Trancing Causes Stress?
Our beloved 8 year old male bully Bikkel is currently in intensive care due to a massive ulcer which extends from his throat to his stomach. He showed no symptoms of illness until 4 weeks ago, but our vet reckons that this has been developing for months (typical result of the high pain threshold problem I'm afraid).
This is my 4th bully, all of whom have tranced in the garden or round the table - I guess that a lot of you know about this. My concern now is that the vet has told me that there is now a school of thought that trancing is actually displaying anxiety and stress which in turn can lead to the development of ulcers. Has anyone out there heard of this before? Quite scary from our viewpoint as we have allowed him to do this for years. Any info welcome Many thanks Pete
This is my 4th bully, all of whom have tranced in the garden or round the table - I guess that a lot of you know about this. My concern now is that the vet has told me that there is now a school of thought that trancing is actually displaying anxiety and stress which in turn can lead to the development of ulcers. Has anyone out there heard of this before? Quite scary from our viewpoint as we have allowed him to do this for years. Any info welcome Many thanks Pete
Comments
The other day I seen one of the new Corvette Stingrays parked at a store and trust me I was in deep trance. I'm in high hopes all my staring hasn't endangered my health in any way.
On a serious note, as common as it is to hear about the BT breed having several people note the act of trancing you'd think they'd have already associated it with those BT's that display high levels of stress and anxiety. However, usually the BT's with stress and anxiety are the ones that are high strung and hard to manage. I would think the BT's that find themselves in a deep state of trancing would be more calm and relaxed. I could be wrong because, once again, I have not experienced a BT that had this issue.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
Pgreid...I'm sure you are very worried about your bull terrier. While I'm not sure if stress causes trancing, I do think trancing is something to be addressed. The people in here are NOT trying to make light of your concerns. What we have learned is Vets are not always 'in tune' or 'schooled' on BT behaviors.
I will say my preyers for your 8 yr old BT.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
I understand that some of you have concerns about the vet's comments and that perhaps he was trying to find an easy answer for the problem of the ulcer. I have to say that he has been a wonderful vet over the years who really loved our Bikkel. His parents were BT breeders, so he grew up with them and really does understand them. The fact that we had to drive over 10 miles to get to him every time Bikkel needed attention might show how much we appreciated him.
I talked to him last night after Bikkel was gone and he explained a bit more about his comments on trancing. I got it wrong. He said that some vets now believe that trancing is a Bully's way of relieving stress, not that trancinig in itself caused stress. However, he did say that knowing Bikkel as well as he did, he could not believe for a moment that he had a stress issue and neither can we. Bikkel would quite often be lying fast asleep in the garden and then suddenly waken up, 'trance 'under our legs and then proceed to the bamboo where he would spend many a happy hour standing stock still - this could be broken quite easily by a shake of the cookie jar and he would bound into the kitchen looking for a treat.
Oh dear, the place seems so empty without him here. No more snoring from the hallway, no more fights to get him off the couch, no more cold nose poking under the newspaper looking for attention. Time will heal we know and then we'll start looking for Bully number 5 - the vet has already mentioned a two year old looking for a new home...........................!
I think I know exactly what you are feeling right now and it is not a fun place at all. I always hate to admit this, because it makes my "human" relationships look smaller than they are, but when we lost our last 14 year old EBT I felt that the loss was FAR more significant than any human loss that we had experienced.
It takes time to get over and I wish you strength and hope you embark on the search for number 5 as soon as you are able... Number 5 will never replace your boy, but will sure as heck bring joy to your life.
Our Bullies are only here for a short time, it's amazing how much effect they have on us during a relatively small window.
If you do decide to add #5 to your family, please share the experience here with us on this forum.
Again, sorry to hear of your loss.