Laryngeal Paralysis

[HopeForHounds]

Foxy has had LP for well over a year now. We have been fortunate that hers has been slow in progressing. Although in June I thought we would be facing the end soon as she had a serious breathing crisis. We made the decision not to do the surgery as I was uneasy about it. I had also made a promise to her after her cancer surgery that we wouldn't put her through anything else like that. Since her overnight stay at the vet in June, she has been under house arrest and is doing really, really well. We have pred and ace if we need it, but she has only had pred twice and we've never needed the ace. The hardest thing is to stop her from getting too excited as that was what started her crisis. We've finally struck a balnace between caution and letting her be herself. No more car rides or visits to anyone's home. She still gets to sprint in the yard to the back of the fence or run at Mom while she stands in the doorway. She'll be 13 in Dec and is a 3 year cancer survivor.

It's a very hard decision Heather not one we made easily or haven't questioned from time to time. In the end you have to do what you know is right for Champ.

[Guest Spiff]

 

I'm wondering if Spiff has some similar problems - but he hardly ever barks, so it's hard to tell if his bark has changed. His breathing is raspy if he sits in a certain position and he did have one episode over the summer when I thought he was choking on a treat, but it could have been one of these breathing crises. I'm curious to hear if you find out more about LP in greyhounds. There is a Wikipedia page, but perhaps you already found it?

 

When does one decide to actually have surgery? How did those of you with pups that have had surgery decide? Did your pup have really scary episodes? Or did you have the surgery done before it got to that point?

 

Spiff has had mild symptoms for at least a year now and I don't think it's getting noticably worse.

 

Please keep us posted about Grandpa!

[ZoomDoggy]

Here's the progression I experienced with my Chancy:

 

With Chancy, I had noticed a hoarse sounding bark and back feet that always scuffed the ground when she walked from the time I adopted her at 10.5 years of age. I didn't think too much on it because she had other more pressing health concerns at the time. Once we got her stabilized overall, the hoarse bark and foot-scuffing continued. She couldn't "roo" but she'd try to join in if the others started, until she started to turn blue. I figured it was LP, but it wasn't really problematic then, as it only affected her voice, not her breathing. For the first 1.5 years I had her, it wasn't really a problem.

 

I tried chiropractic treatments and acupuncture for the walking probs, assuming it was LS, as xrays showed no other spinal or hip probs. To no avail. Then this past spring, as the weather got warmer, I noticed Chancy having significantly increased intolerance for temps above 70f. Panting and scuffing and becoming more wobbly on her feet.

 

Over the course of the following six months, Chancy's breathing became rapidly worse. It went from becoming out-of-breath just when walking outside, to becoming winded even when being indoors in the AC, to the point where she would gasp and wheeze and pant even when laying down trying to sleep. We had kept our house cooled to 72f all summer for her, and minimized her exercise and excitement as much as possible. It was so sad to not allow her to even be happy to see me arrive home, because even that much excitement would cause her to wheeze dangerously. I had many nights when I feared my sweet Chancy would suffocate in her/my sleep. I often laid awake just to listen to her harsh frantic gasping. Walks with Chancy that used to be brisk 2-mile strolls became painfully slow wobbly staggers around the block. I finally decided that despite her other unresolved health issues, I would risk the surgery because I couldn't stand the thought of doing nothing and allowing her to to suffocate to death.

 

The surgery went very well, as I said in my earlier post. There was nothing I could do to save her from her other medical problems, but at least I was able to help my poor sweet baby breathe easily again for a little while.

[dmswartzfager]

Frazzle had a unilateral tieback at about 12.5 years old. He did develop aspiration pneumonia within 24 hours post-surgery, but since he was at a 24-hour referral center, they were monitoring him very carefully and jumped right on it and hit him hard with antibiotics and coupage treatments. When he came home, I had to continue with the coupage (putting him into a steamy bathroom and gently banging on his chest to encourage coughing) 4-5 times a day for several days. Once he started feeling better as the pneumonia resolved, Frazzle felt wonderful. He became very playful and silly again and was able to run around the yard again with his sisters.

 

Bizarrely, it was his newfound energy that I think lead to his rapid decline - he got so excited and silly that he slipped on our floors several times, and finally truly injured himself and his spine the last time (and I STILL don't know how he fell from a dead stop standing next to me) and he never recovered from that. It was wonderful to see his puppyhood again while it lasted, and I would do it again, even with the pneumonia scare (and I would cover every square inch of my tile floors).

[RobinM]

Heather, my thoughts and prayes and BEST wished for Grampa. (and you)

 

You can go online and email CG magazine for the back copies. I believe they will mail them out to you. for a small fee.

[Guest KennelMom]

Thank you so much to everyone who's posted in this thread and pm'd me (I will reply to them all!) and, of course, for all the thoughts and prayers. I've learned it's a deeply personal decision whether or not to opt for the surgery. At this point, Grandpa's symptoms are so mild that we believe we can successfully manage it. He's just not a good candidate for surgery. Other than limiting his outdoor time during the day, our nights are cool now and he wanders the yard and does everything he loves to do with no discomfort or distress. Of course, it's something we will evaluate on a daily basis if we need to.

[Guest patdurbin]

I'm just devastated Grandpa (aka Champ) has had this raspy breathing going off and on for a couple weeks so he went to the vet yesterday and came home w/the tentative diagnosis of LP. I am aware that they have to be put under for a definitive diagnosis and that would be the next step. The xray of his chest/lungs, esophagus looked really good. But, he pretty much has 100% of the symptoms and it explains why his bark has changed recently So, I've spent hours scouring the web...I just joined the LP yahoo group, which is definitely pro-surgery. I'm completely confused. Our vet's dog has LP and he did talk to me a bit about the surgery and said the survival rate is generally not good. Which is the opposite impression I'm getting from the yahoo group. He has not had the surgery for his own dog.

 

So....other than wanting to scream and cry all at the same time...I just feel lost. I was completely unprepared for this news. And now I'm terrified of what *could* happen while we're trying to figure all this out. Gramps is 13 1/2 and we're waiting for his blood panel to come back to see how he's doing on that front and then we can start a discussion on whether he's a candidate for surgery, etc...He also has a rear end lameness of unknown origin, though the xrays of his hip & leg looked good and just a little sensitivity in the LS area. He has a history of complications from Ehrlichia to consider as well. After talking to the vet yesterday and our own research/discussions we are leaning away from surgery at this point. A lot will depend on his blood work and any additional information I can find.

 

For anyone on the board whose dogs have had the surgery, can you tell me how traumatic it was and what the recovery time was for your dog? Is there any place that has reliable, rather than anecedotal, stats as to survival rates of the surgery? There is virtually no information that I could find on the web about LP as it relates to greyhounds. Celebrating Greyhounds did an article on it in Summer 2000, but my subscription doesn't go back that far. Does anyone know if they offer back issues/reprints? I checked out OSU's site, but didn't see anything there about LP.

 

:cry1

 

[Guest patdurbin]

Hi......I am not much good yet at using forums, so you may not receive this, or everyone interested in the LP topic may, which is what I hope.

 

I WAITED too long!!! I don't have a greyhound, but a golden....or HAD> When he was lying around the last week and not breathing noisily, unless he got up, I thaught that all that lying down on his side meant that he was comfortable.....in spite of the fact that everytime he got up he sounded awful. He was on antiobiotics and prednisone. He was at least 12, real age unknown since he came from a shelter.

 

So I did not want him to have his last bit of time, perhaps, having an operation.

Instead, however, of that discomfort, he probably was feeling pretty bad. In the end, he rushed into the living room, evacuated, his tongue was way out, and terrible noises in his throat, even like he was saying 'Mama' deep down. So I took him to vet and asked them to put him to sleep.

 

Now I am beating myself up that I waited so long and misread 'comfort' signs. Also my blood runs cold at the thought that I should have said 'Save him!' instead of asking for euthansia to put him out of his misery.

I was always so proud that I had saved him eleven years ago, but I failed him miserably at the end.

So.....there is the sad story of Chip, and I hope it doesn't depress everyone too much....just a word of caution. Thanks.

Edited October 12, 2007 by patdurbin

[Guest Luvgreys]

Blitz was tentatively diagnosed with LP in March of this year. His symptoms at the time were lots of panting at any level of exercise and increased intolerance to warmer temps, his bark also started to sound hoarse at times. We decided then that because of Blitz's age (he turned 12 on February 7) we would not pursue surgery but just keep Blitz quiet and in a cool environment. But then about two month ago we had a horrible episode where Blitz got excited over something and he just could not catch his breath, he started to panic and foam at the mouth. We ended up rushing him to the vet where they tranqualized him to calm him down. It took more than a day for him to be back to "normal"

At that point we decided we could not let that happen again. On September 17 at age 12 years and 7 months Blitz underwent the unilateral tie back of his laryngx.

The change in his breathing has been amazing!

 

I can't say that this has been all easy. Blitz did develop aspriation pneumonia two weeks after the surgery but thanks to all the information we had gotten we were able to catch it at the first onset of symptoms and get him on antibiotics right away.

But overall his quality of life has been greatly improved. He has been able to go on short walks again and have some play time with his toys (he's still supposed to take it easy but when he turned one of our pillows into a toy we decided that it was probably okay to let him have visitation with one of his toys for short periods of time )

 

[galgrey]

Oooh, I'm sorry to hear this. My Keno developed LP and the back end weakness in his 12th year. I joined the Yahoo group and read everything else I could get my hands on. You're right about the Yahoo group -- they are very pro tie back surgery. Because Keno was also having multiple system problems/autoimmune issues, I did not pursue the surgery. The success seems to vary. It seems some dogs have very little recovery issues and bounce right back and others not so much. Aspiration pneumonia is, of course, one of the big post surgical concerns and the incidence of it also seems to vary. I would consult a specialist who is very familiar with LP and the surgical procedures. The tie-back seems to be the most commonly used procedure, but I understand not all dogs are a good candidate for it.

 

I will be sending you and your boy good thoughts. Keep us posted.