Laryngeal Paralysis An American Bully Killer?

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 00:36:03 GMT

Laryngeal Paralysis A Bully Breed Killer-By Jacqueline Amendola

What is Laryngeal Paralysis? The Laryngeal muscles are the muscles that control the larynx and the voice box located in the throat. The function of the larynx is to close off the trachea/windpipe while drinking or eating. Laryngeal Paralysis is an idiopathic trauma to the throat which causes weak or paralyzed, relaxed muscles, and the cartilage collapses to the inside, obstructing air to pass through to the lungs. If this is not treated your bully can go bye bye smothering to the dogs final breath.

This little princes you see in my hands is now at the age of 3 and is dying from this condition. She was supposed to be born a pocket, but was born with drwarfism and with many genetic issues.

This condition is seen in other breeds of dogs such as Irish Setters and Labrador Retrievers. Generally it's trauma to the neck and throat, also tumors or space occupying lesions in the neck that can cause this condition. What's happening in the case of Bullies? And why are we seeing more of these issues when none of these dogs are related to Labradors or Setters? There are a couple of reasons this is happening. One is the size of the bullies neck muscles. The neck muscles are taking up space in the neck making it hard to breath where the air is being forced into a narrow hole encroached by muscles; and the second issue is a small trachea. Either one of these issues can cause a health problem, more so the small trachea. If the two issues are present together it can quickly become a disaster.

Bon Petite has both issues. She has huge neck muscles and the trachea the size of a Frenchy. This is very unfortunate and this happens more often than most people are aware of. Fortunately she was the only one out of the litter of 9 who came out this way. Thank goodness we are breeders with enough experience to know from her 1st week of life she was going to have issues. in this case it was Dawghouse Bullies and VenonIine who decided she would be best not sold. She stayed with us. I would say the majority of breeders would have unethically put a high price tag on her and sold her or worse yet tried to breed her.

When producing heavily muscled bullies, breeding a larger dog with a smaller dog this condition is possible and can appear generations later. Breeding to create a size especially dwarfy should be left to experienced breeders. That is to be another topic for another day. Back to the issue.

What are the symptoms Of Laryngeal Paralysis? This is a tough one to spot because the symptoms are shortage of breath, noisy breathing or a cough(dysphonia). Coughing will happen after exertion or when the dog drinks water. Their bark changes and you may hear a clicky sound when they swallow. You may see a bluish tinge to the tongue or gums and your dog may collapse. A good rule of thumb is if the dog appears to be struggling go to the vet immediately. These symptoms can be confused for heart problems, kennel cough or Bronchitis. This is a condition that is under diagnosed. Vets and pet owners need to be made aware that bullies can suffer from this, especially the thick necked bullies. Ultimately to diagnose this the vet will need to examine the larynx with an endoscope or Laryngoscope.

After diagnosis to most other breeds mild to moderate Paralysis can be treated with Anti-inflammatory drugs such as Prednisone, antibiotics, cough suppressant, and sedatives. A lot of times these dogs who suffer from this are older, closer to their end of days. There are current studies of drugs on the market effectiveness to this condition. Unfortunately there is no proof whether these new drugs work or not. Bon Petite is currently on Prednisone, sedative and cough suppressant.

When there is an increased respiratory effort constantly and clearly your dog cannot relax because of it and the endoscope shows a collapse surgery is needed. One procedure is arytenoid lateralization by tie-back. They basically go in and tie back the cartilage that is collapsed out of the way so the dog can breath better again. Complication, This procedure will work for 1-2 months before the right Laryngeal wall collapses into the left wall and for bullies with large neck muscles this can leave the dog in worse shape than they began, the dog winds up smothering to a horrible death. This has been proven to be successful and an excellent way to continue life for small or old calm dogs with no myostatin defects. However even in regular dogs this does not restore Laryngeal function. Another option is a partial arytenoidectomy, 25%-50% of each arytenoid is removed. A Laryngeal stent Can also be put in which has a high complication rate and tend to easily be displaced or have a thickened granulation tissue ingrowth. Lastly there is a permanent tracheostomy where they make a new hole for the dog to breath through. Again, this procedure works best in small dogs or older calm dogs. Young larger dogs can also do ok but they need constant monitoring and they cannot go near water.

Bon Petite's Doctor's name is Dr. Patrick Flynn from Veterinary Specialty Hospital. This was the Doctor we used for Bon Petite's 1st surgery. She suffered from Brachycephalic Airway syndrome with soft palate. We corrected this and did a nare resection, he reduced the size of her pallet and increase the size of the nostrils. As Dr. Flynn was reducing the size of her soft palate he notice her small trachea. He new Laryngeal paralysis was going to be a problem due to her large muscles around her neck. He was right. Between the both of us, after he discussed the high risk this would be, and in her case even worse because of her myostatin defect, we felt it would be best to perform humane euthanasia instead of attempting a permanent tracheostomy or partial arytenoidectomy. Our shared fear was her smothering to her death. We remembered how hard it was for her to recover 1st surgery, which left her in ICU for days because her O2 levels in her blood would not stay up, they kept dropping to dangerous lows and Dr. Flynn also had to use hoses down her nostrils into her lungs so she could breath because her throat inflamed shut from the soft palate surgery. Let me tell you how bad she suffered and almost didn't make it. She was young and resilient then, now we are years later confronted with a considerably invasive surgery. I cannot in my right mind keep doing this to her.

As for now! She is happy, we keep her as comfortable as we can and she is still full of spunk. She is on medication and the medication is making her comfortable at the moment as you can see in this video she is still having a very fun-filled life that will soon end. But for now we let her have all the fun she wants :) This is what she does before my morning coffee. She's 1,000 steps ahead of me and she has no idea she has problems. In a sense I wished I was more like her!

DIY Whelping Box

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 11:31:20 GMT

How To Series: Creating an inexpensive Whelping Box (For about $58.00 worth of material including Beer)

Box size:

If the female you are breeding can lay comfortably on her side in a 36" or 42" long crate, then a 48" square whelping box will be perfect. These directions are for a 48" square which will easily accommodate most pocket and standard bullies.

Materials:

Two 4x8 sheets of 1/4" plywood

One 8' 1x1

Two 8' pieces of 1x6

One box of laminate flooring.

(Enough to cover 16s.f.)

Tools:

Tape measure

Utility knife

Spray adhesive (optional)

Nail gun

Circular saw

Jig saw

Pencil

Shoe lace or string

Beer

Step 1. The base and corner posts:

Cut one piece of 1/4" plywood in half to give you two 4x4 pieces. One of these will be your base.

We used relatively thin plywood in order to keep weight and cost to a minimum. We have used thicker in the past and saw no benefits.

Cut the 8' 1x1 into four 18" pieces. These will be your 4 corner posts.

Screw or nail one 18" 1x1 into each of the 4 corners.

Next cover the base surface with your vinyl or linoleum flooring. Be sure to notch out the 4 corners for the 1x1 posts. Tip: if you purchase 1 foot squares you will only need 16 pieces at $0.69 a piece at Home Depot.We use the vinyl flooring so that the wood doesn't absorb the urine and discharge.

It can be easily cleaned to keep the box sanitary. Spray adhesive is optional, the flooring tiles have adhesive backing and will stick just fine without it. We just happened to have some lying around.

Step 2. The walls:

Next cut four 48"X 18" pieces out of your remaining plywood. It's already 48" wide so you'll just have to make cuts every 18" across. These will be your 4 side walls. One will be the front with access door. (do not install this one yet)

Installing the Walls

Step 3 Front with Access Panel:

Front Access Panel

On the one side panels which will have the front access door, measure across the length 1/2 way (24") and put a temporary drew or nail in half way. We tied a string from our temporary screw to a pencil in order to draw a semi circle which will mark our access door.

Cutting the semi circle

We then used a jig saw to cut a semi circle on the top side.

The access door can be used as needed to keep the puppies in. When the pups are first born, the panel is left off completely so that the mother can get in and out of the box very easily.

This is particularly helpful if she's just had surgery. As the puppies get more mobile, you can drop the door to keep them inside. When the puppies are climbing out over the sides of the Whelping box it's time to move them out.

Step 4. The pig rails:

The purpose of the pig rails is to keep the puppy from being smashed between its mother and the side of the box. The puppy slides under the rail, and mom's back just presses against the face of the rail. The puppies are attracted to the darkness under the pig rails. They will quickly learn that it's safe place and spend most of their time there long before their eyes are open.

You can use 1x6 or 1x4 boards to run around the inner diameter of the box.

The height of the pig rail will vary for the size of the female. (between 5-6” off the base has seemed to work well for us)

Adding the pig rails

We cut two spacer blocks 5” tall as you can see in the photo above-and reused them under each rail to hold up them to the same height as we nailed them in. Tip: do the two sides first, they will be the same size. Then do the rear which will be shorter.

The Front of your whelping box

Finally the front. The front will be two small pieces the run up to the access door.Bedding:People like to use different things that they've have found to work well for them.

Aww Sookie Sookie Now (Sookie) ApprovesWe don't keep our dogs outside, so to reduce smell, instead of wood chips we use old sheets from day one until the puppies become active. During the first couple days while mom has discharge, we usually have a layer of old towels on top of the sheets. You may be able to get by with only a couple of changes a day… just plan on keeping the washer and dryer running. During the weaning process, Mom will lose interest in cleaning the puppies so the layer of old towels makes clean up a lot easier.

A thermometer near the box is also a very good idea. 85 to 90 degrees F is what we use for our new pups for the first 6 to 8 days. Be certain they maintain a temperature of 97.5-100.0 degree F always a good idea to do a rectal temp on a puppy to confirm the proper temperature is met. At about day 8 start reducing temperature gradually. Always watch to see if they are hot or to cold, either way could kill them if you are not careful. Watch the puppies to see what temperature they want… If they are always piled up, they are too cold. If they are always spread out, they are too warm.

dawghousebullies

Laryngeal Paralysis An American Bully Killer?

Laryngeal Paralysis A Bully Breed Killer-By Jacqueline Amendola

DIY Whelping Box