Just got off the phone with the surgical tech who was in the OR for the palate surgery. She said that Lola had one of the longest palates they had seen, which was a huge relief to me knowing that what was causing her to have trouble breathing was identifiable and now corrected. So they nipped the palate length, opened the nares on the nose a bit, and also trimmed some nodules that are also in the airway. Lola is doing well, calm in her crate at the vet clinic, and they'll be keeping her O/N again tonight to monitor for swelling, but minimal so far. If they had found nothing wrong, i would have been even more concerned that we had no other options to help her breathe better.
If you are ever wondering whther your bully has an elongated palate, the dog may breathe normally most of the time. But it is when she's excited or after a (even really) short walk, that they just cannot calm down. They pant for 30 minutes after a short walk and every breath sounds like it's not getting past her throat because of a bunch of phlegm. The extra tissue (hence elongated palate) flaps against the throat and prevents the majority of the air going down, BUT this is severely complicated by the panting and slobbering because all that saliva goes down, gets flapped by the tissues, and becomes all foamy, coating the airway and no NO air gets by. Lola's tongue turned blue one time and i've been coddling her ever since. She gets all phlegmy even on the drive home from the vet because she gets anxious and I can hear when each breath doesnt get her oxygen. Hit her with lemon juice, jam my hand down her throat to scoop out some saliva, she throws up, breaths ok for a few and more saliva gets caught. its truly terrifying. and was happening with no real exercise on lola's part. i knew something was wrong. and boy am i glad i went to a third vet finally who took care of it.
i miss her so much and cant wait to see that sillly bum when we pick her up tomorrow. i want to thank [MENTION=2071]Davidh[/MENTION] for his advice on that one thread with that one video who made me convinced that i needed a second opinion from a new vet. and whoever posted that original video. you have helped me save my bully. she's just turned 2years old and will have such a better life.
