Any of you guys have/had a dog with this problem? Appears to be a somewhat common problem in larger dogs, largely Labs. We have an 85pd, 8-9 yr old Cane Courso/Lab mix who is starting to exhibit this. Kind of depressing given his predecessor was a 90lb Chocolate we had to put down when he was 12-13 due to the same problem.

For those that don't know of it, it's an area on each side of their throat that comes together to close off, preventing food from entering their airway, I suppose we have the same thing. Problem is it begins to stop opening causing a cough/gag action.

We already know what happens toward the end, however the Vet has explained the surgery option to essentially pin one side open. No more gagging/coughing but they could get a good particle in their lungs, causing pneumonia and host of other things.

Just hate this is happening again...

Charlie

just put my 14 yr chocolate lab old down last week from it.....What the surgeons dont tell you its a 50/50 chance of it being successful.....She started showing signs of it around 10 years old..I switched her to soft food at 10 and seemed to help..Yes they are very succeptible to food getting in the lungs as well as no more swimming....Not sure this helps but just my experience....Its been a tough week since her passing...

Thanks for the reply, very sorry to hear of your dogs passing, tough to lose a family member. How did i manifest itself the last couple years? Our previous dog was clearly gagging for air it seemed, right now, we're at more of a cough with a very mild gag-type reflex. I think we're going to just do what we can for it and see where it goes no collars, probably should make the food switch too.

Charlie

We lost ours the week before Christmas and she had it. I don't actually know what happened but she crashed in less than 18 hours and by the end she couldn't stand on her own. I suspected the breathing would be the death of her but I think it was either heart or stroke of some nature. It did make it where she wasn't able to swim the last year of her life.

Best dog I ever had and really think she was my once in a lifetime dog folks talk about. She would've been 13 in a couple of weeks, she was diagnosed somewhere around 11 and made it another 18 months or so. We looked into the tie back but her breathing never got bad enough where we thought that was necessary. We did discuss it and decided we wouldn't do it...the recovery isn't easy and from my research it was pretty much signing up for pneumonia as a cause of death...because it is a cycle of getting it and recovering from it until they just can't fight it off any longer. So we decided when the breathing got bad enough for the tie back we would make a decision at that time. She was babied and we really managed things based upon her breathing...example, we had a dog door and in the summer we wouldn't allow her free reign outside because she could over heat easier and we also dropped the temp in the house for her to breathe easier.

Worst part of owning them, good luck.

Lost one in January that had been diagnosed with it. He had other issues as well gall bladder, later we found 3 masses in his chest as well that when first diagnosed with LP did not show up on sonogram or x-Ray. Jojo was 14 when we lost him. Now knowing what we do there were multiple things wrong but During his last year daily low dose steroids' did improve his breathing some and gave us a bit longer with him than we would have had.

It is a tough condition to see you buddy going through. I took a cheap table from a resale shop and cut it off for a good bowl height for water and food for him and there were times with the other stuff going on I spoon fed him which he decided he liked the interaction of that (think SPOILED BOY) but hw was worth the spoiling.

Still miss him every day and will for a long time. His last day with us he warned me of a low blood sugar, something he picked up on his own and he was very good at it. He was always taking care of me until the end.

Just Had to put our Lab down last month. She had kidney failure. She would have turned 6 on Tuesday the 1st of March. We didn't have enough time with her. Sorry for y'alls loss.

So sorry to hear about the problem. Hope things work out and I never heard of the issue

Judd/Kmon

We’re your’s Chocolate’s also?

I’ve always had the mindset that we have to help them as they can’t do for themselves, which translated means when it’s time, it’s just time. I won’t have a dog I own suffer due to a hard decision. The Lab was 13, one blown knee (we had already repaired the other, $5k), arthritis and so on, so it was the right decision.

This guy is 8’ish and otherwise in very good health. Hadn’t done it all day… 3 times last 15 minutes. 😕 I guess we’ll take advice on what you guys did and just see.

Thanks
Charlie

Yes sir. Good luck, 8 is way too young. I agree with you 100% on not letting them suffer. Vet said she would go until morning and get her in then, I paid the Sunday after hours rate, no sense not to…I at least owed her that.

I think kmons was a great looking Brittany Spaniel, he posted a tribute/obit not long ago.

Thanks... odd this has Chocolate as a commonality vs just random larger dog and with me a random mix (Cane/Lab).

Charlie

Mine was a Brittney, so no commonality on the breed or color for him.