Couple emptied their savings, but could not save their dog

French bulldog Wangcai started life with a slew of chronic health issues.

- Judith Tan

First-time dog owners Jackie See and Judyvein Cheng bought the male dog as a four-month-old puppy in 2018 for $4,800 from a local backyard breeder.

Soon the married couple discovered Wangcai had mites, stomach issues, a yeast infection and rashes.

"As first-time pet owners, we felt anxious and helpless. We kept going to the vet to find out what was wrong and constantly switched from premium kibbles to a hypoallergenic diet from the clinic. We spent between $2,000 and $3,000 (on the vet visits and food), but his condition did not improve," Ms Cheng, an event organiser, told The Straits Times.

Wangcai was also given cytopoint, an antibody used to treat atopic dermatitis, a chronic condition he was diagnosed with which causes dry, itchy and inflamed skin, but his condition worsened.

"He was scratching more and that led to some open sores and bleeding every day. He also developed hives, redness in his groin, '‘armpit' area and between his toes, rashes on his belly, fur loss and scabs and dandruff-like flakes," Ms Cheng said.

"We realised we were treating the symptoms, not going to the root of the skin issue. The medication was affecting his immune system, and realising what we had put our baby through, I cried," she added.

After the vet said that Wangcai had to go back once every two weeks for the cytopoint injection, which cost around $400 each, and would be on antihistamine for the next six months, she and her event emcee husband felt that Wangcai had had enough medication.

They looked into changing his diet instead. After six months of trial and error, the couple settled on a diet that seemed to suit him.

When Wangcai was around two years old, his health turned around he stopped scratching incessantly and "became a normal dog". And the couple was $10,000 poorer.

"We went through 12 years of craziness. It was a steep learning curve providing care to Wangcai.