Katara is very sick, prayers please

[acarabias]

Chester was a heavy, noisy breather, each breath was like it was labored. We got him when he was 5 mos. old and the breeder said all he needed was a palate clip when he was 1, which we had done by laser because it was so much easier on him. He would play normally and rough house but didn't have much stamina for going on walks. We had to watch him more than normal so he wouldn't overheat, and we kept his weight down. Keeping him on the slender side (for a Bulldog), not letting him get overheated, and walking him about 1/4 mile every day (with him setting the pace) helped him a lot. @acarabias I so hope your Katara comes out of this fine.

That sounds a lot like Katara, she snores so much more than Aldo, which is weird because he is the one with the flatter face. Maybe she does have a long palate too.

 

[Davidh]

She looks precious in the pics, so glad she is coming home. I'm sure you feel better also having her home with you. Hope she continues to improve and back to her self soon. Poor baby girl.

 

[acarabias]

I want to thank everyone that posted for your positive thoughts and prayers! Katara has not had a bm yet, I fed her some boiled chicken and rice and she gobbled it down. A few min ago she started gagging like she wanted to throw up again. I still am not sure she is digesting anything. I have read all her reports from the hospital. The second follow up radiology says the trachea size is normal for her breed with adequate ratio. It says her lungs still had infiltrates but there was some improvement and same chicken bones in her stomach. No evidence of obstruction. I am very confused about what to do in regards to her diet.
Please please give me your honest opinion (both raw supporters and kibble supporters), should I switch them to kibble? or continue raw but ground like I had been giving them. The vet told me to not give them raw due to salmonella, but all the research I did disproved this in dogs. I cannot give her bones anymore, no question in my mind about that, but am confused about the raw ground vs kibble, since there is no evidence any of this happened because of raw meat. I have a big bag of fromm grain free surf and turf on its way if I decide to go that way.
Also, how can I prevent her from aspirating again. Is there anything I can do to slow down her feeding? Add water to her food? give her canned instead? put a big object in there so she works to eat instead of gobbling it down? Any ideas?
Those of you whose dogs had a soft palate surgery how much did it cost? how was the recovery process? I might talk to the vet and if she agrees I will do this surgery at the same time she gets spayed to help her out as much as I can.



@JAKEISGREAT @2BullyMama @JeannieCO @Fontanafox @Libra926 @karenben @Davidh @BruceP @LariP @desertskybulldogs @savemejeebus @MamaAndi @MatildasMommy @Vicaroo1000 @Lucy-licious! @cali baker @cali~jenn @Sherry @cowsmom @LisaMarie @Biogirl71 and others that I did not mention as well

 

[Libra926]

I haven't had experience with palate surgery, but my mom has. I know it was over 1000.00 and the recovery time was several weeks. I know that Chesty's litter mate passed away...if they would have known about the palate issue, it would have saved him.

As for feeding..raw just grosses me out. Orion is a gulper, so we use the slow feed bowl for her.

 

[Poppy]

I think if you know it was unrelated to raw (which it seems) then continue feeding ground up raw as you were. There were other posters that mentioned their dogs also had pulmonary edema and they weren't feeding raw.

But really if you are more comfortable with kibble then switch back. There are some good brands out there. The worst thing would be for you to continue raw but feel uncomfortable about it. I suggest also posting what happened to Katara on ***Link Deleted*** raw forum to see if any other raw feeders went through the same experience.

 

[acarabias]

[MENTION=572]Libra926[/MENTION] which is the slow feed bowl, sounds like something I need for these guys!

 

[Poppy]

FYI if/when she goes back to kibble it will block her up for the first few days because of the lack of moisture in it. That is normal so don't worry!

 

[acarabias]

[MENTION=3904]Poppy[/MENTION] yes, I am a member of a yahoo group that focuses on raw feeding exclusively; I need to post what happened to Katara there too. thank you!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I have no experience with raw feeding either..but if it's ground and she's never had a problem AND this wasn't caused by her food...I would lean towards feeding her what he was accustomed to. Some of the raw feeders will probably soon give you advice. As far as the slowing her down, I ordered a slow feed ball fom Amazon. It's big and porcelain...it has helped Jake immensely. I am certain that or a slow feed bowl would help. Good luck sweetie...our prayers are with you and sweet Katara.

 

[goobers mom]

So happy she is coming home I know you have to feel alittle better about the situation now. My vet that was treating Goober when he aspirated to me to almost starve him to death made me keep him super slim until he was about 1 yr old then start beefing him up slowly, and llike I said in a early post once I got him over that he has never had a sick day in his life, He was so bad that they had to resuscitate him twice during his stay actually sewed his oxygen tube to his nose.

 

[izstigspunks]

So sorry you and Katara are going through this. Praying that she recovers quickly and get better answers.

Imo, I'd switch her back to ground raw because she was doing so well with it before. I bought a grinder for Punkin when we first got him because I thought he wouldn't be able to chew through bones with his small teeth. But then again, if you feel that kibble will be best for her, then I'd switch her in a heartbeat. No shame in switching to either, you know your baby best and we're behind you all the way.

I remember reading something on the Yahoo group about something similar, and a chicken bone was still in the stomach. Can't recall the reason the members gave though, but I do remember that it's normal and the pup got better.

 

[laurendoodler]

[MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION] well, I would have been willing to pay the interest anyway if I did mess up. But they wouldn't even let me get the care credit..all because of my age, even though I have good credit from buying my own car. Delilah would be dead right now if it wasn't for my mom having some money that she got for some kid running into her car that she gave me to use to pay the emergency clinic..

 

[acarabias]

http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Paw-Portion-Pacer-Stainless/dp/B0028QHN3G/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Is this the ball [MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION]

 

[laurendoodler]

I am so glad that she is coming home with you!! Poor girl looks precious. She is so adorable!

I know they have those slow feed bowls are supposed to work wonders. The ones that kind of divide the food up so they have to take their time and work around it to eat.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Paw-Portion-Pacer-Stainless/dp/B0028QHN3G/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Is this the ball @JAKEISGREAT

Thats it! I got the porcelain one..mostly because I can stick it easily in the dishwasher but I'm sure either would be fine!