I am happy to report Stella has been doing well. We usually end up giving her some lemons at least a few times a week, whenever she has been extra spazzy or gotten a few good romps with Rufus in before we can calm her down. They seem to really do the trick, she manages to spit up some phlegm and feels good as new! She is doing well with her food, Prairie, and we mix in canned food to the dry to keep her weight up (she actually isn't a food hog at all, contrary to many bulldog stories I have heard).
I will post some more pics soon, and really glad to hear the info I have been posting to this blog is helping other dog owners out there. I don't know what I would do without the joy both my dogs bring to my life, and Stella is a very special little creature. I consider it a privilege to care for her and her brother Rufus, they make me laugh, provide enduring friendship and love, keep me safe, and remind me to enjoy the moment.
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So happy to hear that Stella is doing well! I'm anxious to see new pics too! Our Speckles isn't a food hog either! She's a dainty eater!!! LOL! She's estatic today, she is going to work with DH, she loves to ride!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have a bulldog boy who is 7 months old- having the same phlem problem. Lemon has worked wonders for him as well, and reading your blog makes me feel not so alone. We have been so stressed and upset and frantic trying to get rid of this "problem" only to find out he may have this problem the rest of his life. The vets we take him to are optimistic that his trachea will grow over the next few months and may fix the problem. We are hoping so. I am glad stella is doing well, it gives me hope with our boy.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog. Stella is a sweetie. I'm really happy she's doing better. Luckily we haven't had breathing issues with any of our bullies yet. You'll have to check out our website and see our babies. We are just finishing it up this week.
ReplyDeletewww.lovelandbullies.com
Just found your site and was glad to read Stella's history. I have a 4 year old bulldog named Tank, and he has been getting progressively worse with the hypoplastic trachea. He is being treated for pneumonia again now, and I am starting to try the lemon treatments. Hopefully that will eliminate some problems in the future.
ReplyDeleteHe was fine for the first couple of years, then rather suddenly, when we took him out one time around a crowd, he got overexcited to the point he almost couldn't breathe. That was our first experience, and his condition keeps getting worse. To complicate matters, he doesn't ride in the car well either, so we are often faced with deciding whether or not to try to treat him at home, or traumatize him even worse by putting him the car to go to the vet.
More than once, the only way we found out about the pneumonia was when Tank has a bad vomiting spell. It often is so bad that the phlegm gets stuck coming up and we have to put our hands in his mouth or hit his chest to make it come up. Some of these have taken so long to come up that he has actually rolled over onto his back with all four legs straight out like a seizure, and other times he loses control of all bodily functions and uses the bathroom all over himself. Sometimes afterwards he bounces right up like nothing happened, and other times he lays quietly the rest of the evening, but nothing too serious (his spells always happen in the afternoon as opposed to morning as I have read is the case for many). Then, on a few occasions, after one of these spells, the labored breathing starts, and he doesn't eat, which usually means pneumonia. It's strange because I know the pneumonia is what causes the vomiting episodes, however without those episodes, we don't know he has pneumonia until both lungs are full. He usually doesn't have any other symptoms.
Anyway, thanks so much for your blog. It helps to read what others have been through. We have felt so helpless for Tank, and now are encouraged that the lemons might give him a chance for a longer quality life!
Hi, we just got a 8 week old puppy and four days after we brought her home she woke up in the morning and couldn't breath. Off to emergency, then our vet four hours later. They told us she had aspiration pneumonia and a trachea the size of a cat and she will probably have problems her entire life and we should put her down. I said "No way". So we took her to a specialist and she was in the hospital for four days, Since then I have been researching and found your blog. We just brought her home today she is feeling much better. She is on three types of medicines. Im still worried for her and was wondering when I should start the lemons? you can still here so much phlem in her throught .
ReplyDeleteI told the new vet about the lemon story and she looked at me weird, she said if she threw up and the lemon juice was in there she could aspirate that as well. Im under the impression it just makes them cough up mucus stuff. Her name is Elli Mae, so precious. I will try to send a pic of her. When i brought her home tonight my husband thinks we should name her Wells Fargo. We haven't even had her home a week yet and we have all ready spent 4,500 on her vet bills. I just pray she will be able to live a happy healthy life with us. The really weird thing is we just bought a new house and it has like four huge lemon trees on it. I remember saying when we looked at it why so many lemon trees. Now I know why...:)
I, too, am very grateful for coming across this site. My little Ludwig is only 6 months and I took him in for his last round of shots and they couldn't perform them cause he had come down with sinusitis and received an antibiotic injection. He was still having some congestion and phlemgy so I read about the lemons so I purchased some tonight and lemon juice. He loved the lemon so I put some drops of lemon juice in his water and it was the first time in forever that he drank the water without coughing it back up. I can tell an immediate difference the lemon has made in clearing the congestion. Thank you so much!!!
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