kazzy220
..........
- Jul 31, 2010
- 8,556
- 441
- 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!
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.
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 .....
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!
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.
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 .....