Need a little advice

ZoeysMommy

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Hey everyone,
I am new to this site so I am trying to figure it all out. I joined this site to see if I could get some advice and maybe communicate with other bulldog owners who may be experiencing some of the things I am with my bully. I have a 4 year old english bulldog named Zoey, this past June I started noticing somethings change with zoey such as her eating habits and bowel movements she was have sever diahrea she lost her appetiate, lost alot of weight very quickly and she was drinking alot of water. Brought her into the vet and they did ALOT of blood work and x-rays. Its been a VERY long/expensive road!! Long story short zoey has a liver disease and they found fluid in her stomach, bascially her small intestine was not absorbing any nutrients from her food (by the way I was not feeding her high quality food :/ very bad choice on my end) which is why she lost so much weight. The vet had told me that since this occured it was very likely she would become allergic to many things she has eaten before such as chicken, beef and pork. The vet did put zoey on prednisone, atopica, and I squirt a fish oil capsule over her food in the morning. I am in the process of trying to find a dog food for her and I am beginning to feel hopless. I tried Natural balance and it seemed to work but then the dog food color kept changing everytime i bought a bag so that ended that trial I have since then switched her to Zignature and it seems to be ok but she is very dandruffy and shes getting bad teary eyes. I also forgot to mention that Zoey has had Demadex mange. I know prednisone is terribly bad for her and supresses her immune system which is why her demadex is showing a break out and I want her off of it but I cant just stop giving it to her. Since being on the prednisone and atopica she has but weight back on and she is back up to 43 pounds, Zoey was 45 pounds before she got sick and she dropped down to 29 pounds (very scary I cried every night!).
I just dont like to see my baby hurting and I know shes not 100% back to her normal self. She is now back to being active which she was not very active when she got sick and she does have terrible gas! I love to spoil zoey with treats and bones however I am unable to really do that anymore since im afraid to give her anything that might cause a flare up.
All that i give zoey at this point is her Zignature food morning and night, Vitality healthy hip Salmon and veggies jerky treats and occasionally a deer or elk antler to chew on.
Is anyone else going through the same thing as me that might be able to help me and ease my mind a little bit. What dog food should I be feeding her? What else could I or should I be doing? I have thought about switching her either taste of the wild or california natural... any thoughts?
Thanks for reading!
 

dolphin

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Hello, I think you are right that this is all food related. There is a ton of good food information and advice on here, I've had to find the right food for our Buster and right now am feeding him Fromms pork and peas and he's doing really well on it. Every bully is different and it's real tricky to find the right food but that's why we are here to help out. I've tagged some of the experts here on food and I've sure they will be along to give you some good advice. I'm really happy you found us here and hope that Zoey gets back to normal real quick. :welcome: to EBN.
 

Sarah Elizabeth

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Welcome! I don't have any experience with the medical problems Zoey is having but Hulk is on taste of the wild puppy. He does good with it and we haven't had any problems with the food. I hope you find what works for Zoey!
 

nycbullymama

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I can't recommend any food for her, that's something the vet needs to do due to her liver disease. I would cut out all treats though.
I totally understand where you're coming from with the Prednisone. Blue's been on it as well and I hated it. I found that Claritin works best for him and keeps his allergies manageable.

So I would wean him off the Pred. and then try Benadryl first (lots here have had success with it), or Claritin (at her weight no more than 5mg per 12 hours) and see how it goes. If you can get her off the Prednisone, you've already won part of the battle. I absolutely hated having my 1 year old puppy on steroids, broke my heart so I understand where you're coming from.
 

RiiSi

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Did you get a diagnosis other than liver disease? Any guesses what could of caused it? Liver can heal...did they say this condition has a chance of healing?

Any way I suggest home cooked food, not kibble of any sort. Also try to pamper her with something else than treats. Google dogaware liver disease and you get good tips on dealing with liver problems.
 
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ZoeysMommy

ZoeysMommy

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I completely understand where your coming from when you say talk with my vet however I felt as though she didn't really give me the advise I needed when it came to Zoeys food. She did put zoey on a prescription diet Kangaroo and oats and after 2-3 days Zoey turned her nose she hated it! Once I started trying her on new food I would secretly put a few pieces of the new food at the bottom of her dish and she would literally pick out the new food and spit out the kangaroo. I felt as though the vet just wanted her on prescription stuff because thats what there told to use. I was very stearn with her when I told her zoey was switching food but and I knew she didn't like that but I knew thats what i needed to do.
 

2BullyMama

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Have you looked at 'The Honest Kitchen' lines? They are freeze dried foods that you add a protien too?

I am so with oyu on the predizone, I hate when we had to have our girl on it and I now refuse to use it unless there is no other alternative.
 
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ZoeysMommy

ZoeysMommy

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It was not an offical diagnosis, because the only way they can diagnose this would be to do a biopsy and I refused to let them do that because her body was so weak I wasn't going to take any chances of her not making it. Truthfully I believe what caused this problem was the dog food she was on she was eating Purina dog chow and it never occured to me how terrible of a dog food it was until all of this happen. Zoey is my first dog and I didn't look into any of those kinds of things before hand.
 

Davidh

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Definitely want to stay with a good food, and for the treats you might want to try "Fruitable" they are a good healthy treat to give. Some of the Jerky treats are made in China and are not very good for your baby.
 

nycbullymama

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[MENTION=10998]ZoeysMommy[/MENTION] Do you know exactly what proteins she can and can't have? If so, you can definitely try a different kibble. I guess I would just be too nervous unless I knew exactly what my pup can and can't absorb. I wouldn't want it to be a guessing game.. know what I mean..
 
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ZoeysMommy

ZoeysMommy

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I have not looked into any raw food and quite honestly I am affraid to because Zoey needs something that is very easy for her body to digest or it will cause a flare up and physically and emotionally I cant end up back at square one.
 

bullmama

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So sorry to hear of all the troubles! Wow that must have been soooo scary!!! Wish we could have been there to support you during such a tragic time, you must have been so scared. We are here for you now though! :grouphug:

The stains are likely from the food, Zignature is pretty good but I think it has a ton of peas if I remember correctly. 3 different sources, that is a heck of a lot of peas. Many bullies do pretty good on this food, especially if they are tolerant of peas. But most of the protein is coming from those peas since it is listed as 3 different ingredients, so it's highly possible the pea content is outweighing the meat content for the protein source!

Here is our recommended foods, maybe after reading you can find a good choice. Please keep in touch and let us know her progress. Pics please? :D

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/content.php?203-Our-Top-5-Recommended-Dog-Food-Choices
 
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ZoeysMommy

ZoeysMommy

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Basically I stay with fish, duck, venison and lamb. Just becuase I know she has had chicken, pork and beer previous and I dont want those meats to cause any flare up.
 

2BullyMama

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Basically I stay with fish, duck, venison and lamb. Just becuase I know she has had chicken, pork and beer previous and I dont want those meats to cause any flare up.

Take a look at this food.... I think it might be a good option. Low protein and easy on the system, I knew a few pups that needed to be on this becasue of digestion issues and the did very well.

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/preference
 
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ZoeysMommy

ZoeysMommy

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zoey2.jpgzoey1.jpgzoey3.jpgzoey4.jpgzoey5.jpg
Heres my PRECIOUS baby!! Shes not spoiled any :)
 

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