Diet, Clean Up and Being Home Alone

So, I had a friend private message me on Facebook about the post I made about the food.  I chose not to give Ferdinand food that has corn, corn products or soy in them because they can cause upset stomach and skin problems.  English Bulldogs are prone to itchy skin as is, and there was no sense in possibly adding to that.  My mom's dog, Lily, had skin issues, and after trying a ton of different foods and cortizone shots, she settled on the Diamond food brand.  

Here is a picture of the Puppy food that we are using.

I got this at the Tractor Supply Company in Washington, Pa.  I spent around $21 for an 18 pound bag.  My mom informed me that the puppy formulas are a lot more expensive than regular food, but the bigger adult brands are more reasonable.

ALERT:  THIS PART MAY BE GROSS TO READ

Ferdinand had just gotten wormed and his other first set of shots a couple days before we got him, so his poop was a bit runny.  Lynn had been feeding him Pedigree with shredded chicken on the top after she heated it up.  Since we decided that we were going to only feed him dog food, no people food, we bought the Diamond.  Since he wasn't just used to regular dog food, we added a little water to his food to soften it up a bit.  As the days have gone by, we had used less and less water, until, finally, we decided not to add water at all.  His poop is now mostly normal.  

At night, we move his bed in our room so that we can hear him if he decides to wake up and needs let out.  His first night, he slept the whole night through.  The last few nights, he's woken Derek up at 2:00am and 4:00am.  I say it's better to be woken up than have pee to clean up.

On Monday, only his second full day with us, I had a doctor's appointment, so I had no choice but to leave him home.  I was gone for about 2 hours and when I got home, he hadn't had one accident, although he did flip his food and water bowls.  I was okay with that.

Here is a great picture of him playing with all of his toys:

Yesterday was my first day at the office.  I came home at noon to check on him, and found a tiny accident in his playpen.  He only peed, but I wasn't mad because he is still only 6 weeks old and that was his first time being home alone for a long period of time.  I left the house to go back to the office around 12:45 and came home at 5:15pm.  He did not have any accidents.  I was so proud.

Here's a picture of him in his "big boy" bowls:

This is a picture of him and his Daddy working on the www.thepensblog.com:

Today, I came home at 11:45am and I opened the door to Ferdinand running at me.  He had broke out of his cage.  We have an running water bowl for the cats that allows fresh water to run constantly.  I think he drank about half of that water.  I found a little bit of pee in the hallway, but other than that, the house was fine.  I left the house at around 12:30 and didn't get home until almost 6:00pm.  He didn't have any accidents.  I was really surprised.

He's done great when we have to leave him in the day time.  Instead of using a crate, my mom bought us a playpen that can be made into any shape.  We have it in a rectangle shape so he can run around in the kitchen.  Here's a picture of his playpen.

When he does have an accident (which so far has only been a small amount of pee) we use this:

It works great to clean pee and eliminate the smell off of the linoleum, hardwood floors and carpets.  We got it at Petsmart, but I bet you can get it anywhere.  You only need a little bit...it will go a long way.

So far it's been great.  Finally, both cats are upstairs and getting used to him.  Dexter allows Ferdinand to chase him all around and doesn't mind being headbutted or nipped at.  Doakes, however, still seems to be a little leery of Ferdinand.  He will at least now, come upstairs, eat, and be in the same room as him without hissing like crazy.  Hopefully, things will continue to run smoothly.

On a final note, we are taking Ferdinand to get his second set of shots tomorrow as well as getting him microchipped.  We haven't gotten insurance for him yet, if anyone knows or can recommend good pet insurance, let us know.  You can email me at maryraewalton@gmail.com.