Advice Please?

[Guest iconsmum]

I have a big bouncy hound who's always been a good eater with plenty of energy. He takes the stairs with two bounds on the way down and three on the way up. He lives with 2 other dogs with no issues. He's not stressy unless there's a very pronounced reason and he has no separation issues left. He does pant around far off thunder, fireworks. and low flying planes. He

had idiopathic HGE 3 years ago from which he recovered but if the e vet hadn't

let me bunk in in the cage with him I'm reasonably sure we would have lost him because he was awfully sick. Since then, and more so lately, he eats dinner, goes out, "produces" and settles in for the evening.

Except he pants. And he licks his mouth inside. And he makes an occasional loud long GACHHH sound that arches his esophagus and winds up with his nose on the ground at 11 o'clock. - like an old-man retch, my son says.... Sometimes that produces a bit of a pile but mostly not. But he's clearly not comfortable and it's

becoming consistent. Once he's asleep he's ok

For now I give 10mg pepcid am and pm. It's not holding the symptoms down as well as it did tho'.

He had metro., famotidine, a couple of antibx, and only cooked meats when he was sick.

My question is, does this sound like anything any of you super-experienced people have seen?

I'm thinking omeprazole instead of pepcid. I have a decent vet but I also don 't want my

dog turned upside down and shaken in the back rooms while they poke and guess and xray everything he has (experience). He's

coming 10 but you'd guess 7. His teeth are ok I think....??

thanks for any input!

[greysmom]

It sounds sort of normal to me. Not necessarily something that's "wrong" with him, per se, but something that just happens. All my dogs have done/do this at one time or another. One I have now does seem to do it more frequently, but it doesn't bother me overly. A little extra liquid on his food seems to help.

 

What is he eating now? Is he getting a probiotic at all?

[Guest iconsmum]

Ha! I never thought of normal!! ))

he gets raw. no carbs no veg just meat and some bone, fish oil, a probiotic and DE preventatively for worms every couple of months.

Point taken about the liquid...

[greysmom]

When Whiskey does it, it's usually kibble or a piece of food stuck in his throat. He coughs it out - sometimes it's a gak sound - and he's good after that.

[KF_in_Georgia]

How long after a meal is this happening? I'm thinking the omeprazole might help if he's tending toward acid reflux. I know my digestive system isn't happy if I go to bed (or just lie down) too soon after a meal; my system is happier if I let gravity help things settle.

[Remolacha]

Charley makes that horrible gaking noise too. I have only had her for a few months and don't know her medical history, but as far as I can tell, she is just "clearing her throat" I would say it was too loud for that, but I have listened to myself in the morning, hacking and coughing to clear out my overnight congestion, and it sounds very much the same Charley is also raw fed, her poops are fine, she seems perfectly healthy, so I am just watching her for now.

[Guest iconsmum]

How long after a meal is this happening? I'm thinking the omeprazole might help if he's tending toward acid reflux. I know my digestive system isn't happy if I go to bed (or just lie down) too soon after a meal; my system is happier if I let gravity help things settle.

 

 

that's actually the way I'm thinking

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

One other thing to ask a vet about is Bronchitis. I took my boy to the vet the other day for something unrelated. I mentioned that he wretches a few times a day, but nothing too serious. The vet heard him "sneeze" and asked me how often he coughs. I thought the sneeze was just that. The vet said nope, your boy has a mild case of bronchitis after listening to his breathing for a few minutes. I am having acupuncture to treat the issue.

[Brandiandwe]

I am having acupuncture to treat the issue.

 

At the risk of sounding ignorant, would it not be more helpful to treat the dog?

 

 

The cough/ sneeze thing sounds like what Hermon does from time to time. But he's done it since we've had him and he's been vet checked. He'll be checked again soon, so we'll see then.

[Sambuca]

With the panting it could be laryngeal paralysis or LP.

[Guest iconsmum]

With the panting it could be laryngeal paralysis or LP.

 

 

there's panting during the evening from right after he eats at 5 until he drops off to sleep for the night. I used to think it was heat-related but Im not so sure now..it doesn't happen after morning food or really until later....I don't 100% trust my vet's diagnostic skills with a greyhound which is the reason Im coming here....

[Sambuca]

Greyhounds are dogs. While they have certain medical quirks, most of their issues are the same as other dogs. Unfortunately, most of the people here aren't vets and even the ones that are can't be positive of any diagnosis without an exam and possibly bloodwork. You need to either learn to trust your vet a little better or find one you do trust.

[silverfish]

Personally, though I hate to put the older dogs through anything unnecessary, I really think I'd let the vet take a look. It could be nothing, or it could be so many things: heart, lungs, stomach, pancreas - even liver or kidneys, because if either of those is 'off' it can make the dog feel very sick. Even brain or ear issues can make a dog (or person) feel sick.

If you've been using Pepcid for a while without a consultation and it's getting worse so that Pepcid is no longer working, I'm thinking it's time to get one. JMHO. I wouldn't just add omeprazole. It's also possible to cause problems by reducing stomach acid too much so that you get into a vicious cycle - PPIs for people don't have such a bad name for nothing!

[Guest iconsmum]

thanks for the input. Greyhounds are just dogs, i agree but I do have a concern about my vet, rightly or not. Omeprazole isn't OTC here in Ontario and pepcid 10mg x 2 a day seems to stop the horking. I had read that the omep'le is a better choice though so I'm going to go in with what I have found printed out for a bit of discussion. I like my vet for my other dogs but on the other hand I've never had much in the way of health complication...touch wood. The one time I did bring in the usual package specific to blood values etc etc it was "misplaced" the first time I asked a question pertinent to that info...okay, ...I guess...