Raspy Breathing, Losing Weight, Vet's unsure

Leyth

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Sep 2, 2014
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Turbo
Hey everyone,

We have another issue with Turbo and no one can figure out what it is.

The symptoms:
- Raspy breathing (you can hear the phlegm, but it doesn't sound like its in his lungs.)
- Lost weight, but still eating normally. He used to float around 54-55, he's now 43 lbs.
- Yellow mucus on his nose, his nose isn't really black anymore.
- He coughs up water and food or at least gags on it after eating/drinking.

He still tries to play, but can't because it makes him gag, but he is attempting to play so I don't think he feels completely awful. He was just on two sets of antibiotics. Clavamox which is for sinus infections I think? The second antibiotic was a broader antibiotic, but we've noticed no difference. It is always worse when he wakes up from being asleep. Does anyone have any idea or has experienced something similar?

My personal opinion is he still has a sinus infection or allergies. However, the weight loss doesn't make sense to me. He is gagging and throwing up, but in the past week he only coughed up like 2 nuggets because I have been making him sit after he eats and drinks so it goes down properly. I weighed him yesterday.
 

nycbullymama

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Dec 22, 2012
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b and w
Acid reflux, soft palate issues, upper respiratory infection (that could of been caused by allergies), inflamed trach. None of these would explain the weight loss though.

Did he have a chest x-ray done?
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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agree with Ellie's ;ist... all those things can be the issue.... have you taken him to a different vet for a second opinion?
 
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Leyth

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Turbo
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agree with Ellie's ;ist... all those things can be the issue.... have you taken him to a different vet for a second opinion?

I have not, a co worker recommended I do that. I am going to call today and make an appointment.

He did have a soft palate surgery in May, can that be ruled out? Or could their be complications regarding to the surgery that could cause this?
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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I have not, a co worker recommended I do that. I am going to call today and make an appointment.

He did have a soft palate surgery in May, can that be ruled out? Or could their be complications regarding to the surgery that could cause this?

could be complications.... my Frenchie has to have his done a second time due to the scar tissue blocking the air way
 
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Leyth

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So, I ended up taking him in and the vet performed many tests.

They initially thought he might have mega-esophagus. They did a barium test to see if his esophagus is managing to push things to the stomach. They showed me the X-ray and all of the barium was pushed to the stomach with no problem which seems to have ruled out mega-esophagus from being a possible issue. They also performed blood tests and all of that came back fine. The vet at this point is not sure what is wrong with him. He recommended I take him to the university for some video machine which sounded pretty extensive. I am waiting to hear back from the vet to see how much that is going to cost or if it is still a good idea.

From September until now, he has gone from 58lbs to 40lbs. He has been home for about a week now and has maybe eaten a quarter bowl of food. He had a little bit of water, and he did not regurgitate it up, but it was such a small amount of water. I can still hear the mucus when he breaths, he's still very raspy. I have also seen some mucus in his stool. At this point, he doesn't really have a stool since he's not eating. The vet also mentioned something about his barking. His barking sounds really weird and dry now, and there could be an issue with his vocal cord. However, if the vet has no idea what to do next, then I have absolutely no idea what to do.

I know from my descriptions he sounds like he's really struggling, but he still has a lot of life left in him. He still acts like a puppy, all he wants to do is play and run. It's just this one unusual issue that is holding him back and it is driving me crazy(in fact, even though he isn't eating and drinking, he still grabs his toys and plays, I have no idea where this energy is coming from if he's not eating).
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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So, I ended up taking him in and the vet performed many tests.

They initially thought he might have mega-esophagus. They did a barium test to see if his esophagus is managing to push things to the stomach. They showed me the X-ray and all of the barium was pushed to the stomach with no problem which seems to have ruled out mega-esophagus from being a possible issue. They also performed blood tests and all of that came back fine. The vet at this point is not sure what is wrong with him. He recommended I take him to the university for some video machine which sounded pretty extensive. I am waiting to hear back from the vet to see how much that is going to cost or if it is still a good idea.

From September until now, he has gone from 58lbs to 40lbs. He has been home for about a week now and has maybe eaten a quarter bowl of food. He had a little bit of water, and he did not regurgitate it up, but it was such a small amount of water. I can still hear the mucus when he breaths, he's still very raspy. I have also seen some mucus in his stool. At this point, he doesn't really have a stool since he's not eating. The vet also mentioned something about his barking. His barking sounds really weird and dry now, and there could be an issue with his vocal cord. However, if the vet has no idea what to do next, then I have absolutely no idea what to do.

I know from my descriptions he sounds like he's really struggling, but he still has a lot of life left in him. He still acts like a puppy, all he wants to do is play and run. It's just this one unusual issue that is holding him back and it is driving me crazy(in fact, even though he isn't eating and drinking, he still grabs his toys and plays, I have no idea where this energy is coming from if he's not eating).


Did they run all the test for parisites too... giardia included? And, his palate is fine?
 

RiiSi

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Have they checked his pancreas?
 
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Leyth

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Turbo
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I'm not sure, let me call them and have them forward me the test results. However, would any of those explain the regurgitating?

Also, do you think it could be his food? He's been on Royal Canin Bulldog formula all his life.
 

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