Chelle
Well-known member
Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I've visited, and wanted to drop in with a small update and say HI! I hope everyone and their doggies had a nice Christmas!
Life has been crazy-hectic for us, but it's all good. We're building a new house, among other things, so it's been exciting!
Bella is doing wonderfully and continues to be the love of our lives. She's such a good girl, we just love her to bits.
We've had a couple health issues with her, nothing overly serious, but things we need to watch. She's had an anal gland rupture twice now, which is horrible. She's not a scooter, so we don't discover it until it's too late. We take her into the vet to have expressed, put her on a round of antibiotics, then she's fine, but it's not a pleasant experience. Also, on both occasions before the gland ruptured, she got a cherry eye. The first time it happened we thought it was a fluke that both things happened almost at once - she got the cherry eye, then the following day her bum exploded.
The vet didn't think the two were related, but, this past incident - she got another cherry eye, which we thought might be due to the dry air in our house (winter time here, running furnace constantly). We bought a couple of heavy-duty humidifiers, and started using tear-gel, but that didn't help. We actually had her booked in for eye surgery to have it repaired. The following day, she had another anal gland rupture. As soon as it was expressed and she started the antibiotics, the cherry eye went back in and cleared right up. We cancelled the eye surgery.
Coincidence? I think not!
So, everything I've been reading about impacted anal glands points toward diet. This is an issue for us because she's a VERY picky eater. We've been through all the commercial foods, and the only one she'll really eat is Royal Canin Mini Breed Special 30 (for fussy eaters), so, switching up her food to see if it's going to help her anal gland problem isn't as easy as it sounds. But, I'm determined to get to the bottom of it (no pun intended!)
I was into a specialty pet food store the other day and they gave me a couple samples of some raw diet dog "muffins". They're frozen, in a vacuum-sealed package, then you just take one out, defrost it, and it's a perfect complete serving size.
I gave her one tonight just to see how she liked it. OMG. I've never seen her so enthusiastic about food! I initially gave her half the muffin, and she inhaled that, then came back to me, pawed my leg, then went back to her empty bowl and liked the sides clean :lol: So, I gave her the other half, and she gobbled that right up.
So now I'm thinking... hmmm, this may be a good thing! I've read enough to know there's pro's and con's to a raw food diet, but I'm not going to be preparing my own homebrew (I'm not that industrious, heh). But these pre-made muffins are pretty convenient, and seem to eliminate a lot of the risks of preparation and what NOT to include, etc.
Any thoughts on this??
Oh, I've also updated Bella's website and included a photo gallery, if you want to see my girl! http://www.fwchelle.com/bella/
Life has been crazy-hectic for us, but it's all good. We're building a new house, among other things, so it's been exciting!
Bella is doing wonderfully and continues to be the love of our lives. She's such a good girl, we just love her to bits.
We've had a couple health issues with her, nothing overly serious, but things we need to watch. She's had an anal gland rupture twice now, which is horrible. She's not a scooter, so we don't discover it until it's too late. We take her into the vet to have expressed, put her on a round of antibiotics, then she's fine, but it's not a pleasant experience. Also, on both occasions before the gland ruptured, she got a cherry eye. The first time it happened we thought it was a fluke that both things happened almost at once - she got the cherry eye, then the following day her bum exploded.
The vet didn't think the two were related, but, this past incident - she got another cherry eye, which we thought might be due to the dry air in our house (winter time here, running furnace constantly). We bought a couple of heavy-duty humidifiers, and started using tear-gel, but that didn't help. We actually had her booked in for eye surgery to have it repaired. The following day, she had another anal gland rupture. As soon as it was expressed and she started the antibiotics, the cherry eye went back in and cleared right up. We cancelled the eye surgery.
Coincidence? I think not!
So, everything I've been reading about impacted anal glands points toward diet. This is an issue for us because she's a VERY picky eater. We've been through all the commercial foods, and the only one she'll really eat is Royal Canin Mini Breed Special 30 (for fussy eaters), so, switching up her food to see if it's going to help her anal gland problem isn't as easy as it sounds. But, I'm determined to get to the bottom of it (no pun intended!)
I was into a specialty pet food store the other day and they gave me a couple samples of some raw diet dog "muffins". They're frozen, in a vacuum-sealed package, then you just take one out, defrost it, and it's a perfect complete serving size.
I gave her one tonight just to see how she liked it. OMG. I've never seen her so enthusiastic about food! I initially gave her half the muffin, and she inhaled that, then came back to me, pawed my leg, then went back to her empty bowl and liked the sides clean :lol: So, I gave her the other half, and she gobbled that right up.
So now I'm thinking... hmmm, this may be a good thing! I've read enough to know there's pro's and con's to a raw food diet, but I'm not going to be preparing my own homebrew (I'm not that industrious, heh). But these pre-made muffins are pretty convenient, and seem to eliminate a lot of the risks of preparation and what NOT to include, etc.
Any thoughts on this??
Oh, I've also updated Bella's website and included a photo gallery, if you want to see my girl! http://www.fwchelle.com/bella/