Help Needed! I'm going crazy - Australian Bulldog with digestion/breathing issues.

Hannie1989

New member
Jul 2, 2015
4
0
Country
Australia
Bulldog(s) Names
Diego
Hello Everyone,
Firstly thank you so much for taking time to read this, i hope you can help because i feel like i am going insane.

I have a gorgeous 18 month old Australian Bulldog - Called Diego.
In his short life so far he has had numerous surgeries to remove:
- elongated soft pellet and tonsils (approx 6 months ago)
This surgery changed his life: He can now run 200+ metres and not gag/throw up.
- 1 laryngeal saccule (that had turned inside out, 2 weeks ago)

Although he has had all these surgeries and looks healthy, he is still gagging/throwing up mixes of white foam and food about once a day. I am now at a stage where i feel as though my dogs diet/stomach issues are driving us crazy.

He is on a relatively low fat diet, eating as close to natural cooked food as possible, as he also has undignosed mild pancreatitis/sensitive stomach. He eats twice a day, about a fist size portion of wet food and has dry food to nibble on throughout the day.

His breathing is relatively fine, I mean he does snore and the like but nothing that causes him damage or no issues with breathing.

After all these surgeries I was hoping the gagging would hopefully stop as although it isn't causing him great distress i can not imagine it to be a good feeling and its just in general annoying.

I have started to look at Brachycephalic Syndrome, but that is basically more about breathing than the gagging issues.

So if anyone has any ideas (no matter how crazy) i would love to hear them?
Is there anymore tests i should be asking the vets to do?
Any possible medication for pancreatitis/vomiting that he could be on?

Thank you so much......
Jo & Diego
 

ddnene

EBN's SWEETHEART aka our little GOOB
Staff member
Jun 19, 2013
14,554
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Nashville, Tennessee
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Willow (2015) Walter (2014-22) Winston (2012-13) Wellie (2012-13) Bella (2007-13)
:welcome2: to EBN!!! I'm so sorry you are having issue w/your baby… I'm going to tag some members that have more experience, but I wanted to bring up a couple of issues. Did they do a scope on him to see if he has an esophagus issue?!! I'm wondering if he has food allergies or if this could be acid reflux?!!

- - - Updated - - -

:welcome2: to EBN!!! I'm so sorry you are having issue w/your baby… I'm going to tag some members that have more experience, but I wanted to bring up a couple of issues. Did they do a scope on him to see if he has an esophagus issue?!! I'm wondering if he has food allergies or if this could be acid reflux?!!
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
48,580
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Gilbertsville, PA
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Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
Hello and :welcome3: to EBN!!

Have you tried to give an antacid before meals, like Pepcid? It may help keep the stomach settled. What do you feed him, I know you stated home cook, but is it possible that he could be allergic to the protein or maybe something else in the food?

My first bully was like tis and it turned out he was allergic to rice
 

Roseann

New member
Jan 24, 2014
487
27
Kansas
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Henry, Clyde-EB/basset hound and Macon
I may be totally wrong with this but when my son was just a few weeks old he had a stomach issue which caused him to throw up a lot, every meal, it got worse and he had surgery to correct it. His tummy was used to throwing up and even though he no longer had the problem, he threw up until he was about 2 continually. Certain things made him throw up until he was about 6. He may just need time. I hope that's all it is.
 

Mom of Tucker

New member
Jun 22, 2015
456
10
Texas
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United States
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Sophie (2015), Jasper (2020), Tucker (2015-2020)
My first Bulldog love, Shiner, had a similar problem, and I sure wish I had known to be more persistent with the vets I took him to. It very well could be brachycephalic syndrome. One of the vets referred my Shiner to a specialty hospital for this. However he already had developed pneumonia which only got worse. I had been shown his X-ray, and the opening from his trachea was very narrow, leading into his lungs. As was explained to me, that caused problems with him being able to breathe and eat/swallow food at the same time. Unfortunately there is no cure for this Syndrome.

Since I had never had a Bulldog, I just thought his loud breathing, even when awake, was normal. Shiner coughed a lot in his sleep and at times would gag up white foam.

I don't mean to be alarming at all, and hopefully with a good veterinarian, you can get this figured out.

My first Bulldog love:
image.jpg
 

harveyspecter

Harvey's Executive Assistant
Community Veteran
Aug 5, 2014
5,533
331
Yorba Linda (The OC), California
Country
United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Harvey Specter
My first Bulldog love, Shiner, had a similar problem, and I sure wish I had known to be more persistent with the vets I took him to. It very well could be brachycephalic syndrome. One of the vets referred my Shiner to a specialty hospital for this. However he already had developed pneumonia which only got worse. I had been shown his X-ray, and the opening from his trachea was very narrow, leading into his lungs. As was explained to me, that caused problems with him being able to breathe and eat/swallow food at the same time. Unfortunately there is no cure for this Syndrome.

Since I had never had a Bulldog, I just thought his loud breathing, even when awake, was normal. Shiner coughed a lot in his sleep and at times would gag up white foam.

I don't mean to be alarming at all, and hopefully with a good veterinarian, you can get this figured out.

My first Bulldog love:
View attachment 88625

awww Shiner, you left us way too soon. RIP baby boy.
 
OP
H

Hannie1989

New member
Jul 2, 2015
4
0
Country
Australia
Bulldog(s) Names
Diego
  • Thread Starter
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  • #7
Gosh, i am overwhelmed with all the responses. Thank you.

In regards to everything:

He has not been scoped for an oesophagus issues- But since it has been 2 -3 weeks since the removal on one of the laryngeal saccules we mentioned today taking him back to the vet on Monday, as over the last 2 days he has been gagging a fair bit. I will ask our vet. She is great (have been using her for 15 years with confidence), and she has experienced with bulldog breeds, so i am happy to sick with her.

In regards to his food - for the last few days it has been just boiled chicken breast, today we introduced rice. Before that it was meals generally lower than 4% fat (as he has mild pancreatitis). We brought a natural food called "baked chicken/fish/beef" Its basically minced up meat and rice put together like meatloaf. It is pretty natural and low in fat/preservatives. He gets no real food scraps, or anything - We are pretty strict on his diet.

These Antacids could be a great idea (i am a human nurse and have been thinking for awhile of their is daily dog medication for these issues). Thank you for the idea. Will talk to Sue the vet.

Mom of tucker - I am so sorry, but thank you for telling me this. I often listen to Diego's lungs through my stethoscope and they are pretty clear, but as i mentioned above i will ask the vet about X-ray/scope of his throat - Because something is going on. :( This is our first bulldog too and he is simply amazing. Diego sends big puppy hugs (and some drool)!

Thank you all so so much.
 

RiiSi

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 30, 2011
5,014
535
Sysmä
Country
Finland
Bulldog(s) Names
Taisto, Kylli, Salli, Angel-Usko and Angel-Voitto
I'm leaning towards oesophagus issues. You could try giving feeding him smaller portions 3 times a day and Pepcid or such 1/2 hour after meal and before bed time. Sometimes it works better after meals. Hope you get this sorted out. Also I would ask the vet test his pancreas again, since it is mild...it may of been just temporary rise in the numbers...
 
OP
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Hannie1989

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Jul 2, 2015
4
0
Country
Australia
Bulldog(s) Names
Diego
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  • #9
I'm leaning towards oesophagus issues. You could try giving feeding him smaller portions 3 times a day and Pepcid or such 1/2 hour after meal and before bed time. Sometimes it works better after meals. Hope you get this sorted out. Also I would ask the vet test his pancreas again, since it is mild...it may of been just temporary rise in the numbers...

Thank you, yeah we feed him 3/4 small meals a day and he isn't allowed to play for about half an hour after he eats (sadly he wants to play as soon as he eats, haha)!

Vets on Monday, so am going to ask about the pepcid!

I honestly can't thank you enough!
 

aprilemari

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 11, 2011
1,853
101
Boston, MA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola & Fox
Lola has a sensitive throat when it comes to eating, usually had a big vomiting reflex. She also had elongated palate surgery and removal of some saccules. I find that slowing her down to eat, all while keeping her head elevated helps her get the food down to her stomach where it belongs. The format of the food matters for lola. She eats commercially available raw, which in frozen patty form - you must thaw and then it becomes this mush that lola would just slurp up quickly. She'd always vomit this up later. I somehow dont think it was making its way down properly since her throat might not have the muscle power to move it (google Bailey chair). We then switched to a raw format that was in kibble shape, which you could feed frozen (it thaws very quicky). Lola now has to chew her food slowly and swallow much more often. No more throwing up. (she is also not allowed to run around after eating or drinking, though she desperately wants to)

As for the foamy goodness, two weeks is a very short time since surgery and I think time will heal this. Dogs also throw up foam/bile when their stomachs are empty. We had to delay dinner for lola from 4pm to 6pm to avoid 1am foamy vomits in bed.

Wishing you some quick recovery!
 
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Hannie1989

New member
Jul 2, 2015
4
0
Country
Australia
Bulldog(s) Names
Diego
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  • #11
Ok Thank you for that!
Diego currently has his food elevated, and he is the pickiest eater alive (i hope you can all understand why i am starting to go crazy) - He often comes over to say "thank you" after his first few mouthfuls. But i might try to slow him down a bit more by putting food in a muffin tray (this helps my cocker spaniel who sucks in his food without chewing).

I didn't know about the when the stomach is empty they throw up - Google here i come...... again........
 

boo boo butts mom

New member
Oct 18, 2014
179
11
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United States
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boo boo butt
I had to change my girls food schedule to a later time in the evening because I was dealing with the same issue with the foamy bile stuff in the mornings and since then I haven't had any real on going issues with any of that. She did do that with some foods she could not tolerate which after observing her for certain foods I came to the realization that just because it was a home cooked food and or a kibble that even some of those caused her to throw up that bile foamy stuff. She is good now. Good luck.
 

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