Adopted Bullmastiff - questions about food and entropion surgery (cross-post)

[SDMomma]

Hi everyone! I am SO glad that I found this site! I recently adopted a bullmastiff from a military family that didn't have enough time for her. (Their loss, my gain) While I have wanted a bullmastiff for almost 10 years now, I am still very new to the breed and welcome any information. My girl is 20 months old and has an AMAZING temperament. She is great with my small dog (shih Tzu) and my young son!! I can't believe that I waited so long to finally get a bullmastiff, but I think we were meant to be paired together! We have renamed her Juno (her original name Macy, was too close to my sister's name - Stacy, who happens to be staying with us for awhile). So for the questions - Juno's previous owners were feeding her blue buffalo wilderness puppy, they were feeding her 3cups 3x per day and were not allowing free water for fear of bloat. That actually sounded a *little crazy* to me, for a dog that is over 1 year old, but again I am new to the breed. I immediately eliminated her lunch meal. I switched her to Diamond Naturals Lamb & Rice for large breeds, but her stool has not formed all the way. It was formed about halfway thru the transition of food, but then became loose again. I also wonder if the 6c/day I am feeding is too much... I realize that there are MILLIONS of food threads and I did my best to read a lot of them. Which made me realize that Diamond Naturals may not be the *Best* food I could choose. I would still like to find the most economical food, but I do realize that a little more $$ up front can pay off in the end with less feedings and smaller output LOL!. I was leaning towards TOTW Sierra (also a Diamond formula), but am up for suggestions. Next, I did take Juno to the vet as her eyes have been watering something terrible, and half of her right eye is cloudy. She is scheduled for entropion surgery bright and early Monday morning=(. But I know this will be for the best and she will be in a LOT less pain! The vet has to do both eyelids on both eyes. Does anyone have any experience with this surgery and have any tips on things I can do to keep her comfortable during her recovery period? Thanks for any information, I look forward to getting to know you... and seeing pictures of all the beautiful mastiffs out there! -Shelly

 

[musicdeb]

I responded to your other post.

 

[Effie]

I'm sure your vet will tell you how to make her more comfortable. Just having the surgery will make a world of difference and it is totally necessary. We had our son's Bullmastiff's eyelids done by our veterinarian for entropian when he was about a year old -- our son told us that he had an "eye infection" for a couple of months, but the minute I saw him I knew it was much more serious than that (he couldn't even see anymore and was running into walls) and I took him home with me and took him to my vet immediately. Our vet was really upset that it had been ignored so long and scheduled him for surgery the next day (they would have done it the same day but my daughter-in-law didn't know if he had eaten that day or not). The stitches looked terrible but healed up beautifully. He was was MUCH more comfortable immediately, as he had been in a lot of pain up until that point. A year later we ended up "rescuing" him from our son, and i always loved the the little "teardrop" shape that the surgery left in his eyes -- they leave a little "divot" underneath so tears can drain more easily.