"old Dog Lungs"

[Remolacha]

Anyone ever heard of this? Last year I took Fletcher in (again) to try and figure out what was causing him to pant so much. He got chest x-rays, and my vet saw some cloudiness in his lungs, so she sent them off to a radiologist, who said they didn't see any lesions or tumors, it was just "old dog lungs" (he was 9 at the time). I took him to a specialist (internist) and she called it "chronic allergic bronchitis" and prescribed an antihistamine type drug. It helped, some, and I have been keeping the temperature down, as hot weather really seems to make it worse, but I still wish there was something more I could do

[tbhounds]

Yes, that's a term used often. Lung patterns will change as the dog ages, however, they should not be symptomatic. Has your hound been checked for laryngeal paralysis?

[MrAlexTheDog]

katie has this. it's due to living in los angeles with all the particulates in the air.

[Remolacha]

katie has this. it's due to living in los angeles with all the particulates in the air.

 

I guess that makes sense, Phoenix air is almost as bad as L.A.!

 

Both vets said no, he did not have LP (that was what I was expected it to be)

[KF_in_Georgia]

In casual conversation with an experienced greyhound vet, he mentioned the results of a recent autopsy on a greyhound. The lab found sand-like particles in the dog's lungs. The dog was an ex-racer, and the vet wondered if it might have been particles from the track inhaled by the dog in its racing days.

 

I once looked up my Silver's racing record and discovered that she was in the front four in exactly half her races. After talking with that vet, though, I realized something else: she was in the back four in exactly half her races. She has a chronic cough (though nothing scary shows on her x-rays), and I wonder if her cough might be related to dirt/dust/sand she could have inhaled in her racing career. She raced from January 2007 to January 2009, mostly at Victoryland.

[GeorgeofNE]

In casual conversation with an experienced greyhound vet, he mentioned the results of a recent autopsy on a greyhound. The lab found sand-like particles in the dog's lungs. The dog was an ex-racer, and the vet wondered if it might have been particles from the track inhaled by the dog in its racing days.

 

 

 

Sounds like more speculation than anything. If this was true, I would imagine there would be a HUGE incidence of lung problems in racers, both dog and horse. "Sand like particles" doesn't mean sand.

[silverfish]

This sounds like what Jack had. Our vet told us that he had probably lived with a heavy smoker and had what amounted to emphysema. He called it 'chronic airway disease'.

 

However .. this is the vet who failed to diagnose his blood clots, and I now wonder whether he'd been suffering from 'sticky blood' and had suffered many tiny thromboses which had caused damage to those fragile alveoli in his lungs and that that was the true cause.

 

It's speculation. But I know that another time, with another dog showing those same symptoms, I would ask for a blood test to rule that out.

[tbhounds]

This sounds like what Jack had. Our vet told us that he had probably lived with a heavy smoker and had what amounted to emphysema. He called it 'chronic airway disease'.

 

However .. this is the vet who failed to diagnose his blood clots, and I now wonder whether he'd been suffering from 'sticky blood' and had suffered many tiny thromboses which had caused damage to those fragile alveoli in his lungs and that that was the true cause.

 

It's speculation. But I know that another time, with another dog showing those same symptoms, I would ask for a blood test to rule that out.

And run a u/a-- proteinuria is a big factor in thrombosis in our hounds-- always overlooked.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I wonder about the sand, but even Whippets who race three or four programs a day two days a week, seven weekends a year for four, five, even six years, in Jacksonville NOTRA (on a practice Greyhound sand track) don't have any issues I know of. So I'm really not sure.

[Hubcitypam]

In casual conversation with an experienced greyhound vet, he mentioned the results of a recent autopsy on a greyhound. The lab found sand-like particles in the dog's lungs. The dog was an ex-racer, and the vet wondered if it might have been particles from the track inhaled by the dog in its racing days.

 

I once looked up my Silver's racing record and discovered that she was in the front four in exactly half her races. After talking with that vet, though, I realized something else: she was in the back four in exactly half her races. She has a chronic cough (though nothing scary shows on her x-rays), and I wonder if her cough might be related to dirt/dust/sand she could have inhaled in her racing career. She raced from January 2007 to January 2009, mostly at Victoryland.

Not sure that I buy into that theory.

 

Looked up my guys --

Harley ran 12/97 - 5/01 168 races on greyhound data but his six months at Wheeling don't show. He ran A, AA and Stakes Out of the 168 shown he was out of the money 43 times.

Rex ran 58 races at Palm Beach -- in the back four 28 times

Buck ran 116 and was in the back 53 times

Buddy ran 52 times and was out of the money 20 of them

 

Except for Harley, who was an VERY good (Night of Stars among other things) dog, all mine were in the bottom four just about 1/2 the time. It would seem that is probably normal unless three of my four are anomilies...and as far as dirt kicked up there really can't be much difference between 4th and 5th, can there?

 

On another note, if breathing in a lot of dust even 40 times for 30 seconds would leave sand in your lungs then mine and everyone my age and older from West Texas would have beaches in their lungs. I cannot tell you how many dust storms we lived through.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Yeah, it's probably not likely--although the track Silver raced on at Victoryland (or at Southland before that) might not have sand with the same composition that Wheeling and Palm Beach have. (And I'm not sure where the autopsied dog raced, but I'm guessing that he was a young-ish dog recently retired from Birmingham because I know one died here.) But Silver was in the bottom four for 55 (of 113) races at Victoryland and Southland (everything from A to D) and has a chronic cough (at the age of not-quite-7) that the vets haven't been able to explain. Antibiotics and antihistamines (in case it's an allergy) haven't made any difference, and nothing significant shows on her x-rays--except that one vet has called her lungs "prominent".

[Hubcitypam]

Buck ran 110 races at Southland and Harley ran 128 there.

[Remolacha]

I think out here dogs are more likely to get sand/dust in their lungs from dust storms than the track Anyway, even if it was true, Fletcher never raced, so it can't be the cause of his problems

[tbhounds]

It's really just a term that many clinicians use--I think everyone is over thinking this--- puppy lungs look different than a 10yr old lungs-- they are older looking- very distinct bronchial patterns etc

[Batmom]

It's really just a term that many clinicians use--I think everyone is over thinking this--- puppy lungs look different than a 10yr old lungs-- they are older looking- very distinct bronchial patterns etc

 

 

Especially true with the newer x-ray equipment.

[Guest june]

I think that just like some people get diseases from working/living in particular jobs/places others don't. Genetics, care/lack of, and environment need to be considered.