Wheezing Problems, Cause Unknown, Need A Plan

[Guest suenotto]

Hello all!

 

Its been quite a while since i've been on the board. Anyhow, what has brought me here today is my little 12 yo female greyhound Lily had been wheezing for several months now and I am unsure what to do next.

 

It started in the spring of this year and we took her to the vet when we noticed that mild excitement and/or excercise (walks) would cause her to wheeze. She does not seem to have any breathing problems when lying or standing. The vet took a chest x-ray and did bloodwork. Neither showed signs of cancer or infection, but you could definitely see branching on the x-ray which she said looked like inflammation (asthma rather than a pneumonia). We put her on an oral steroid (pred) and a bronchialdialator (theophylline). Two weeks later we repeated the x-ray, but I wasn't expecting to see much improvement because she really didn't seem any better.

 

In the meantime, we did find some problems with her kidney values and have been focusing on that. Now we have her on a special homemade low phosphorus, high fat kidney diet and are giving fluids every week.

 

Still, the wheezing has not really changed at all and we never really figured out what was causing it. It might be asthma, is anyone aware of alternate medications to try? Or, any idea what other than asthma this could be?

 

Lastly, I wanted to mention that she had maybe 1 or 2 races before being retired. I got her when she was 7, as a return from another adopter. At that time, we took her lure coursing and noticed after a hard run she would wheeze. It never happened except after this very extreme physical expenditure. So fast forward 4 yrs, now it seems like the same thing except it doesn't take much exertion for her to start to wheeze.

 

Could she has some kind of congenital breathing problem that prevented a racing career that has worsened with age?

 

Oh, also the x-ray showed a normal hear size, so we are not suspecting heart disease.

 

Thank you for your time and input!

 

Susie

[Guest Energy11]

Sometimes, allergies can cause wheezing, like with humans. The meds you mentioned should be helping her, though.

 

Exersion and wheezing worry me. Maybe another chest x-ray is in order to be sure her lungs don't have fluid in her lungs ... this can sometimes happen with kidney disease, and with the extra fluids you are giving her.

 

That is about all I can suggest. Unless, ...Unless the vet sets up some type of breathing treatments for her. This could be done via a machine, attached to oxygen tubing, and a mask ... You'd just hold the mask to her face. My grandson, 1, has asthma, and gets treatments like this ... not sure if they do them for dogs, but you never know!

 

 

Good Luck and lots of hugs!

[smday]

I don't really have a clue but did think of laryngeal paralysis which tends to worsen with age. Maybe?

[macoduck]

Hope it's something as simple as a reverse sneeze.

[GreyTzu]

My guess'es are ERF, CHD or LP.

[Guest Energy11]

All good points. Is the vet sure it is Asthma?

[HopeForHounds]

My first thought was LP, but with what your vet sees it does sound like asthma. But, no reason she couldn't have both and that may be why you haven't seen a difference with meds.

Try giving her a benedryl half an hour before going for a walk to see if that helps.

[Guest suenotto]

My guess'es are ERF, CHD or LP.

I don't know what ERF or CHD are.

 

Hope it's something as simple as a reverse sneeze.

No, its not a reverse sneeze.

 

All good points. Is the vet sure it is Asthma?

 

No, the vet is not sure its asthma, but we did already do 2 xrays and both showed branching in the lungs (healthy lungs should be difficult to see the airways) The branching looked like the airways were inflamed. She said it did not look like fluid, which has a different appearance on xray.

 

She has inflammed airways, what could cause that?

[GreyTzu]

Early Renal Failure

 

Congestive Heart Disease

 

:grouphug

 

Both can be managed with meds.

[Guest suenotto]

Early Renal Failure

 

Congestive Heart Disease

 

:grouphug

 

Both can be managed with meds.

 

Yeah, I thought that too, Xray showed a normal heart. But, I didn't probe it any further than just asking if the xray was normal, which it was.

[Anne]

My Frasier started with the wheezing and it was LP. My Cali has wheezing, bad wheezing, but it's been at least 3 years since it started and she was diagnosed with LP, she's almost 15 and it hasn't gotten any worse so I'm good with it and just do my best to keep her cool.

 

Good luck, I really hope it is allergies.

 

[HopeForHounds]

My guess'es are ERF, CHD or LP.

I don't know what ERF or CHD are.

 

Hope it's something as simple as a reverse sneeze.

No, its not a reverse sneeze.

 

All good points. Is the vet sure it is Asthma?

 

No, the vet is not sure its asthma, but we did already do 2 xrays and both showed branching in the lungs (healthy lungs should be difficult to see the airways) The branching looked like the airways were inflamed. She said it did not look like fluid, which has a different appearance on xray.

 

She has inflammed airways, what could cause that?

 

Get a consult from OSU's Greyhound Health and Wellness Program, it's free and they have a full compliment of specialists who know greyhounds. The link at the bottom of my siggy will give you the email address and phone number. You or your vet can contact them.

Edited September 29, 2009 by foxysmom

[ahicks51]

Rare, but occasionally seen in greyhounds: Eucoleus boehmi, a nasal parasite. Should be eggs in the feces, but (as always) eggs in a stool sample aren't always present.

[Guest littlesyd85]

My girl Monarch was just diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis. She is 8 years old, but I noticed it when we first got her at age 7. She has a pretty bad case (her breathing is always wheezy with loud panting anytime she is up and moving. If you don't know what LP is, it is when the throat doesn't open properly to let enough air through. Here is an article my vet sent me before she got diagnosed. Laryngeal Paralysis - The Pet Health Library

My vet said to make sure she doesn't over exert herself, but because of her age and the fact that she only has three legs she really shouldn't be exercising excessively. When I take her on a walk it is only around the block and if I think she needs to rest I let her sit for a few minutes. There is a surgery that you can do, but it isn't an absolute fix. It is called Laryngeal Tieback, which is just how it sounds. The basically "tieback" the one of the arytenoid cartilages. But you can read all about that in the article that I linked to above. My vet isn't a huge advocate of that surgery because typically your arytenoid cartilages close for a reason and once you do the tieback it can no longer close.