My English Bulldog Meatball...

[italiankidd94]

Hello Guys!!

Last week I took my 6 month old English Bulldog Puppy to get neutered and the nurse brought up something to me that I wasn't too sure about. She told me that he had something up with his eyes where the bottom of the eye lid folds in and over time can cause some problems to his sight if it gets worse. It would require surgery if it indeed got worse. Has anyone seen or heard anything like this before? Whats the deal with it? Also, she brought up a point about getting insurance for my puppy. She said since this breed tends to have a lot of health issues, it would be a good idea. What is your take on insurance for your English Bulldog? Also, if you have insurance on him/her whats the best insurance company to use?

Thanks For Everything,
Nick and Meatball

[hero4u]

I was just thinking the other day., I think all breeders of ebd's should stress getting health insurance for this breed. My first vet gave me a free promo month of Trupanion and I have kept paying the premiums each month and it has paid for itself many times over. This is my first ebd but my baby is only 15 months old and not even counting vaccanations. heatworm chewables he has cost over 6k dollars in his short lifetime.I am sure many do not have as many problems as my bulldog but why gamble. There are many insurance company's to choose from and various co-pays.. I say Do it.. Before your baby developes something called a pre-existing condition and then it is almost too late.. Hero

[TubbysMom]

It sounds like entropion. From what I can remember reading here a couple members have had this surgery done.
As for the insurance we don't have any on Tubby. Turns out the breeder sold him to us with a heart murmur which was not disclosed. We save up some money every month and put it into an account for him. So far the only problem we had was his cherry eye but other then that hes been a happy healthy pup.

Good luck with Meatball

[Petra]

Hello Nick and Meatball was it perhaps Entropion she mentioned? It is quite common in bulldogs as far as I know... The rescue male we re-homed had it and also our female Boeboe has it They have both had operations, our female has had I think 5 operations and it is still not perfect:'( I think if it's very mild it can be enough with eye drops, if operations don't work as in our case, pulling out the hairs is an option... that has to be done by a veterinarian and I think it's something that has to be done regularly That is all I know from talking to our vet... I just want to add I'm not 100% sure this is how it is since my vet speaks Afrikaans and I'm not that good at it just yet, lol.

And I think an insurance is good to have, esp in the US where vets seem pretty expensive We don't have one on our dogs since it's relatively cheap here in South Africa... back in Sweden I would have had one for sure

Good luck, think you'll get lots of great answers very soon

[Marine91]

As others have said is sounds like entropion. As for the insurance part we did not want to take a chance with Harlea so we signed her up for Trupanion the day after we got her. To me the cost was reasonable based on the deductible we chose and that her vet will take direct payment from them so all we have to pay is the deductible and the 10% coinsurance and we are done. We hope nothing major comes up but if it does we are covered. There are many other pet insurance companies out there so you will have to do a bit of research to find what works best for you.

[FORDE'SMOM]

My insurance story.....I took insurance out on Forde when he was around 2 months.....at the age of 2 yrs he woke up one morning, doing this awful coughing thing, it went on for like 2 hours...hes breathing fine, acting fine .....just the cought.......almost like he had something hung in his throat......i finally opened his mouth and looked inside didn't see anything at all....swabbed his mouth with my finger , thinking that maybe something was there but too deep for me to see it....i think in doing this i irritated his throat ....within the next few hours he did nothing but lie there.....then noticing his breathing it not normal.....then his tongue turning blue....we immediately got him to the emergycare , first thing they start throwing at me is Brachycephalic..... i explained what happend....telling them i think me swabbing my finger in his mouth and throat i irritated it....long story short...he spent the night there , picked him up the next day doing much better...but they said his throat was too swollen to see exactly what was going on.....and that they were sure it had to do with and elongated soft palate, he need to have work done on his nostrils and naming several other things......telling me this after telling me that his throat was too swollen to really see what was going on and i needed to bring him back when swelling went down.....put him on antibiotics .....by the next day he was perfect ......i called and spoke to his breeder which tells me that forde was checked out thoroughly and this could not be true....and that he would let someone else look at him....i did..and told he was fine...and that at times bulldogs get phlegm in their throat and hack and cough to get it out, to just spray a mist of lemon juice in their mouth and it will clear up....and that is exactly what it was....i myself caused the problem, and hate myself for it......after calling the emergicare that handled him and talked to them about what i was told...........they told me they would still have to go on what their conclusions and turned it into the insurance as problems due to elongated soft palate....so automatically insurance would not pay, said they don't cover pre-existing conditions.....i had a tad over 3000.00 in cost for this.....after paying insurance for so long when i did need them they found a way to weasel out of it.....so i have no FAITH what so ever in pet insurance......i felt so let down !

[2BullyMama]

Hi Nick and Meatball!! As others have said is sounds like entropion.... I'll tag a few members that I believe have experience or more info on the topic

[BabyDuke]

Yes sounds like entropian.. Duke had surgery for this.
Pet Insurance.. ?? We have pet plan.. I would have to sell my house if I didn't

Duke has had entropian surgery and horrible allergies.. we spend over 650 a month on allergy prevention things.. they reimburse us 80 %
his entropian surgery was almost 3,000 same thing were reimbursed 80 %

I would highly recommend it.. I would never want to have to make the decision of not doing something because of money. Duke will be 6 in Aug.. he is very healthy..( good heart , no hip issues, bloodwork just came back good.. everything we had done were just bulldog issues.

Best of luck to you!

ans ps.. I would take your bully to a vet ophthalmologist if it gets worse if and when you decide to.

[Libra926]

Orion has 1 eyelash that grows underneath and scratches her eye. We've taken her in a few times to have the offending eyelash removed. It's been over a year since she's last gone in.....and as I just glanced down at her, she was swatting her eye. It's time to take her in again.

[Bruno and Gidget]

Hello Nick and Meatball,

I live in Australia but I guess this is a universal question you ask. I took out insurance for our first bully Bruno who is now 3 years old. We have another baby called Gidget who is now 10 months old and is also insured. So far our vet bills have probably amounted to $20,000. Bruno has had luxating patella surgery, hip replacement surgery, entroprion surgery and surgery for a tear in his cruciate ligament. Yeah I know, incredible but if I had not had insurance I would be up for a lot of money. Our policy has a $100 excess, the rest is covered by insurance which is pretty damn good.

Take out the insurance, you'll sleep better.

Gloria, Bruno & Gidget.

Meatball is gorgeous.

[Ftse 100]

Nick, I was advised to take insurance and kept putting it off and Ftse developed Cherry eye well that cost asmall fortune and then I took insurance out but silly me for not taking out as soon as I brought Ftse home as now his ears and eyes are not covered as they were prexisting when I took it out. If I ever get another pet I will take it out on day 1.