Maggie aspirated and got pneumonia!!!

kazzy220

..........
Jul 31, 2010
8,556
441
Grafton, OHIO
Country
England
Bulldog(s) Names
Maggie (My Angel Baby 5/31/2012). Daddy (2 years). Linus (1year). Bella (4 years)
Maggie has always been a bit "on the defensive" with her food .... gobbles it down as quick as she can as if she expects it to be eaten by one of the other dogs. It's never happened of course, Maggie has such a diva attitude that none of the other dogs come close to her!!

On this particular occasion she coughed a bit and started to do "reverse sneezing" ... I patted her on her back as if she was a child ...... (no idea if that actually helps or not). Anyway, it stopped but as soon as she continued to eat her Fromm the reverse sneezing started again. I remember distinctly saying to my husband that I hope she hadn't aspirated because if so we could be looking at pneumonia. The rest of the night she was fine, until we went to bed. During the night she woke up four more times doing this reverse sneezing and throwing up clear phlegm. We all had a bad night and in the morning she looked unhappy and tired - we all were!!!! I ended up carrying her down the stairs and out on to the grass, and again I said to Tom how I hoped that this wasn't going to be pneumonia. I left for work and a little later Tom text me and said that Maggie was playing with her bone running around and finally taking it upstairs to our bedroom where she "stashes" her toys!!! Phew .. no pneumonia ... or so I thought!!

For the next few days she was fine except for this reverse sneezing during her eating, and the occasional bits of clear phlegm that she was throwing up. However, we had just hit really bad pollen season I started to think it may just be allergies, because Tom and I were suffering so badly. I put her on benadryl and over the weekend she seemed sleepy but ok. I put the sleepiness down to the benadryl.

On Monday I picked my daughter up from school as normal and when I walked through the door I just knew that Maggie was not feeling well. I had to run back to work but Tom was on his way home and immediately took her to the vets to wait for them to fit him in. They took x-rays and they showed the lungs to be very bad ... yep she had aspirated on the food and now had pneumonia!!!

She has spent all of last night and today at the vets ... they have 24/7 care there with a vet and technicians present there all night which I was so happy about. Maggie has had a few breathing treatments and is on antibiotics and is doing VERY well. The vet commented on how surprised she was that Maggie was continuing to eat big healthy meals. Nothing gets in the way of my Maggie and her food! :yes:

Unfortunately, now that she has aspirated and had pneumonia she will always be susceptible to it happening again. So we've had to go out and get her an elevated food bowl. The measure was that the top of the bowl had to come up to the height of her chin. Maggie is only dinky so the 8" elevated bowl will reach her chin, and as the bowls inside the stand are only about 2" deep then her food will be about 6" off the floor. The elevation is to stop the aspiration. Also, she will never be allowed dry food again ... her Fromm will have to be mixed into pumpkin, cottage cheese or some soft food to bind it all together. It can never be dry!!

This has been such a shock ... and what is worse is that I still blame myself for stupidly dosing her up with Benadryl and treating her for allergies, when in fact it was pneumonia. :cry::cry:

This is a new vets that we have only just started using since we moved out here in July last year. Because Maggie's visit was an emergency we had to take whichever vet became available. It was pure luck that we not only got the vet who owns a bulldog herself, but also has the specialisation in neurology which is the problem that we have had to deal with in Maggie for the last 16 months or so. So at least one PLUS came out of this!!

Thought I would share so that others may know what to look out for .....
 

ollieivy

New member
Feb 26, 2012
416
13
Bulldog(s) Names
Oliver and Ivy Claire
oh dear!:begging: praying for maggie, and for you.
 

Bella'sMom

New member
Community Veteran
Jun 23, 2010
3,256
168
Eau Claire WI
Bulldog(s) Names
Abby 13 (RIP), Bella (6), Betsy( RIP), Frenchie: Oliver
Girl, you are the best Bully mom out there. You had no way of knowing it was more then allergies. I hope Miss Maggie is feeling better real soon.
 

cowsmom

..........
Apr 27, 2011
6,996
384
Virginia
Country
usa
Bulldog(s) Names
Sarah aka cow
oh my dear how awful for you. i so hope things get better for you and her. not the end of the world no dry kibble sarah is on canned food only it will be ok. lots of hugs to you and her and thanks for posting this so we all can learn from it. and dear do not beat yourself up about it. you did not know. how could you know unless you had had it happen to your before. she will be fine dogs adapt very well. you are a good bully mama :hug:
 

Biogirl71

Moderator
Nov 5, 2010
3,500
242
Cedar Rapids, IA
Bulldog(s) Names
Frank
Poor Maggie and poor you! That is so scary but I am glad you took her to the vet. You are a very good bullie mama...pneumonia can be difficult to recognize. We nearly missed it with my family's pug and it got so that he ended up in an oxygen tent for a day. I hope that Maggie feels better soon!
 

LucysMom

New member
Community Veteran
Feb 8, 2012
136
25
Bulldog(s) Names
Lucy(RIP) and Gizmo
hope your baby is home with you soon
 
C

Cooper11

Guest
Well lets not play the what if game! :) What if you would have never taken her to the vet and then where would she be today!! You are a good bully mommy and that is all that matters! [MENTION=4363]BrooklynStar[/MENTION] his pup had tat too! Sounds like you have a VERY nice vet!! Lucky Duck!! They are so hard to find! I am glad Miss Maggie is feeling better and she is just like Cooper nothing gets between him and his food! :) Now all we can do is know what to look for the next time and Thanks to you we all will know what to do if our bullies start having any of these symptoms. Believe my I know how you feel, feeling it is your fault. Cooper has had a bad last couple months and some of the stuff I kick myself in the butt for and Say why didn't I do that or why didn't I think of that....... O and Maggie has a very :cool: cool name!!! :yes: Good Luck!!! And thinking of you and Miss Maggie!!! :)
 

ChanelnBrutus

Snookie ain't got nuttin on me!
Feb 6, 2012
4,928
181
New Jersey
Bulldog(s) Names
Brutus (EBD 6/4/11), Chanel (Pitbull 12/23/06)
:hug: to you and Miss Maggie! Positive thoughts for a speedy recovery!
 

BrooklynStar

New member
Feb 21, 2012
300
14
Brooklyn, NY
Bulldog(s) Names
Dozer
Dozer had this, it was a very scary time for me and him. We got through it though and so will you! Although he wasn't throwing up white phlegm exclusively, it was almost always white phlegm and all of his food/water. It took around 3 weeks of TLC to get him back on his feet. It seems like your vet gave you all the right advice but when I mentioned a raised food bowl for him he suggested against it. Something about it might causing bloat in him. To this day he still eats like it his last meal and we still make him wait a few minutes to finish his meal as opposed to doing it in one sitting. That seemed to really help him. Also we bought a humidifier and used the bathroom in order to humidify it out....we would bring him in there and perform the coupage on him 3x a day. If you YouTube that you will see instructions on how to do it. That is the one thing I think which really helped him. It helped him break all of that crap off the nodules in his lungs. If you don't have a humidifier you can always hotbox your bathroom...run the shower on super hot until it gets nice and steamy and then coupage. It seemed to make him feel better and sooth his lungs. Good luck to you both!!!
 
OP
kazzy220

kazzy220

..........
Jul 31, 2010
8,556
441
Grafton, OHIO
Country
England
Bulldog(s) Names
Maggie (My Angel Baby 5/31/2012). Daddy (2 years). Linus (1year). Bella (4 years)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
Dozer had this, it was a very scary time for me and him. We got through it though and so will you! Although he wasn't throwing up white phlegm exclusively, it was almost always white phlegm and all of his food/water. It took around 3 weeks of TLC to get him back on his feet. It seems like your vet gave you all the right advice but when I mentioned a raised food bowl for him he suggested against it. Something about it might causing bloat in him. To this day he still eats like it his last meal and we still make him wait a few minutes to finish his meal as opposed to doing it in one sitting. That seemed to really help him. Also we bought a humidifier and used the bathroom in order to humidify it out....we would bring him in there and perform the coupage on him 3x a day. If you YouTube that you will see instructions on how to do it. That is the one thing I think which really helped him. It helped him break all of that crap off the nodules in his lungs. If you don't have a humidifier you can always hotbox your bathroom...run the shower on super hot until it gets nice and steamy and then coupage. It seemed to make him feel better and sooth his lungs. Good luck to you both!!!


Thanks ... and that's very good to know about the coupage.

As for the bloat ... I did bring that up to the vets but they said that bulldogs were not a breed that were particularly prone to it. Not that it couldn't happen they said ... but the danger of her aspirating again is MUCH greater than the danger of bloat.
 

JAKEISGREAT

.................
Mar 25, 2011
14,802
1,155
Southern California
Bulldog(s) Names
Jake
Ohhh Karen! I'm soo sorry..I hadn't realized this had happened to sweet Maggie. You mustn't blame yourself for an instant. You did great to recognize she needed help and get her to the vet. I bet you were..and still are..so very worried. :hug: to Maggie and her mommy too!

Fyi..my vet says Bully's ARE prone to bloat! And recommended against the raised dish for Jake.. I do use a slow feed ball and it has helped immensely...I honestly thought all deep or barrel chested breeds were at risk! :confused:
 
OP
kazzy220

kazzy220

..........
Jul 31, 2010
8,556
441
Grafton, OHIO
Country
England
Bulldog(s) Names
Maggie (My Angel Baby 5/31/2012). Daddy (2 years). Linus (1year). Bella (4 years)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #14
Ohhh Karen! I'm soo sorry..I hadn't realized this had happened to sweet Maggie. You mustn't blame yourself for an instant. You did great to recognize she needed help and get her to the vet. I bet you were..and still are..so very worried. :hug: to Maggie and her mommy too!

Fyi..my vet says Bully's ARE prone to bloat! And recommended against the raised dish for Jake.. I do use a slow feed ball and it has helped immensely...I honestly thought all deep or barrel chested breeds were at risk! :confused:


I know ... I get all this conflicting information and just don't know what to do anymore!!! She is at risk from aspirating and pneumonia though so she's got the raised bowl. I'm just going to have to look out for all the signs of bloat too. The link brucep gave me gave ways to help stop bloat and apart from the raised bowl we are doing all of those already. :pray:
 
C

Cooper11

Guest
Thanks ... and that's very good to know about the coupage.

As for the bloat ... I did bring that up to the vets but they said that bulldogs were not a breed that were particularly prone to it. Not that it couldn't happen they said ... but the danger of her aspirating again is MUCH greater than the danger of bloat.

I don't know if you read gunnyboys post about how Gunny died but he or maybe it was Connie [MENTION=4471]Gunnys Mom[/MENTION] put a website up of what all causes bloat and if you haven't read it I suggest you do....I was shocked and learned a lot..... @JAKEISGREAT what slow feed ball did you get??? Right now I am using the ghetto version and i have an oversized tennis ball in his dish and it does slow him down but I would like to get one that is made for the purpose....
 

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