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Hi everyone,
It's still me but with a different question about a different dog. Abby is Ozzi's 13 year old companion. She's been in great health since I got her at 2 months old, and aside from being spayed, she just sees the vet annually. Over the past couple of months, I have noticed that she gags after drinking water, and thought she had "swallowed the wrong way." Over the past week, she has been gagging after drinking and now she gags after drinking and at random times. Three days ago she started to pant excessively at rest sometimes and with exercise all the time. I brought her in to see the vet worried that she might have heart issues because I had a cat with cardiomyopathy who acted similarly.
The vet said Abby's heart and lungs sounded fine. She had no fever. Belly exam was normal. Gums were normal color. She felt Abby's neck and was able to reproduce the gag. She had a chest Xray that was normal and the airway and esophagus looked normal and patent.
The vet put Abby on an empiric trial of doxycycline 150 mg daily thinking that she might have a viral infection in her throat. I find vets often do this, and in human medicine we are told that antibiotics don't work on viral infections! Anyways, the vet said if Abby did not improve, she would need to be sedated and have a scope done to visualize the larynx to determine if she has laryngeal paralysis. Today I researched laryngeal paralysis and Abby has every symptom. I'm fairly sure this is what we are dealing with, and I found that it can be treated either with medicine or with surgery. I was wondering if anyone here has had a dog with this problem and how it was treated, outcome, etc.
Thanks,
Kevin
It's still me but with a different question about a different dog. Abby is Ozzi's 13 year old companion. She's been in great health since I got her at 2 months old, and aside from being spayed, she just sees the vet annually. Over the past couple of months, I have noticed that she gags after drinking water, and thought she had "swallowed the wrong way." Over the past week, she has been gagging after drinking and now she gags after drinking and at random times. Three days ago she started to pant excessively at rest sometimes and with exercise all the time. I brought her in to see the vet worried that she might have heart issues because I had a cat with cardiomyopathy who acted similarly.
The vet said Abby's heart and lungs sounded fine. She had no fever. Belly exam was normal. Gums were normal color. She felt Abby's neck and was able to reproduce the gag. She had a chest Xray that was normal and the airway and esophagus looked normal and patent.
The vet put Abby on an empiric trial of doxycycline 150 mg daily thinking that she might have a viral infection in her throat. I find vets often do this, and in human medicine we are told that antibiotics don't work on viral infections! Anyways, the vet said if Abby did not improve, she would need to be sedated and have a scope done to visualize the larynx to determine if she has laryngeal paralysis. Today I researched laryngeal paralysis and Abby has every symptom. I'm fairly sure this is what we are dealing with, and I found that it can be treated either with medicine or with surgery. I was wondering if anyone here has had a dog with this problem and how it was treated, outcome, etc.
Thanks,
Kevin
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