My husband and I bought a English Bulldog in March 2008. We did everything that Breeders Direct said we needed to do once he arrived. We noticed just a couple of months in our puppy was have some difficulty breathing. Of course we took him to the vet who told us the problem was a chest cold. We had the vet do a physical when he first arrived without trouble, and continued throughout the year with all his shots. A short time after the cold dignosis we had him back at the vet for increased difficulty with his breathing. They listened to his lungs but didn't hear any problem. Just to be sure we had them do a chest xray which showed pnumonia and was advised to see a Bulldogs specialist because something just didn't look right on the films.
We took our puppy to see the closest vet that delt mainly with Bulldogs which was over 100 miles away. The doctor there told his trechia was three times smaller that normal and he had an elongated pallet blocking most of the rest of his throat. $800 and four hours later we were taking him home to recouperate. One month later we had him back at the specialists with labored breathing. We were told then he needed to have surgery again because there was additional skin inside the throat giving him trouble, and on top of that, he needed his tonsils removed ASAP. $950 and a day later we were taking him home again. Two months later his one eye was tearing excessivly, so back to the expert. Our puppy needed both eyes operated on because his tear ducts were i the wrong place, and they were blocked. So the following week we brought him in for the surgery. $500 and a couple hours and back home we went.
The next few months were fine and our puppy was happy and playing with the rest of the family. Then one Thursday I noticed he kept running around acting like something was biting him. The next day we had an appointment with our neighborhood vet who told us he had a very bad rash under his tail that looks infected, but our puppy would'nt let anyone near it, so in order to fix it they would have to sedate him. $300 and a couple of hours we were walking back to our house.(right accross the street). After an hour to walk across the street, and another hour to come up the steps he just sat in the living room. Not laying down, but not standing up. Just slumped over. He just din't seem to wake up completly after the sedation. He was so bad the one time he did want to drink so water he had to lay his head on the side of the bowl and drop his tounge in the water.
We watched him all night hoping he would snap out of it. However the following morning he was drooling blood. we call across the street to the vet hospital which had us bring him in ASAP. Within an hour of him in the emergency vet with them working on him the entire time he died
After we composed ourselves we called Breeders Direct to find out what we needed to do to follow through with the 100% guaruntee. vWe followed their directions and faxed them ALL the information from his entire medical history, which was substantial. If you are familiar with their guaruntee guidlines, to be 100% we would have to show that the puppy was continuously sick from genetic or hereditary disease. The vet could not say for certain the cause of death so Breeders Direct said they would only cover 50%. We even had our puppys xrays sent to the leading experts in the vet field, Virginia University which could not say the cause of death and hd those finding sent to Breeders Direct which would not change their decision. We have had six English Bulldogs in our family throughout the years with varied medical issues, none can close to the medical problem we encounted with this puppy in one years time.