sheshistory
Moderator
This is a cautionary tale about the importance of keeping your bully on a STRICT high quality diet and carefully observing your bully and acting on anything you notice seems odd.
As most of you know, Linus suffered from chronic ear infections before I found this board and was educated about the importance of a good diet. After trying a number of different foods, Linus had great success on Natureās Variety Instinct and currently eats NVI Limited Ingredient Formula ā Lamb Flavor.
For Christmas, one of my dear friends got Linus and Truman peanut butter flavored snacks about the size of Wheat Thins. I noticed they were not grain free but I gave the bullies a few anyway. What hard could they cause? Other than wheat flour, they had very good ingredients and were fit for human consumption.
What a mistake.
About Ā¼ way through a 8 ounce bag, I noticed Linus getting an interdigital cyst. He hasnāt had one of those in years. Then I started to notice that I would startle Linus ā almost like he didnāt hear me coming when he was resting. I didnāt think too much of it but then Linus started getting bad breath and something just seemed off. He was still eating and drinking fine and his ears didnāt look that bad so I let it go.
Another mistake.
Yesterday, when Linus tried to get up, he fell over. He walked around and seemed okay and then heād try to get up on the couch and he fell over again. I tried to feed him a treat and he missed the treat and nipped my hand. I started to panic thinking he had a stroke or something horrible so I made a vet appointment and started researching. It soon became clear it was his ears.
Linus went to the vet this morning and had such a bad ear infection that his one ear was totally swollen shut and his equilibrium was thrown off (hence the stumbling) because the infection MAY have ruptured his ear drum and caused a middle ear infection. The vet could not tell yet because of the swelling.
Linus is on an antibiotic and an antifungal to clear up the infection as fast as possible and he continues to eat and drink well but Iām trying to give him lots of rest. I hope he is better soon because, like all bully mamas, I hate seeing him sick.
All of this because of about a dozen, cracker sized treats that had wheat flour in them. I had really taken for granted the importance of feeding Linus the highest quality grain-free food. Learn from my mistake ā those few ābadā snacks can and do affect the over health of our bullies.
As most of you know, Linus suffered from chronic ear infections before I found this board and was educated about the importance of a good diet. After trying a number of different foods, Linus had great success on Natureās Variety Instinct and currently eats NVI Limited Ingredient Formula ā Lamb Flavor.
For Christmas, one of my dear friends got Linus and Truman peanut butter flavored snacks about the size of Wheat Thins. I noticed they were not grain free but I gave the bullies a few anyway. What hard could they cause? Other than wheat flour, they had very good ingredients and were fit for human consumption.
What a mistake.
About Ā¼ way through a 8 ounce bag, I noticed Linus getting an interdigital cyst. He hasnāt had one of those in years. Then I started to notice that I would startle Linus ā almost like he didnāt hear me coming when he was resting. I didnāt think too much of it but then Linus started getting bad breath and something just seemed off. He was still eating and drinking fine and his ears didnāt look that bad so I let it go.
Another mistake.
Yesterday, when Linus tried to get up, he fell over. He walked around and seemed okay and then heād try to get up on the couch and he fell over again. I tried to feed him a treat and he missed the treat and nipped my hand. I started to panic thinking he had a stroke or something horrible so I made a vet appointment and started researching. It soon became clear it was his ears.
Linus went to the vet this morning and had such a bad ear infection that his one ear was totally swollen shut and his equilibrium was thrown off (hence the stumbling) because the infection MAY have ruptured his ear drum and caused a middle ear infection. The vet could not tell yet because of the swelling.
Linus is on an antibiotic and an antifungal to clear up the infection as fast as possible and he continues to eat and drink well but Iām trying to give him lots of rest. I hope he is better soon because, like all bully mamas, I hate seeing him sick.
All of this because of about a dozen, cracker sized treats that had wheat flour in them. I had really taken for granted the importance of feeding Linus the highest quality grain-free food. Learn from my mistake ā those few ābadā snacks can and do affect the over health of our bullies.
