Summer Prep

I've been rushing to get someone to install the new air conditioning brackets - a new mandatory requirement by the city. The handyman can only come early next week which means we'll have to deal with the warmer temperatures for a few more days. The urgency is of course because of Eti who despite having excellent breathing apparatus- no snoring ( well- just an occasional tiny snore which I actually quite like and find calming), no labored breathing when exercising and certainly no other worse symptoms like vomiting or 'roaring' where they are really struggling to breathe- as I've seen in some frenchies. When the weather goes over 80 degrees however I see a marked change in his comfort level and its really not possible to exist without the air conditioning at full blast 24 hours a day all through the summer months.

Additionally I found a nifty ice cube tray that freezes tubular spikes of of ice that can be dropped into a water bottle- which perfectly melts to cool water when needed at the destination or the bottle can be used as a cooling device on his face or belly. I've also begun to mentally re align my schedule to account for the fact that he simply can't be outside beyond 10 am or so and not again till early evening cools things down again. So wake up for me is brought forward to 7.30am which is already instituted as Eti's internal clock responds to the earlier daylight. Ever been woken up by a French Bulldog lying on your shin licking your toes at 6.30 in the morning? Welcome to my world-if you're reading this you're probably already there.

Let's see what else. Oh yes, budget for more cab rides because the subway turns into a furnace and frankly prepare for a little worrying. I get worried that if I stay out too long something drastic might happen like a power failure and the air conditioning cuts out and all the windows are closed. I know I shouldn't but I can't help it- and so my social life takes a little dive during the summer months. Not to forget the panic attacks you get halfway on route downtown- OMG I totally forgot to bring the bottle with the ice cubes.

I watched a PBS program a little while ago about the evolution of dogs and was struck particularly by the Inuit dogs that provide all the transport, protection (they can take down a polar bear) and even hunt for their masters. The Inuit to this day are hugely reliant on their dogs who still perform many tasks relevant to their daily survival. How on earth I got suckered into the reverse situation here with Eti, I'll never know. French Bulldogs have the most cunning evolutionary survival strategy ever- find humans to perform all tasks including provision of food and shelter, porterage and all hygenic ministrations, in return look adorable and have an irresistable personality.

Flat Faced Features

I was aware of some of the breed specific problems that Frenchies have being brachycephalic, mainly by reading the excellent article by Jan Grebe called 'The Brachycephalic Syndrome' (Part I & II) but I didn't realise there were other problems as well as an interesting fact- their visual field is more like ours than other dogs which is why they may be more likely to enjoy watching TV with you.

I discovered this on another Frenchie Afficionado's site Good Bloggie. Her post on the subject points to the research that supports this and follows with another post about adverse reactions to Rabies Vaccines- which she additionaly informed me that there is a 2005 American Journal of Veterinary Research study that found brachycephalic dogs were most susceptible to reacting to.

I was then of course curious to see what else were flat faced features and discoverd that eye prominence was another one. From Marvistvet:

Sometimes, the eyes are so prominent that the lids cannot close all the way over the eyes. This will lead to irritation and drying of the center of the eye unless surgical correction is performed. If you cannot tell by watching your pet blink, watch as your pet sleeps. Dogs who sleep without closing their eyes all the way could do with surgical correction.

Eyelid problems are common in these breeds. Look for persistent wetness around the eyes. In some dogs, the shape of the eyelids prevents normal tear drainage and there is an overflow. This problem cannot be corrected surgically and is not uncomfortable for the pet; however, there is a more serious condition which looks similar. This second condition involves the rolling inward of the eyelids such that the lashes rub on the eye. Surgery may be needed to correct this problem.

I actually know of a couple of Frenchies with the former situation who had surgical procedures. The latter combined with facial folds, another brachycephalic feature increases the potential for skin fold infections also something I've witnessed in a few Frenchies.

Another concern is dental:

The normal dog has 42 teeth in its mouth. The brachycephalic dog also has 42 teeth but a lot less space to fit them in. This means that the teeth will be crowded and growing in at odd angles which, in turn, traps food debris and leads to periodontal disease at a far younger age than in non-brachycephalics. The earlier you begin using home care dental products, the longer you will be able to postpone full dentistry under general anesthesia.

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I also came across an interesting study that links brachycephalic dog with upper respiratory problems with a greater incidence of gastrointestinal lesions. The full text can be downloaded from here but one finding was that 'surgery on their upper respiratory airways showed marked clinical respiratory and digestive improvement associated with marked improvement in the digestive abnormalities confirmed by a control endoscopy.'

Another Medical Adventure

I was enjoying lunch, seated at a picnic table at the New York Botanical garden soaking up the unusually warm sunny weather on my dog free week- Eti was staying at a friend's house when I got the dreaded call from said friend- '....there's something wrong with Eti '.

I had recently had Magnus stay with us, and my reward was a swop - Eti was to stay with Magnus' family while I had a couple of weekends away and the weekdays were to be spent doing some long planned DIY projects, varnishing the dining table, some painting, some spring cleaning- all best done without a fume sensitive and curious dog around. So there I was on Day 4 when the phone call came, telling me that Eti had a swollen rear end and had been scooting all morning. By the time I got to him his swollen anal gland had abcessed and was oozing and bleeding. Off we went to our vets.

I have since learnt a lot about the anal gland - but I'll post about this another time. Thanks to the wonders of digital photography and email- I also have some gruesome photo evidence, that Magnus' dad sent me- which I'll spare you. Suffice to say Eti is making a good recovery. What I just wanted to say about this episode is a little more philosophical. First on the list - things happen and you fix them. I also gained a new perspective on my vet- although I have a couple of grumbles about the practise- I was very happy about their flexibility and ability to accomodate us at short notice- a good reason to stick with them. Surprisingly, I was also kind of glad to have Eti back home, despite the unfortunate circumstances. As always he can be depended on to raise a laugh with his antics. He now has to take medication after meals which I mix into some mashed banana, so has quickly learnt to wait by his food bowl until I come up with 'dessert'. He tracked down that silver lining right away.

Knowing Better

The update from our dismal weekend is-we got a diagnosis from the vet: No infection indicated in the urinalysis and culture and no stones in the x ray. No further treatment(antibiotics) required unless symptoms return-and they haven't returned.

It looks like what we had was a prepucial infection that was localised and didn't travel any further to infect the urinary tract or bladder.The reason for the infection was most probably a hygiene issue. French Bulldogs can't clean themselves down there so its my job to do that. I do, do that but from now on the procedure will be much more regular and much more elaborate. A three hundred dollar vet bill can inspire you like that.

I was very keen to rule out the possibility of a UTI because I have seen with other Frenchies how an undiagnosed one can take hold and become very difficult to beat they keep coming back and the antibiotic therapy needs to get longer and stronger. The situation was complicated by the vomiting but it seems like the two were not connected.

As our dog's caretakers we make decisions for them when we see symptoms that we recognize or whisk them off to the vet for diagnostics and treatment when we see symptoms that we recognise as potentially serious or don't recognize at all. It did occur to me during this episode though, what does an adult dog do, by way of his own natural instinct when he is experiencing symptoms of illness. From Eti's perspective the whole weekend was about not feeling well, dealing with nausea and pain. What was his own instinctual, innate response to the situation? Without my or a vets intervention in the wild, what would he have done?

Although the general guideline for vomiting and digestive upset is to fast for 12 hours, I decided to offer him food. Given a previous experience with vomiting and diahrrea where he refused food I figured -he has some kind of inner radar about this, lets see what he wants to do. He looked at the food as if he was thinking it over and then he turned to his water bowl and had a drink of that (he's never done this) and then he ate all of his food. Many hours later he puked up a little clear liquid with some undigested carrot. His food was ground lamb (with a little carrot) with some pieces of lean chicken -so it was interesting to see that his system had digested all the meat and bone but left the carrot intact.

The next meal he again looked at the food, it seemed he just wanted to make sure it was ok and ate it all. No more vomiting after this. He did however drink a lot of water. He drank at least five times his usual intake. He was obviously and intuitively flushing his system. In between meals he just lay on his bed quiet or sleeping. I think this distressed me most as he is generally such an active dog but I understand now that this is better percieved not so much that he is sick but that it is what he does when he doesn't feel well. Being quiet is curative and healing.

He's completely fine now. If this happens again, I'll know to just go straight to the vet in the morning- clumsily trying to get a free catch of a urine sample was a complete waste of time- the vet wanted to do a sterile draw with a needle anyway. I know now, as noted above the cost efficacy of increased penile hygiene procedures. I also got to know Eti a little better, and learnt to trust him a little more about some of the decision making when he's not feeling well- he knows a thing or two about how to make himself better.

Pearly Whites

According to the American Veterinary Dental Society, "80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age three. In fact, oral disease is the No. 1 health problem diagnosed in dogs and cats. What exactly should one do about this? Christie Keith explores the subject in this post but in a nutshell what your dog eats is primarily going to determine the outcome of its dental health.

"The body's natural control methods basically revolve around physical removal of plaque bacteria during eating, the antibacterial chemical and flushing actions of saliva and a cellular response involving 'neutrophil' white blood cells. When animals feed in the wild they rarely develop a serious level of periodontal disease unless they are debilitated in some other way.

If you're feeding a diet that approximates what a dog might eat in the wild things would, by the above logic, take care of themselves. But what happens when we're not. In Eti's case, although I feed him a raw diet, a fair percentage of it is premade/pre ground. Its more convenient and its safer- he's a gulper. Although he doesn't eat whole pieces all the time I do make sure he has them some of the time- things like chicken breast/backs and even larger pieces of lean meat to ensure he gets some of the physical removal of plaque as described above not to mention the psychological satisfaction of chewing and ripping through meat as he is meant to. He also gets recreational marrow bones, but this is not sufficient and if the activitiy is too vigorous can in fact wear on the tooth enamel.

If you're not feeding this way, then you have to brush your dog's teeth. The general rule is to brush every day-as long as the biofilm on the tooth is broken up once every 36 hours, plaque does not form. If it does, and it leads to tartar buildup you will need to get a professional teeth cleaning procedure done under anaesthetic. There's a recent post by Christie Keith on Pet Connection on this subject which also references Nancy Campbell's (VetTech) opinions amongst others which also, in a nutshell is- don't try to do this yourself or allow anyone other than a registered and certified veterinary technicians with special training in veterinary dentistry to do this.

Calendula

Calendula is one of the best natural ingredients for treating local skin problems. It may be used safely wherever there is an inflammation on the skin, whether due to infection or physical damage. I particularly like it in a gel form as it dries to form almost a protective barrier. I've used it after cleaning a small bite wound or on an insect bite. I've also used it as a base- for example when Eti had a little bout of acne on his chin I added calendula gel to benzoyl peroxide to dilute the potency from 5%(human) to 2%(canine). Eti's friend Magnus who suffers from allergies has his tube of calendula gel in the fridge for cool relief when required.

Previously Unseen Phenomena

The first time Eti ever refused a meal was a previously unseen phenomena that immediately caused me to break out in a cold sweat. I knew that something was wrong.

We had just come back from our morning walk and he had had a surprisingly severe bout of diahrrea. I ran through my head everything that he had eaten over the last 48 hours and couldn't come up with anything that he had eaten in any sort of quantity that could have caused this and figured it may have been somthing random he had picked up

We went through the normal routine, he waited on his bed while I prepared his meal. I called him, he went into a down position in front of his food as he always does and I said "Good Boy". Normally this would have created a blur as he dashed to eat, this time he stayed in the down position and turned his head to look at me with a worried look. Activate cold sweat.

He spent the rest of the day very quietly. We went out again late afternoon, it seemd like he needed to make a bowel movement but was unable to. I boiled up some chicken and rice which he ate but shortly thereafter puked up. I called the vet and made an appointment for the next morning.

I am reminded of this incident on reading a recent post on Dolittler about Hugo coincidentally also a french Bulldog who similarly exhibited this previously unobserved phenomenon of refusing food. The post is informative of the cause for this problem -gastroenteritis-a broad term for infection or inflammation of the stomach and intestines. In both Hugo and Eti's case resulting from some kind of blockage.

The post is also insightful about the difficulties of diagnosing exactly the cause for a blockage and more importantly what would be the right course of action concluding that-'Their bodies are as deeply mysterious as the methods we use to measure them are limited. There’s only so much we can do before our methods enter the realm of the doing-harm thing.

In Eti's case, the problem 'rectified' itself. A couple of hours before our 11am appointment at the vet, he passed what looked suspiciously like 2 inches of a Bullystick and ate some chicken and rice after with gusto and without ill effect. Our appointment was duly cancelled and Bullysticks were banned forever from that moment on.

Marrow Bones

I usually have a few marrow bones in the freezer that I get from Wholefoods but I have certain criteria before Eti gets to enjoy one. The first one is activity. When the weather is inclement or my schedule conflicts with taking long walks in the park a marrow bone is a lifesaver. It is a couple of hours of intense concentration and activity, further enhanced by the fact that I only let him eat it on his daybed which requires him to step on and off it like a pro from an eighties step class (bone aerobics?).

The second is it cleans the teeth and works the jaw and related muscles so it provides some necessary health benefits that his pre made ground food doesn't offer. He also gets some whole raw meaty bone like chicken breasts and backs which are actually better for teeth cleaning.

There is a little meat on the marrow bone, not sufficient to really take into account in terms of calculating his daily intake but the marrow, which is fat and blood, is extremely rich so I remove the bone after a couple of hours -which usually allows him to get about half of the marrow. I wrap the bone in cling film and its put back into the freezer until next time. I'm careful to remember that he's eaten something rich and will perhaps make sure the next meal is not the same-like say lamb or pork, as it does affect his digestion-he gets loose stools.

In fact it upset his digestion enough once to create a reaction called Conditioned Taste Aversion where he refused to eat one thereafter, much to my disbelief. This was resolved by not giving him any for a while and then reintroducing one with a little cream cheese smeared in the hollow. In fact I do this sometimes if the bone is straight out of the freezer and he can't quite smell it.

There are some concerns also about the gnawing wearing the enamel of the teeth. Limiting the time moderates this. I may give the bone one more reincarnation stuffed with banana and peanut butter and then frozen after which its disposed of. Leaving it exposed increases its brittleness as does cooking it which is potentially hazardous.

Grass Eating

Ever wondered why your dogs eat grass? A recent post on a canine nutrition list that I read elicited this interesting response from Mary Strauss:

"I think dogs eat grass for two reasons: because they like it, or because their stomachs are upset. In my experience, the way that they eat it and how they act can help to differentiate between the two.

My dogs enjoy eating grass, especially fresh spring grass. When eating for enjoyment, they take time to pick out the best strands and are only interested in certain types of grass.

When they aren't feeling well, they grab at tufts of grass indiscriminately and sometimes frantically. Their tummies are often rumbly and they will sometimes vomit shortly afterwards. They usually have less appetite when this happens."


I have also previously read in Cindy Engel's "Wild Health", one of my favorite books, that:

"Grass seems to have two effects one is emetic (stimulating regurgitation or vomiting), the other, a purgative scour (ridding the body of worms farther down the intestine)...Herbalist Maurice Messegue claims that some dog species discriminate between different grasses for different medicinal functions, using hairy grass for emetics and couch grass as a purgative."

Twice Bitten

It's probably inevitable that your dog will encounter some incident with another dog, either at a dog run, at home with multiple dogs or in Eti's case at a friendly meetup with other French Bulldogs. He had a minor puncture that drew blood but with little consequence from an unfriendly mutt at a dog run but his second run in at the previously mentioned meetup was a more serious matter. There were so many people and dogs at that particular meetup that I didn't even see or hear the incident and only noticed when I got home that he had a small puncture wound between his shoulders with the area around it aggravated to the size of a quarter.

It seemed to take a surprisingly long time to heal, and I may have contributed to this by cleaning it regularly with Hydrogen Peroxide, as usually advised by most articles about canine first aid. I have subsequently learned that hydrogen peroxide is in fact bad for healthy skin and mild soapy solution or sterile saline solution are much better alternatives.

I was reminded of this subject when reading this recent article about dog inflicted injuries. I was surprised to learn that 'When in predatory mode, dogs exert maximum, super-canid force in dispatching their prey. The key is to grab (with the sharp, canine teeth) and then shake the prey to enhance their crushing ability through the momentum of a brisk snap of the neck and shoulder muscles. The result is a devastating amount of tissue injury due to compression distributed over a wide area of tissue.'

Even more disconcerting, and this would be an issue if say the attacker was a considerably larger dog : 'Some animal behaviorists feel that a so-called prey response is common to small mammals and relevant to how we treat them. In this theory, prey will often respond to an overwhelming attack with a stress hormone-mediated, quick-death mechanism intended to limit the time of suffering. Complete circulatory shutdown (circulatory shock) often rapidly ensues.'

This really reinforces the importance to be mindful at dog runs of whats going on given that the behavior of another dog can be completely unpredictable. I have found that the presence of an obnoxiously dominant dog, even an overly submissive one can create a volatile situation where trouble can happen and is a good excuse to leave the dog run.

Heartworm and the limits of Holistic Rearing

Eti has come to the end of his supply of Heartgard. After the last dose of this medication, he vomited later that night and I decided that it was time to take another look at whether I wanted to continue giving him this medication. I thought I had reached a stand on the issue-the medicine is toxic but the problem far too serious to leave unattended. I give him this pesticide but on an extended cycle of 45 days(instead of 30) and only in the months that mosquitos are prevalent (June to November).

This bout of vomiting however and the recently learned information that a friend's dog was not taking medication (but getting tested regularly) without any issue renewed my interest in the subject. I found more information on the subject. A map of its prevalence in the US, and some new information about the discovery of a parasite called Wolbachia that lives symbiotically inside heartworms.

It was reading this article by Christie Keith however that firmed my stand on the subject. Although having raised her pets holistically for 19 years this article quite soberly warns that "The idea that nature left to operate unhindered will always result in a positive outcome is a form of magical thinking" and that you can't always leave things to mother nature because she can be a real bitch."She doesn't give a damn if your dog lives or dies."

This doesn't deter me from a holistic path, it simply defines how to navigate a tricky corner. In this post in the Onibasu archives she states that "the alternative approaches are NOT holistic at all -they rely on the exact same action as allopathic drugs to protect our dogs, which is, they kill the larva/worms in the bloodstream. They just use herbs instead of drugs, which may or may not be safer, but is no more or less "holistic" than using ivermectin. " The other consideration mentioned in this post is that 'the greatest risk comes not from the substance you are using to kill the worms, but from the presence of dead worms in the dog's circulatory system.These dead worms form clots that can kill a dog. Dogs treated with conventional drugs are hospitalized during the administration and the owners are supposed to keep the dogs completely inactive - as in, CRATED - for at least one month, sometimes more, while the worms die off."

Holistic rearing is a dynamic process -one that requires informed choices based on an evaluation of all the risks and alternatives involved-and the evaluation process is an ongoing one. So,in the matter of heartworm medication vs no heartworm medicine - we will be making a visit to the vets shortly for a new prescription of Heartgard.

**UPDATES**

Eti is now on Interceptor -it is apparently easier on dogs and Eti doesn't seem affected by it as he was on Heartgard. He had his first heartworm test this spring which was negative and I intend to test him every couple of years.

More info here.