NCL in American Bulldogs

For some time many breeders have had unexplained offspring that would have extremely odd symptoms that would include loss of moblity and co-ordination.

There did not appear to have any physical pain in the dogs but lets not forget this is a bulldog and they are without a doubt still quite stoic when it comes to pain.

The NCL itself usually would begin in the back legs and as teh disease would progress it would force the dogs back legs to widen when at rest and would eventually increase up to the front legs.

The dogs would exhibit some mucle twitching when asleep but there would be no major loss of muscle tone in the affected bulldogs.

This is a genetic disease and it is passed as a Autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Or it has be be present in both parents for an offspring to get it. That stated if only one parent has it the offspring may still be a carrier. So testing in certain poulations of American Bulldogs is necessary to ensure this is not engrained in our breed.

Tick season is here for the dogs...be warned

I just pulled the first tick of the season.

It was on MY leg not on of of the dogs and thank god he was just crawling up my calf as i was standing still and felt the familiar movement of this blood sucking critter.

I have decided to add some information on how to remove Ticks from a dog or from a human.

While searching how to remove a tick from a dog i noticed something quite interesting. It appears as though there as many "expert" ways to remove a tick as there are ticks.

I have read "use rubbing alcohol" "smother with Vaseline" "fingernail polish" "twisting clockwise" "twisting counterclockwise" "hot match" "hot needle" All of these methods appear to work because many people are quite sincere about the results. I have used a tool i found in europe to remove the tick and it grabs the head and your suppsed to turn it clocwise. I knwo this works because i removed about 30 last year alone. I have decided to start svaing them all in a bottle of alcohol justto keep track and to offer them to the local health authority for testing.

I always make sure to clean the area where they latched on with a disinfecting liquid or alcohol.

American Bulldogs that are outside needto be checked every day for Ticks and other parasites and the inside dogs are checked everytime they come inside the house.

Prevetitive methods are also available and you shoudl speak with your vet for more detailed information and expert opinions.