Don’t let your bulldog develop ear infections. The anatomy of their ears is conducive for infections. The best way to avoid ear infections is to regularly clean your bulldog’s ears. Find out how by watching the video below.
One of the most easily recognizable dog breeds is the English bulldog, thanks to its large, round head and stocky frame. English bulldog is considered to be extremely ugly or extremely beautiful depending on the eyes of the beholder. The English bulldogs, however, is not spared from having health problems especially its skin. Get to know the common skin problems that your pet may be or possibly suffer in the future.
Eczema
Eczema or canine atopic dermatitis is the most common skin problem in the English bulldog. Eczema is a non-parasitic infection that produces dry, itchy skin often manifesting in scaly bumps or open sores. The causes of the said skin disease are allergies, stress, and insect bites. It tends to be worse in the warm, summer months.
What to do
The need to regularly ensure the proper care of the bulldog’s skin is needed to avoid eczema. You can make sure that your dog’s skin is moisturized with the use of emolients that greatly reduce outbreaks of this condition. Incorporate lamb meat in your bulldog’s diet since it can help treat cases of eczema.
Dermatitis, pyoderma and staph
The three common bacterial skin infections affecting English bulldogs are dermatitis, pyoderma and staph. These infections affect the skin surface and cal also penetrates the skin deeply. Allergies, insect bites or moisture in the skin of bulldogs can be a predisposing factor.
What to do
You should go see your vet as soon as possible. Your vet may prescribe oral antibiotic and medicated shampoos to treat your dog.
Seborrhea
Another common skin problem with English bulldog is seborrhea. It causes the skin to become either excessively oily or excessively dry. Infections, either bacterial or fungal also cause this skin condition. The infection appears as inflamed patches of skin that gives off a bad odor.
What to do
Your vet can treat this infection with an antibiotic. Seborrhea manifests in the bulldog without nay signs of infections. In this case, you can treat seborrhea with shampoos and food supplements.
Hot spots
Hot spots are also known as acute moist dermatitis that appears as round, hairless, itchy sores on the superficial layer of the skin. It can be an allergic reaction to insect bites, parasites, food and even anal gland problems. The bulldog often attempts to relive the pain or itchiness of these sores by chewing or licking them. These actions lead to further inflammation.
What to do
Trimming the hair around them can treat hot spots, cleaning the area with Nolvasan solution and applying a medication such as Domeboro powder.
Acne
The English bulldog breed can be prone to acne. It is caused by dirt entering the pores of the skin as well as allergic reactions. Acne afflicts younger bulldogs that appear as pimples or blackheads on the lips, chin, and muzzle. Acne does not usually bother the bulldog not unless the areas become severely infected.
What to do
Your vet can prescribe acne-cleaning shampoo in more severe cases.
English bulldogs, and other dog breeds, are not spared from having dangerous internal parasites lurking in their gastro intestinal tract. The heartworm poses intensely serious risk to dogs. As the name “heartworm” suggests, an infected mosquito injects lava into the dog’s circulatory system. The lava in turn occupies a particular area in the heart, consuming cardiac muscle while it grows and reproduces at an alarming rate. Dogs are known to be host up to 200 worms!
Signs and symptoms of heartworm
The manifestations of heartworm in dogs, including English bulldogs, vary from case to case. It includes loss of energy, loss of appetite, coughing, anemia, and development of a pot belly. Far more intensive effects on the dog are predictable such as cardiac failure over a year or two, resulting to death.
Treatment of heartworm
The process of eliminating heartworm infection on dogs can be difficult. It involves an attempt to poison the healthy worm with the aide of arsenic compounds without harming (or killing) the sick and weak dog. In most cases, this attempt fails. Blood testing for heartworms does not indicate the severity of the infection.
Prevention is a much better and effective option. The treatment of heartworm should start at about six weeks of age. A prophylactic dose should be given monthly.
Other internal parasites
The dog’s intestines can be a breeding ground of internal parasites such as roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. Roundworms live in the dog’s intestines. They grow about 10 centimeters long and are white in color. About 70% puppies will be infected with Toxocare; the most common term used for roundworms, either as a fetus or from their mother’s milk after birth. It is imperative to deworm pregnant bitches with an appropriate product to help prevent the transmission of worms to their puppies.
Signs of parasite infection
Puppies that are infected exhibit abdominal distension, vomiting, diarrhea and debility. Puppies could be infected without obviously showing any signs of worms.
If you do see worms, it is a sign of a very severe infection. In this case, a professional advice of your vet is recommended. The greatest danger of this parasite is that infects people too. Before that happens to you, test your dog regularly for roundworms. Toxocariasis in humans will cause epilepsy or blindness.
Tapeworms are carried by fleas can be ingurgitated by infected dogs then transmitted to humans. Your mother was right with washing your hands before you eat or even when you cook. Tapeworms can be evident around the anal area or on the bedding. These worms are white in color and look similar to grains of rice. Tapeworms do not often affect puppies. The tapeworm disease is not life threatening in dogs but is a cause of liver disease for humans.
Prevention
All dogs should be treated for worms on a regular basis preferably every three months regardless if there are signs of infection or not. Puppies should be treated every 2 weeks from 4 weeks of age until they are 12 weeks old and after every month until they are 6 months old. Children are at the highest risk of parasite infection when you keep a dog in your household. If you have young children at home, teach them to always wash their hands after petting or any physical contact with dogs.
English bulldogs fall under the category of bradycephalic breed. As such breed requires careful management, know how to control or better yet avoid placing your dear English bulldog at risk form heatstroke.
All short-nosed breeds (a.k.a. bradycephalic breeds) like bulldogs and pugs must be carefully managed in extremely hot weather. Most novice pet owners generally are surprised how fast an English bulldog submits to heatstroke.
Contrary to what most people believe, dogs are more vulnerable to heatstroke than man. Dogs overheat more quickly despite of their fur coat worn all year long. Dogs do not sweat off the heat. They cool down either by panting or blowing out heat. This mechanism renders less effective than sweating.
What heat stroke does to your dog’s body?
Heat stroke occurs when heat gain goes beyond the body’s capacity to dissipate heat. High temperatures cause chemical reactions that breakdown body cells resulting to dehydration and blood thickening. These results place enormous strain on the heart causing blood clots and eventual tissue necrosis or death of the tissue. Heat stroke quickly affects the liver, brain, and intestinal cells. The normal body of a dog is about 101 F to 102 F. Thus, if its temperature goes beyond 106 F, it is in danger of brain damage, vital organ failure and death. The temperature of 106 F can be extremely dangerous. A dog can recover from heat stroke but has to deal with organ damage and lifelong health problems.
Signs and symptoms of heat stroke
• Rapid, frantic panting
• Wide eyes
• Thick saliva
• Bright red tongue
• Vomiting
• Staggering
• Diarrhea
• Coma
First aid
Never underestimate heat stroke. Heat stroke is deadly! When your dog suffers from heat stroke, cool your dog in any way you can. Send your dog to a vet for immediate medical intervention. Hose your dog off, immerse it in cool (not in cold water), use fans, take your dog to air conditioning. Sponge the groin area, tummy area, wet its tongue, place rolled up wet towels against its head, neck, tummy, and between its legs. Always check its temperature. Stop cooling your dog once it drops to 104 F or 103 F.
Treatment
If your dog’s temperature remains high by the time you brought it to the vet’s clinic, they may give him a cool water enema, cool water gastric lavage to rinse the stomach, and intravenous (IV) fluids, and draw blood samples. Your dog will be monitored for shock, kidney failure, heart abnormalities, respiratory stress, and blood clotting time. Your vet should give oxygen, dextrose, cortisone, antihistamines, anticoagulants, or antibiotics to stabilize your dog. It is necessary to give follow up treatment after your dog is stabilized.
Prevention of heat stroke
• Do not ever leave your dog (or English bulldog) in a parked car even for a few minutes! A parked car traps heat in a matter of minutes that could be as high as 40 degrees above the outdoor temperature. Let’s say the temperature is 80 F, a parked car can reach 120 F in ten minutes especially on a sunny day. It is not a big help to leave the car windows crack a little open.
• If you have to let your dog stay outdoors, provide shade, ventilation, wading pool, and cool drinking water. Remember that the shade moves as the earth rotates.
• Store enough water in containers large enough to supply water all the time. Secure the water containers so they won’t topple over and spill.
• Make sure that dogs on a leash wouldn’t wind their leash around an object that prevents access to water.
• Clip heavy coated dogs to an inch in length. Leave one inch for heat insulation and protection against sunburn.
• Let your dog get accustom to warm weather and several days to acclimate.
• Don’t exercise your bulldog on hot days.
Beware of unwanted reactions for letting your sick dogs have their dose of vaccination. You are placing your beloved dog into grave danger.
All vaccine labels and inserts indicate that vaccines are intended for use in “healthy dogs only“. It does not, however, provide an explicit definition of “healthy“.
Knowledgeable vet agree that certain animals should not be vaccinated. The only exception to the rule is the urgent need to vaccinate such as inevitable exposure to a life threatening disease. These includes, but aren’t limited to, pets with autoimmune disease; pets undergoing chemotherapy; radiation or surgery including dental cleaning or neutering; pets with autoimmune disease, cancer, severe allergies and skin diseases; pets fighting an illness or parasites; pets stressed from shipment or a move to a new home; malnourished pets; and dying housebound pets. The case of vaccinating already sick dogs and pets is similar to adding fuel to a raging fire.
Vaccination is without a doubt a huge business. Dogs and cats alike need an advocate possessing common sense and firm will to stand up in behalf of their pets, which is you!
“Above All Do No Harm”
Vaccinating a stressed or ill dog violates our Hippocratic oath: Above All Do No Harm. When an animal is going in for surgery or chemo, or has an autoimmune disease or neoplastic condition [a tumor], or even a chronic immune challenge such as allergies or endocrine/metabolic diseases, they are at a high increased risk to an adverse reaction to any vaccine.
Why vaccinating a sick pet is a big no no!
Pets eventually develop adverse reactions when receiving vaccine shots during sickly time. It ranges from fever to seizures to autoimmune disease to anaphylactic shock, and even death.
Shots given to unhealthy animals may fail to render immunity. Furthermore, it gives you a false sense of security that your dog or cat is protected from diseases. Plus, the stress posed on the immune system may be diverted to handle the shot instead of fighting the existing illness.
Vaccine manufacturer Pfizer states, regarding precautions when using their rabies vaccine: “A protective immune response may not be elicited if animals are incubating an infectious disease, are malnourished or parasitized, are stressed due to shipment or environmental conditions, are otherwise immuno-compromised.”
According to the University of Nebraska’s “Understanding Vaccines”: “While it is common to vaccinate stressed animals, these animals are more susceptible to adverse vaccine reactions and frequently do not develop an adequate immune response. Immune stressed animals develop limited protection from vaccination.”
Drugs.com states, regarding the Rabies vaccine precaution, “level of performance may be affected by conditions of use such as stress, weather, nutrition, disease, parasitism, other treatments, individual idiosyncrasies or impaired immunological competency. These factors should be considered by the user when evaluating product performance or freedom from reactions.”
Humans are at risk if a rabies shot fails thus leaving pets infected with rabies. The danger of vaccinating sick and chronically ill pets that most, if not all, state and local health authorities allow a temporary or permanent exemption from rabies vaccination for these pets.
The gap between the last shot of vaccination and onset of adverse reactions develops over a few weeks or months. You may not be able to link the vaccine shot as the cause of the symptom, which can turn into deadly. Your vet probably won’t link it either.
What to do when your sick pet is scheduled for vaccination
Before you make that appointment, read my article 10 tips to get rid of unnecessary shots of your dog.
Your pet may not even need the recommended shots. If your dog needs vaccination for licensing, ask your vet to apply for a temporary or permanent exemption to the rabies shot.
Arm yourself with knowledge about vaccine duration of immunity. Talk openly with your vet about postponing shots until your dog is well. Find another vet if your request could not be granted.
Be bold and stand up for your pet especially when he or she is not feeling well. Just say NO to vaccinations and start researching and titer testing.
