Elongated Palette?lola's Having Trouble Breathing

[he'smyhero]

Lately, for the past week or so, Lola has had attacks of what seems her not being able to breath- she starts snorting and trying to suck air in but can't they only last about 10-30 seconds but sometimes she will start to drool. It usually happens when she gets excited but she did wake me up a couple of nights ago doing it. Does this sound like it could be an elongated palette? She is an "Aussie Bulldog" I know this condition is rather common in Brachy breeds.

Is it normal for it to come out of no where like this? She's almost 3 and never had any problems before?

How much is it to treat- what do they do?

If not an elongated palette what else could it be?

It's pretty scary- she really is struggling to breath when these attacks come on and every time I'm just waiting for her to keel over!

Please note this is not my dog but my sister's (who I live with) if it were Hero we would have been to the vet immediately!

[~Anne~]

Yes, it could be 'reverse sneezing', 'goosehonking' and every other name given to the condition.

Sometimes the condition can be brought on by allergies, dry air and other things. The only way to determine if everything is ok is have it Vet checked. Having said that, I would say that 99% of every Pug I have ever had anything to do with suffers from this and most have no ill effects from it.

Edited to answer you other questions. If it is an elongated palate and it is an issue they will do a resection of the palate. They will cut the palate back so it doesn't obstruct the air way. The operation can be expensive though and many dogs who have elongated palates also have everted laryngeal saccules which are corrected at the same time.

Edited April 21, 2008 by PugRescueSydney

[he'smyhero]

She does do the "reverse sneezing" thing on occasion bit it will just be one or two- these are going for a lot longer then that and I'm more worried about her passing out or something! This sounds more like her struggling to get air in and not being able to get it out- the first time I thought maybe she had sucked something up her nose but we've had a look and can't see anything.

I know she will need a trip to the vet- it's just convincing my sister to take her

[Clyde]

Mildred needed her palette done. I don't know alot about it though and would guess? that a palette problem wouldn't suddenly be a problem. I would guess that an elongated palette would be obvious from a pup. Unless the dog in question has upped their exercise or excitement regime

If I were you I would find a vet familiar with the Aussies or British, as what would seem abnormal to some vets is quite the norm for those more familiar with the breed.

Mildreds palette was cauterised when she was desexed, so not sure of exact cost, sorry. She didn't do the reverse sneezing thing - just sounded as though she had a grunty form of emphysema 24/7.

[he'smyhero]

When she was a pup the vet said it was possible it could become a problem for her as she matures as they checked it out while she was under getting desexed. But I would have thought that would be while she was growing/developing and being 3 she is finished that!

She hasn't been doing anything different- if anything less because it's been raining and she just sleeps all day! And she did have an attack in the middle of the night while fast asleep.

Did Mildred (love the name BTW!) have problems with snoring? Or running out of puff quickly while exercising?

[Clyde]

She couldn't exercise full stop, lol. She would run two metres and I felt like I needed to give her an oxygen mask.

I only took her on in January but knew within 24 hours that her pallette was an issue. Hers was pretty severe though (the biggest the 'Bulldog vet' had ever seen).

[lucknow]

Coming a little from left field here but one of my dogs had very similiar symptoms during a bout of kennel cough.

Whatever it is I hope it is simple to fix.