Update on Red Eyes

Oh, so, I was bothered by Ruki's red eyes. I first thought, oh, just over-tiredness, but the red eyes persisted. So then I thought, oh no! Dry eye! So I bought some over-the-counter eye drops: Just generic, CVS dry eye relief drops. (The active ingredients I looked for, to compare with brand name eye drops, were some mixture of glycerin, hypromellose, and polyethylene glycol.) 

About two or three days of daily treatment, and her eyes are pretty much back to normal. It might have just been a bout of dry eye, but she's doing well!

Questionable Bulldogs at a Puppy Farm

I looked at the Google ads on our blog, and I noticed one from a local kennel called Laughlin Kennel in Oxford, MA. I initially though, cool, a local spot for bulldog puppies! But then I clicked on the link...

First clue that this is a puppy farm: They claim to offer over 30 different breeds. These aren't breeders. They are animal wholesalers. Breeders will specialize in certain types of breeds and know the breed characteristics and idiosyncracies. For example, our wonderful breeder breeds a handful of bulldogs, boston terriers, and bull terriers in her super nice, really clean home-based kennel. 

Most important clue that this might not be a place for you to get a bulldog: The puppies don't look like bulldogs. They all look like mixes. 

So watch out for these types of "breeders," unless this is the kind of bulldog you want! 

The Pampers Pee Conspiracy

I'm convinced now that Pampers newborn diapers are tinted yellow so you can't tell whether your tot has actually peed or not. So instead of feeling the actual diaper for wetness, it's easier just to pop on a new one, replacing a potentially clean one. 

If they actually *weren't* tinting their diaper yellowish on purpose, then they're just being stupid. But I don't trust large companies to be un-savvy. Conspiracy, I tell you.  

Update: Now I think the better way of testing the presence of pee is not by looking for color, but feeling the heaviness of the diaper and with a little sniff. This may only pertain to infants a week or so or older, as newborns don't really pee all that much and their pee don't stink. 

Acclimating Our Dog to the New Baby

So last Friday, my wife gave birth to our first child, Felix. Fortunately, we were preparing for this occurrence. Our preparations included letting our wonderful dog walker, Mike of Happy Dog, know that we might need him to pick up and board Ruki at a last minute's notice. With his birthday and Christmas looming, he agreed, and Friday night I tossed him off an e-mail that we were heading to the hospital. 

Sunday, we came home newborn baby in tow. I had talked to Mike, and Ruki was at home waiting for us. When we got home, she was predictably excited, shivering and shaking her stubby tail. But how would she greet the baby? Well, she didn't really. She seemed kind of aloof. Which kind of makes sense: She was completely exhausted from running around crazy with five other dogs.

Well, we figured that aloof was better than too excited--or angry. It eventually took Ruki about two or so days to work up the energy/curiosity to greet Felix. Still, it's been about a week, and she's not super excited about Felix. She's curious. She'll sniff at him when we bring him to her or when he's curled up on his bouncer. And she's beginning to express alertness and concern when she hears him cry. 

But at night, she gets a little cranky with the crying. She curls up and scrunches her face into her bed at 3 a.m. when we're up consoling and coddling Felix. 

We try to acclimate her by giving her at least a little attention most times we pass her. And I throw her up on my lap at least once a late night. So hopefully this will progress smoothly until  Felix and Ruki are best friends. 

Bulldog Red Eyes

Recently, Ruki's eyes have been more and more red. In the past, her eyes would get red when she's tired--and then she get crazy and run around a lot. Just like any baby, she just needed to be controlled and forced to rest and then sleep. 

I'm wondering now if her more recent red eyes might be something else. Maybe the cold? Maybe dryness? I'm thinking maybe it's dry eye... 

Updated Post on Warts with Pictures

In case you were wondering, I finally added old pictures of Ruki's lip warts that she got when she was about 7 months old. Gross, but anything for the sake of science. :)

The Value of VPI Pet Insurance

Shortly after we brought Ruki home, I decided that it might be worth it to get pet insurance. I didn't do much research, but ended up choosing the VPI Pet Insurance Superior Plan. The yearly premium ended up being $388 a year. 

Pricey, yes, but bulldogs are pricey. Over the 16 months that we've had Ruki, we've spent nearly $2,000 on vet visits. But we've received $567 back from VPI. Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but we've gotten our premium back and have the peace of mind that if something serious happens, we'll get help in the costs. And, going forward, we hope to have less vet visits as we learn more about Ruki's needs and problems and more about what we can do *before* heading to the vet. 

We spent $600 on our initial visits to the vet: the first one robbed us for $440--we just didn't know better, so afterwards we switched vets (to Fresh Pond Animal Hospital, which has been great). These were before we got insurance, so we got no help on those. 

We had Ruki spayed at 6 months--that cost us $227. VPI only covered $32 of that.  

But then Ruki had a brief seizure, had pyoderma (bumps), caught pneumonia, and then had allergies (more bumps!). Over those four visits, VPI covered about 30% of the total costs. 

Again, I don't know if this is highway robbery--I've heard that VPI is supposed to cover about 90% of your costs, but I haven't yet called and inquired about why we're not getting that much. It's just a consequence of being busy. 

The take-home? I think the VPI Insurance Superior Plan is worth it. Bulldogs are expensive, and they will have health problems.  Every little bit of help counts--especially with the added comfort that if something really serious happens, you're going to get some coverage. I'd consider maybe switching to a cheaper plan once she's "stabilized" and we understand her medical needs, but for maybe the next year or two we'll stick with this one. 

(Ruki's thanking me right now for all her vet visits; she's underneath my desk leaning on my legs.)

Bulldog Food Recommendation: California Natural's Lamb and Rice

Ruki started on Eukanuba Puppy from the breeder. Shortly after we got her, we switched her to Innova Puppy, and when she was about 9 months we switched her to Innova Adult. Then at about 14 months, she started developing allergies (and a whole host of other problems). We calmed down the allergies (with a rice and water bland diet), and then switched her to California Natural's Lamb and Rice formula.

With the Innova, one of the problems might have been exacerbated by the fact that she was wolfing down her food, with no chewing. She'd swallow the food, and then spend some time snorting and snuffling food that might have gotten caught in her trachea or nose. So it might have had something to do with the small pellet size. I looked around for larger pellet sizes, and eventually gave up. (I didn't want to switch to Royal Canin Bulldog formula--even though it has a specially shaped pellet (curved like an "s"), I wanted to stick with the Natura brand and its reputation and quality.) 

But Ruki chews her California Natural's. So it may be that the pellet size is just big enough to encourage her to do that. Or it's so tasty that she has to chew and relish the flavor. :)

And no allergies! The Innova Adult was mostly chicken and turkey. The prevailing theory seems to be that baby animals don't have a well-developed immune system, and therefore can develop allergies in the confusion of fighting off disagreeable foods. So if you expose baby animals to a wide variety of foods when they're young, they might develop allergies when they're little--as opposed to encountering these foods when they're older and can fight off any disagreeability and not develop allergies.

That's why after dogs develop allergies, you look to "novel protein" diets--meats that they might not have encountered when younger, like lamb, duck, ostrich, and buffalo. 

So the takehome: Stick with one or two proteins when they're puppies so they don't develop allergies, and consider switching to California Natural's to encourage them to chew their food.

(I have to note that Ruki's 16 months, 40 lbs, and her head's not totally grown in yet. So YMMV if you have a bigger bulldog.)

Ruki at 16 Months

Just some pictures with the new camera of Ruki at 16 months.

The Real Deal on Home Lead-Testing Kits

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released an October 2007 report that Home Lead Test Kits are Unreliable. (Link to the full report.) The CPSC conducted these tests in light of recent reports of lead in toys. I, however, am interested in them in the context of testing for surface lead in our apartment to protect my family from eating lead paint chips. (I hear lead paint tastes sweet! Mmmm...)

The take-home: My opinion is that these lead test kits are still useful in testing for exposed lead paint on your walls, doors, and sills. If you do find lead, then you have to thoroughly clean nearby surfaces and prophylactically paint over the exposed lead and keep your kids away from these areas. (See Lead-Safe Cambridge's practical recommendations on protecting your kids from lead exposure.) Here's a post from Thingamababy recommending the Homax, Hybrivet, and Abotex lead test kits from a Consumer Reports study.

Living in Massachusetts, particularly around Boston, it's nearly impossible for the average family to rent (or buy) a place that *doesn't* have lead. The rule of thumb is that if your building was built before 1978, then there's going to be lead paint on your walls. Since then, the lead paint may have been painted over multiple times. But you have to worry about places where the paint may be chipping--where windows or door jams rub, anywhere where paint is cracking. This might cause lead paint to chip and be accessible on the floor, or to turn to dust and then float around your apartment.

In September 2007, the CPSC tested four lead test kits on surfaces (1) painted with lead paint, and (2) with a coat of lead paint covered by a coat of non-leaded paint. (There was also a control with a coat of non-leaded paint.)

All of test kits detected lead in the single coat of leaded paint (0.5% lead carbonate). (The HUD threshold for lead paint is 0.5% lead.) None of the test kits "consistently" detected lead which was painted over with non-leaded paint.

The study reports that of 104 tests, 56 were false negatives--i.e., they didn't find lead when lead was there. But it's unclear as to whether the CPSC considered tests that didn't detect paint over lead paint a false negative. It sounds like this might be the case, but again it's unclear.

In that case, I'm not so worried about false negatives--so long as I can prevent my kid from chewing on the sills or picking up paint chips off the floor. The concern of the CPSC is different, however--kids are more prone to chew on toys and thus a coat of non-lead paint isn't much protection.

And so while there's always a theoretical risk for my soon-to-be infant (and my puppy), I have to calculate the practical risk: Can I find a non-leaded apartment? Can I afford a new, non-leaded apartment? Do I ask my landlord to de-lead the apartment? (They have to by law pay to move me out, pay for alternate housing, and then pay the $10-20K to de-lead the apartment. Come on. Instead, they'll evict us, and we'll spend the next months homeless and in court.)

Instead, I'm going to test doors, windows, and any cracked or chipping surfaces for lead paint. Then I'm going to thoroughly clean all these areas with wet detergents and paper towels (not cloths or sponges: read this great guide to preventing lead poisoning), and then paint or caulk over any cracked or chipping areas. And then I'm going to sleep easy--as much as I possibly can--when the baby finally comes.

On the risks of lead exposure: We spoke with a pediatrician who is extremely concerned about lead dust in the air and the risk of "mental retardation" in children. She strongly encouraged us to immediately find a de-leaded apartment, ignoring the reality of living in Cambridge/Boston. I've spoken to a pediatric cardiologist--so not specifically concentrating on lead in kids--who said the kid's gotta be eating lead chips and then you're talking a statistical drop in 1-2 IQ points. So it's all over the place.