truth.

1. Most importantly, ask the Vet what they use to sedate a Bulldog. If it is anything other than Propofol with
Iso Fluorine gas and full intubation, MOVE ON. (English Bulldogs and French Bulldogs are different than other dogs when it comes to anesthetizing. Many Bulldogs die unnecessarily each year while under Anesthetic for simple procedures.) It is your responsibility to be certain that your Vet is qualified in the Bulldog arena.

2. Ask how many Bulldogs does the Vet anesthetize weekly. If it is less than 10, MOVE ON. 

3. Does the Vet do his or her own surgeries for the following; Cherry Eye, Bladdar Stones, Elongated Soft Pallet, Hernias (Inguinal & Umbilical), C-Sections, Progesterone Tests, Basic Knee Surgeries. These are just a few, but if he does not do the basics, then MOVE ON.

4. Does the Vet read and interpret his/ her own X-Rays or do they send them out to a Radiologist. If they cannot read and accurately interpret their own X-Rays, MOVE ON.

5. Does the facility appear clean and sanitary? If not MOVE ON.

I will continue to update these stories when I have time to do so. Once again they are not meant to bash Vets or imply anything other than to give you information on my experiences so that you may have adequate ammunition when choosing the right vet for your Bully. Remember The VET can be your Bulldogs best friend or worst nightmare.

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English Bulldog Pneumonia and French Bulldog Pneumonia

Coming Soon!

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Hypoplastic Tracheas in English Bulldogs and French Bulldogs

Q- BigBulldog my 12 week old Bulldog puppy has been coughing and wheezing for the past few days so we took him to the Vet. He was diagnosed with a Hypoplastic Trachea. The Vet told us that he would continue to get worse and we will probably have to put him to sleep. This really concerns us because we love him so much. He still eats well and plays, but coughs at night and seems to get tired rather quickly. When we contacted the breeder, they said not to worry about it that he would most likely grow out of it! Does this make any sense? Even though we love him to pieces, I cannot bear to have my kids become more attached to a pup that we will have to put down. Do you have any advice or knowledge on this subject? Thank you Jackie.

The BigBulldog: Jackie, Thank You for your question, This really strikes a nerve with me, so get ready cause here it comes.“ DO NOT PUT YOUR DOG TO SLEEP.” If this is your desire, bring him to me and I will take him off your hands. Wanna know what I’ll do? I’ll treat him with antibiotics and gentamicin for 10 days or so, wait a month for him to have a growth spurt, then I will sell him to a wonderful family for full price and give a 1 year health guarantee. These half cocked Vets make me furious. I have heard these types of stories over and over again as well as experienced it personally at least 100 times. In fact over 75% of the time when some “Specialist Vet” diagnosis a severe hypoplastic trachea on a Bulldog pup, he’s wrong.

“IT IS COMMON FOR BULLDOGS TO HAVE A SMALLER THAT NORMAL SIZE TRACHEA.……ESPECIALLY AS PUPPIES.

NORMAL SIZE TRACHEA – A normal size trachea is about the thickness of the spine. Rarely will you ever see this in Bulldogs.

LESS THAN ADEQUATE SIZE TRACHEA – 50-80% less than the spine thickness. This you often see in Bulldogs and most of the time they grow out of it. 

SEVERLY HYPOPLASTIC TRACHEA – 20% or less than the size of their spine. Most of the time the pup will die.

All Bulldogs have a degree of what is referred to as Brachycephalic Syndrome. This simply means that they have a pushed in nose. This characteristic is what makes a Bulldog a Bulldog as well as what makes a Bulldog prone to several respiratory issues. (Breathing Problems)

The severity of the issue is determined by what genetic degree of narrowing has actually occurred. Here are a few symptomatic examples that I have experienced;

1. SEVERELY HYPOPLASTIC TRACHEA- Puppy is small, thin and lethargic. He has chronic respiratory infections as well as pneumonia. He cannot seem to get comfortable irregardless of what he does. He cannot play with the litter mates and he sits with his head tilted straight back, nose pointing to the sky so that it straightens out his trachea in order for him to breathe. This is a very sad condition and nothing currently can be done to remedy this problem. I have NEVER seen this degree of Hypoplastic Trachea become better. The only humane thing to do here is to euthanize him.

2. LESS THAN ADEQUATE SIZE TRACHEA- Puppy is full size and healthy looking. He eats well, is energetic and plays. Often times there is no warning at all because the trachea is normal size until he is 8-10 weeks old. He then has a growth spurt but the trachea does not grow and remains the same. Then he develops an abnormal cough/ wheeze and or raspy throat sounds that often leads to an upper respiratory infection that is stubborn to get rid of. However he does improve little by little and eats well and remains reasonably energetic. (BEWARE not to confuse this with a basic cold or pneumonia. Baby Bulldogs can have a normal size trachea and still suffer from upper respiratory issuesas well as pneumonia quite frequently. We are specifically speaking of (Hypoplastic Tracheas) here. In some instances baby Bulldogs eat so fast that they actually choke on their food and can actually pass out because of lack of oxygen. In all cases when you suspect an abnormally small trachea, you should softened their kibble with warm water, or place a large rock in their bowl so that they actually have to work to get to the food rather than inhale it.

Years ago when the symptoms of LESS THAN ADEQUATE would prevail, I’d run Bully to the vet and get a chest X-Ray and most of the time Doc would say, “This pup has a less than adequate size trachea. Go home and treat him for upper respiratory for 14 days and wait a month or two. As you know he needs to have a big growth spurt so that his trachea can grow to adequate size.” I have seen or heard of this hundreds of times through the years. “It’s just a Bulldog Thang. “
Often times my client does absolutely opposite of what I recommend to them. They believe that ALL VETS ARE THE SAME. Every week I field a phone call or two where a Vet scares the heck out of my client by wowing them with their veterinary expertise and scholastic degrees making them believe that I’m nothing more than a stupid know nothing low rent white trash dumb breeder. (I love these guys.)

Hey folks……”ALL” Bulldogs have a smaller than average trachea. (Espicially when they are babies……) 

This happens so frequently that I have decided to dedicate a section to them on my website. Name to be determined.

I am not posting this information to make any person look bad. I have never met this vet below and know nothing of her character. However if she is going to give my client WRONG information and advise her to return the dog to me as well as KILL ONE OF MY SWEET BABY BULLDOGS because of her ignorance, then I choose to put the information out so you can become more educated and BEWARE of how uninformed a licensed vet can be.

Bottom line the vet stated in writing that the pup had a “SEVERLY HYPOPLASTIC TRACHEA AND SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE BREEDER.” SHE ALSO TOLD THEM VERBALLY THAT THE PUP SHOULD BE EUTHANIZED.

Fortunately for the Bulldog baby, the client called me and asked my opinion before they did anything drastic. They came up the next day to return the pup as their vet suggested. Instead, we took her to see Dr. Eaton who see’s hundreds of Bulldogs per month until she recently retired. As you see in the pdf file below according to Dr. Eaton, THE PUPS TRACHEA SIZE FOR HER AGE WAS NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY SMALL. NOT SEVERELY HYPOPLASTIC. I might also add that Dr. Eaton was 100% correct in her prognosis of this pup because we treated her with antibiotics for a couple of weeks and she was good to go thereafter. In fact it’s been over a two and a half years and she has had ZERO Trachea problems. 

Please note to pay special attention to the yellow highlighted areas. 
(A/O means Advice to Owner) and the trachea is the dark line that goes down the middle of the pups chest and dumps into the stomach. How would you judge it?

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VET RECORDS FROM A SEVERE MIS-DIAGNOSIS OF ONE OF MY BABIES.

So Miss Jackie with all that said it is my advice to you to get the professional opinion of someone who see’s hundreds of Bulldogs per month rather than your average run of the mill vet no matter what letters and or degrees they have after their name. A vet can be your Bulldogs BEST FRIEND or WORST NIGHTMARE. It is solely up to you to do your homework. I completely agree with your breeder. Keep an eye on him and give him time to grow. Most likely he will be fine in a month or so. Find yourself a Bulldog Vet and listen to him. Not someone who says they are a Bulldog vet. Someone that has seen thousands of Bulldogs. Let me know if I can point you towards one. I have counted over 80 Bulldogs in the waiting room at my vets office during a single 2 hour visit. Go figure.

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Red Rash on English Bulldogs Belly?

Question: Hello, it seems like recently my 12 week old English Bulldog puppy has developed a red rash on his belly. What should I do?

The BigBulldog: Don’t panic, a red rash localized on your puppies belly more often that not may be due to his or her belly brushing against the grass. Often times there are pesticides/ fertilizers on the grass and will cause an irritation on the little ones belly when he touches it.

My first advice would be to wipe it off with a damp rag or rinse it off each time your pup plays or makes contact with the grass. Also you can go to your local drug store and purchase over the counter (Hydro Cortisone Cream) Apply 2 times per day until the rash is gone.

If this doesn’t work I advise you to consult your Veterinarian.