Hello all, and Merry Christmas.
I have been viewing this forum for quite sometime and now finally have decided to register and post in hopes of getting some advice/feedback for some more veteran English Bulldog owners. I purchase a female bulldog, Bella on November 3rd from a breeder in Florida, and had her shipped through the Pets Fly Safe program with Continental Airlines. I did a TON of research and really felt this was reputable/legitimate breeder. The day I picked her up from the airport, I contacted the breeder and told him everything went great!At that time the breeder asked if I got medicine with her, to which I told him no. The package that he was referring to had been ripped open by I am assuming airport security and confiscated. Long story short he then explained Bella's litter mate tested positive for coccidia, but that neither dog showed signs and Bellas fecal was negative however she was on Albon as a preventative. No big deal right he said Ill just ship you so more and just follow the directions till its done. Well in the mean time I went to the vet for Bellas first checkup, the vet confirmed she was a healthy girl and found no reason to put her on albon and instead suggested we run a de-wormer and then check for worms. In the mean time she was put on simplicef for a mild case of puppy acne and we went on our way. However by the end of that week her stool which was previous formed, became diarrhea. I also have a black pug who is 1.5 years old named Milo. Milo has never had diarrhea since I have had him from 3 months old. At first we blamed the diarrhea on the Simplicef and discontinued it, however the diarrhea didn't get better and instead Milo had diarrhea as well. Flash forward and we have tried 6 different antibiotics, and she is no finally having solid stool however, from here I am wondering what to do for food. Bella was eating Eukanuba Puppy which in my opinion is a low grade dog food, with her breeder, so I mixed Eukanuba her canine caviar when she came here as that was what Milo was eating and it was an all life stages food.
She was fine for the first week before the diarrhea, then was switched to a bland turkey and rice, or hamburg and rice diet, as chicken was tried but it did not sit well with her and seemed to make the diarrhea worse. I had reserves of keeping her on this bland diet, for her growth and development, but when I tried to bring in a small amount of Blue Buffalo puppy the vet insisted I do not do this and instead stick to a bland diet only or mix in Hill ID canned food. I did this for a short time however Bella did not enjoy the wet food. She was still gaining weight but the vet wasn't and I was worried, so we stopped all homemade food and started her on Hills ID dry food which she is currently on. She appears to be growing and developing well, she is just under 4 months and last weighed in at the vet at 21 pounds. My problem is were do I go from here with the food. She is currently on Bactrim as an antibiotic as well as Clavamox which is another antibiotic being used for the UTI she had from having such severe diarrhea. The vet said when these are done she will need to continue the ID dog food for 3 to 4 months until her intestines have fully recovered. So I am wondering, if (and I pray it does) the bactrim works and Bellas stool stays formed would it be a crazy idea to try and work a new more high quality food such as this FROMM 4 star I keep reading about in? Or is that really playing with fire like the vet says? She also gets once daily a package of Fortflora probiotic mixed in with the Hills Diet ID.
I apologize in advance for the long read and I am SO hoping someone can help me as I just want my baby to grow healthy and strong, but don't feel like the the vet necessarily has my babies best interest in mind when I read all of these articles about vets receiving funding from Science Diet. HELP PLEASE!!!
I have been viewing this forum for quite sometime and now finally have decided to register and post in hopes of getting some advice/feedback for some more veteran English Bulldog owners. I purchase a female bulldog, Bella on November 3rd from a breeder in Florida, and had her shipped through the Pets Fly Safe program with Continental Airlines. I did a TON of research and really felt this was reputable/legitimate breeder. The day I picked her up from the airport, I contacted the breeder and told him everything went great!At that time the breeder asked if I got medicine with her, to which I told him no. The package that he was referring to had been ripped open by I am assuming airport security and confiscated. Long story short he then explained Bella's litter mate tested positive for coccidia, but that neither dog showed signs and Bellas fecal was negative however she was on Albon as a preventative. No big deal right he said Ill just ship you so more and just follow the directions till its done. Well in the mean time I went to the vet for Bellas first checkup, the vet confirmed she was a healthy girl and found no reason to put her on albon and instead suggested we run a de-wormer and then check for worms. In the mean time she was put on simplicef for a mild case of puppy acne and we went on our way. However by the end of that week her stool which was previous formed, became diarrhea. I also have a black pug who is 1.5 years old named Milo. Milo has never had diarrhea since I have had him from 3 months old. At first we blamed the diarrhea on the Simplicef and discontinued it, however the diarrhea didn't get better and instead Milo had diarrhea as well. Flash forward and we have tried 6 different antibiotics, and she is no finally having solid stool however, from here I am wondering what to do for food. Bella was eating Eukanuba Puppy which in my opinion is a low grade dog food, with her breeder, so I mixed Eukanuba her canine caviar when she came here as that was what Milo was eating and it was an all life stages food.
She was fine for the first week before the diarrhea, then was switched to a bland turkey and rice, or hamburg and rice diet, as chicken was tried but it did not sit well with her and seemed to make the diarrhea worse. I had reserves of keeping her on this bland diet, for her growth and development, but when I tried to bring in a small amount of Blue Buffalo puppy the vet insisted I do not do this and instead stick to a bland diet only or mix in Hill ID canned food. I did this for a short time however Bella did not enjoy the wet food. She was still gaining weight but the vet wasn't and I was worried, so we stopped all homemade food and started her on Hills ID dry food which she is currently on. She appears to be growing and developing well, she is just under 4 months and last weighed in at the vet at 21 pounds. My problem is were do I go from here with the food. She is currently on Bactrim as an antibiotic as well as Clavamox which is another antibiotic being used for the UTI she had from having such severe diarrhea. The vet said when these are done she will need to continue the ID dog food for 3 to 4 months until her intestines have fully recovered. So I am wondering, if (and I pray it does) the bactrim works and Bellas stool stays formed would it be a crazy idea to try and work a new more high quality food such as this FROMM 4 star I keep reading about in? Or is that really playing with fire like the vet says? She also gets once daily a package of Fortflora probiotic mixed in with the Hills Diet ID.
I apologize in advance for the long read and I am SO hoping someone can help me as I just want my baby to grow healthy and strong, but don't feel like the the vet necessarily has my babies best interest in mind when I read all of these articles about vets receiving funding from Science Diet. HELP PLEASE!!!