When my husband decided to bring home Bella (Our English Bulldog) I have to say I was NOT happy. I knew nothing about this breed. Working in the Vet Clinic I never remember one coming in. The first night she was home with us, I said that she WILL be kenneled trained. We put the kennel in our bathroom, about an hour into the night she started whining. I told Dushawn just like a baby you let them cry a while. There was a potty pad for her and a blanket. She was fine. NOPE, not even close. Dushawn gets up and I told him I am not helping this was your idea. HE is GAGGING: she had shit all over the kennel and rolled in it. Have fun...cleaning her and the kennel. Well, that was the beginning of the end for us. From that night on she has slept in our bed every night
She has been with us for 81/2 years now. She is truly my baby ( unless Dushawn is around ). Bella has the best personality. I really never would have thought I would love her as much as I do. She has allowed the kids to lay on her, dress her up, take her on too long of walks, she loves her baths and showers. Nothing beats a car ride to go drop the kids off at school or work. I think in true bulldog style her absolute favorite thing to do is eat and lay in the sun. She sunbaths at least 20mins a day, thank goodness we live in sunny California.
We have also had our struggles. Bella is known as my MONEY PIT in our family also. She was bought at the Mall I know I know Puppy Mill Puppies. But as I have learned they need to be bought and LOVED also. I did a lot of research when we got Bella, every known problem that English Bulldogs are known to get my baby Bella got it. The worst was the Entropion or Cherry Eye. We did surgery but nothing really worked so to this day we just clean her eye and try and make them comfortable with drops and creams. She has deep nose wrinkles that have to be cleaned and kept dry.
Now onto why I am writing this...Bella has developed a bleed in her belly. We found out about 2 weeks ago. I was told that they could drain her belly but no guarantee that it would fix the problem. She was also anaemic because of the bleeding. Some days are better than others. She is not in any pain for that I am happy. To help with her anaemia I have gone to making her dog food. It is high in iron, with fresh vegetables and beef liver. So far I can see a difference in her gum colour has gotten a little pinker. She is still running around and going to the bathroom. So I am seeing this as a positive for now. But also preparing for the worst. Unfortunately!!!
I understand that many people would love to have English Bulldogs. Please do your research and have a money reserve for when something happens. We have loved our time with her as our baby. I am hoping she will be with us a little longer but you just never know. They are known for living 6-10 years. We have loved our time with her, not sure what we will do once she is gone. But until that day we are going to give her the best life possible.
If anyone has any sercerts or ideas to help with the bleed or have gone through something like this with one of thier fur babies i would love to hear form you.
Thank you for Reading as always
