admin answers:

This is an excellent article about caring for a dog with kidney failure:
http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html
The last link is concerning loss of appetite.
I will be praying for you and Sable.

Added:
http://www.vetprof.com/clientinfo/KidneyDiseaseInDogs/diet.htm
This site recommends a couple of helpful books, as well as homemade diets. You can find those books on Amazon, or order at any bookstore.

admin answers:

I doubt that you can get rid of the neighbor, so you need to keep his cats out of your yard.
One of the things cats are fussy about is getting wet. Water is “kryptonite for cats.” Getting wet seems to be a phobia for them.
When you see the cats in the forbidden area, you can try hosing them down with a Super Soaker or similar water gun. They will realize that they are unwanted in your yard.

But if that doesn’t work, you can go hi-tech. Devices such as Scarecrow Sprinklers detect an intruder’s presence and fire a blast of water at it.
You can turn the scarecrow off when you and the pup want to go out.
You will find the scrarecrow at any good garden supply, or online. ( they always have them on eBay and Amazon)
Here are the reviews for the Scarecrow:
http://landscaping.about.com/od/helpforconsumers1/gr/scarecrow.htm

If you can’t set up a Scarecrow, you might try one of the commercial cat repellents. One is a powder called, “Shake-Away.” Shake-Away bears the scent of the urine of predators that cats fear, namely, the coyote, the fox and the bobcat. This commercial cat repellent comes in a granular form, which you simply sprinkle around the problem area. The product is advertised as being organic, making it an acceptable option to use around children and pets. Nor will it harm your plants.
Here is more about it, and it runs $14-15:
http://www.critter-repellent.com/cat/cat-repellant.php
They carry it at Petsmart, but I also found it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Shake-Away-9002020-Repellent-Coyote/dp/B001ACRPMI

admin answers:

I’m an English bulldog mom and a dog rescuer.

If a food has wheat, corn, excessive meals (ashy versions especially), soy, preservatives, etc, its a bad food, plain and simple.

With bulldogs, Innova is a great choice. They seem to do best on this food, over Wellness or Merrick’s (two other highly favored brands by discerning health conscious pet owners), although my Saint Bernard does well on all three of the brands I just mentioned. With bulldogs, keeping those folds clean starts with food. We feed Innova, twice a day (you can feed 3 times a day if you are home for it, but typically twice a day is a good option–once a day is too rough on tummies!), along with Nupro supplement (we use the silver label Nupro for the extra joint health support, as most joint health support pills give bullies the runs!), a tablespoon of yogurt (with active cultures) a day to help digestive and intestinal issues as well as keeping yeast balanced to keep folds clean, and 400 IU of Vitamin E daily.

Typically, Innova runs about $40-45 for a 33 pound bag. It can be found in many specialty pet stores and can also be bought online on Amazon.com for a bit extra.

If it gives you an idea as to how good Innova really is, I’ll share this story.

Our bulldog is a little stinker. He’s a big chewer, a hard chewer, and he has been known to destroy most toys. We only supply him with Durable Nylabones and the black (super strong) Kong toys. We tried a new version of a kong type bone by Nylabone that was originally packaged stating that it was “for really strong chewers, indestructible” (they no longer make these claims). We gave the bone to our bully, and sat on the couch to keep an eye on him. Within seconds, he pulled a piece of the bone off and swallowed it down. When we examined the bone, it looked as though he has swallowed very little (it was hard to tell because of the bones unusual bumps and shapes).

He ended up with severe bowel obstruction, that was first missed by our old vet (we’ve switched since then–nothing personal, but they were too busy with the reproductive side of the business to deal with more vet care based issues), and he was truly near death by the time we took him (for the second time) to the emergency vet. They put him into surgery immediately.

The surgeon came out and asked us (almost pleadingly) what we fed him on a regular basis. We told him: Innova, Nupro, yogurt, and Vitamin E. He said that he would be changing his own dogs from Wellness to our routine, and most of his staff changed as well. He told us that had our bulldog not been as healthy as possible, as a result of his excellent food regimen, he wouldn’t have made it through the first cut. He recovered from the surgery in record time and was back home in perfect health before anyone thought he’d be able to get off the IV. The surgeon we had (as well as all of the other vets we use) is world-renowned, and in the top of his field. I figure, if he says we owe it all to the food, then who are we to argue? We’ve sent our thanks to Innova and Nupro, and even to the company that makes the yogurt we use. (We use only full-fat, plain, organic yogurt from Horizon–low fat or non-fat give a lot of dogs the runs, including ours.)

All this being said, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision for your bully babies. Good luck, and I hope I’ve give you some good information to work with. It literally makes me teary to think of our baby boy, clinging to me pitifully like a koala bear while I sat in the patient room for the emergency vet to come in, and the only thing that makes me feel better is remembering that he is okay now and it is all thanks to the good people who make his food.

**Added note:

I’m happy to help! You (or anyone) are welcome to email me directly if you have specific questions or would like some advice. There aren’t many bully issues I haven’t dealt with or heard of, and if there are, I have a great support network of other experienced bully owners I can ask.

Just in case you haven’t done a food switch before, here’s the rule of thumb. If you have, and you already know this, feel free to ignore! 🙂

First day: 1/4 new food, 3/4 old food. Second day: 1/2 new food, 1/2 old food. Third day: 3/4 new food, 1/4 old food. Fourth day: all new food.

If your bully has major tummy upset issues, however, I recommend a 1/8 change process. (First day: 1/8 new food, 7/8 old food, Second day: 2/8 (1/4) new food, 6/8 (3/4) old food, etc etc).

After the food change is complete, give it about 2 weeks to see real changes. It won’t be immediate and will take almost a month to really show the drastic change, but within 2 weeks the poops should firm up again if they were soft during the change, and an improvement in skin and folds should show themselves.

Good luck!