Dear Dr. Forsythe: I have an 11-month-old American Bulldog, Melody, who is my best girl. She has all her vaccines, but I am trying to decide whether or not to breed her so I still haven’t gotten her fixed. But I wanted to ask you a professional question. She has pink fur under her eyes. It looks like she has been crying all the time, and her tear stains are pink. It really looks bad, and people are always wondering and asking me why it is so pink there. My vet says it is an allergy, but never did anything about it. What do you think it could be?
– Alfred, Customs Agent, O’hare Airport, Chicago
Dear Alfred: First of all I have to say that I admire the breed you chose. American Bulldogs are lively and fun, not to mention spunky. The big white heads with some dark on them (often) are too cute to be real, but those pink stains can be quite unsightly. While it is true that your veterinarian may be on the right track with a tentative diagnosis of allergy, there are some other things you should have him (or her) rule out as well. Other causes of excessive tearing in the bulldog can be from infection, blocked tear ducts, or absent tear ducts (a congenital abnormality). In addition, many Bulldogs suffer from the eye problems known as entropion and dystichia. Entropion is an inward rolling of the eyelids which causes the eyelashes to rub against the cornea or “windshield” of the eye. Dystychia is a condition in which there are extra tiny misplaced eyelashes along the inner portion of the eyelids that rub against the cornea. These conditions can lead to tremendous pain and chronic discomfort in the dog, excessive tearing, and eventually other problems in the eye, such as cloudiness or corneal ulcers. I recommend a thorough re-examination by your veterinarian, and you may want to consider. It is possible that some allergy medications would be helpful. If the tear ducts are blocked, they can be unplugged somewhat easily. There is also a medication that many doctors use quite successfully called Tylosin that can be placed in the dog’s food–a tiny pinch twice daily often clears up the redness in the facial fur very quickly. I hope this information helps you and that Melody is singing a happy tune really quick.
– Dr. F
Dear Dr. Forsythe: Our cat eats rats, mice and almost anything else it can find that moves around outdoors. Wiley even brought in a pigeon one day and left it on the back porch. I wanted to know if would mind telling us why he is so finicky about which brand of food we feed him. He will only eat canned salmon flavor cat food and Friskies dry. If we buy anything else, he looks at the bowl and then looks at us like we just committed a crime. I don’t see why he is willing to eat anything that moves from lizards to snakes. He will eat anything that moves, but it is almost as if he can read the packages that we buy. Have you ever heard of this?
– Wiley’s perplexed owners
Dear Owners: I am wondering if you are new to the cat world. For this is very easy to answer. You have a cat!! Now cats are pretty easy to understand once you get inside their minds and their psyches. Your Wiley is out for the hunt. He is proving that he can catch anything, from mammals to birds, reptiles and probably even butterfies. Oh sure, he loves to take a munch out of those prizes to show you that he is the king of the jungle. Most likely he eats part of the kill and leaves the rest as a trophy to show you that he is in charge. Does this ring a bell?
In terms of his behavior INSIDE the home, he probably prides himself on the intense training he has put you through in order to make sure that you understand exactly what he likes and doesn’t like to eat (and WHEN, I presume). Many cats adhere to strict feeding schedules and protocols, and when humans neglect to “get with the program”, all feline hell breaks loose. No, I don’t think Wiley can actually read, but he can tell the difference between his name brand food and a cheap knock off. If I were you, I would accept this phenomenon as normal cat behavior: cat superiority and ownership of the household is akin to socks vanishing from the dryer – it will always happen and will never be fully explained to the rest of us mere mortals. Just enjoy your magnificent cat, buy him the food he likes; put a little bell on his collar to make his “hunting” more challenging, and accept the fact the he is a magical and mystical pussy cat. Why swim upstream when you can simply marvel at his mastery?
– Dr. F
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