anyone have experience with elongated soft palate surgery?
Submitted by tonyjerry on August 9, 2011 - 1:34pmWhen we took Oliver to get neutured, the vet mentioned that he may need to have this surgery down the road based on his anatomy. Clinically he doesn't seem to have any effects, can run around for an hour or so and is overall pretty active for a bulldog I think. He obviously snores a lot and when he sniffs he oinks like a pig. He also does this thing where likes to sit by the couch and rest his head on the cushion. We didn't think anything of it until the vet mentioned that sometimes dogs with ESP will prop their heads up to open up their airways. My question is if you had this surgery for your dog, what was the deciding factor? Was he/she having obvious symptoms? And what was he/she like after the operation? I can't imaging Oliver not snoring or making pig noises, it would be like another dog, but if it made him more comfortable then we will obviously do it. Thanks for any thoughts.
Two of my girls had elongated palates
I knew they had problems when they would be asleep and their tongues turned blue. They would also throw up white foam.
Big Mac
Big Mac started to show signs at about 4 years old. He always seemed to breath heavy but we never saw any blue or desperation breathing. He did start to throw up foam after eating or drinking and it proceded to get more and more often. We had the laser surgery done and we did the nostrils at the same time. He is still the top snorer in the house, but there is no more throwing up and he seems more lively and energetic now. It is tough to evaluate without knocking them out to look down their throat, but if they need it i have read that it can add years to their lives and make their lives fuller.
Good Breather
If he has no trouble breathing then IMO there is no reason to have palette surgery. If he is a puppy now you may notice a difference as he gets older. Typically around 1 year of age seems to be the age that stuff changes and problems may start. It really depends on the development of the head and jaw. Also a dog that is nosier will likely not have as much breathing trouble, but that is not always the case. Another sign to watch for is puking white foam and a bluish tongue when they get excited, panting hard or a little stressed.
I have had 1 palette surgery with horrible results and 1 with good results. Most will have great results. In the one that went bad the bitch evidently has very little room in the back of her throat and she has a very thick palette so even with the surgery she is very noisey. So loud you have to turn the tv up to hear if she is panting. She may be a candidate for more surgery to check her largnyl saccules but she doens't do well with anesthesia and at 6 we will only do that in an emergency situation. She didn't have any breathing problems until she was past 18 months and around 2 if I remember right. Infact she was a great breather when I was showing her. Never even panted on warm days.
Beatrix snores and snorts and
Beatrix snores and snorts and props her head up, too. And as far as I know, she has no palate issues -- I asked the vet to check for it while she was in for her entropian surgery a few weeks ago, and she came back with a clean bill of health. It sounds from other people as if an elongated palate would have much more drastic symptoms.
Snoring, snorts, head propping
in my experience had nothing to do with palette issues. Norbert and Ester both snore/snored (not the keep you awake snoring), snort (I call it pig rooting) and head prop and they were/are great breathers. So IMO those things are not necessarily good indications of palette trouble but very common for the breed.
I love Ester's snoring when I'm watching tv and she has her head in my lap...I find it very soathing.
sleep
Does anyone else find it hard to sleep if you can't hear a bully snoring? I can't sleep a wink without a snorer (does not include wife, different snore) lol.
LOL ... Yes
If they aren't snoring sometimes I will wake up at night and feel Ester's tummy to make sure she is breathing. She is the only one that usually sleeps with me. I watch for tummy moving alot with my dogs, they are not big or loud snorers.
Snoring and head propping....
I, too, love the soft, rythmic, snoring--agree it's soothing, and definitely different from spouse snoring. But, I always thought when they propped/rested their head on something it was just because it's so heavy and they get tired of holding it up!! My only head proppers have the very large heads!
Vern had palate surgery a
Vern had palate surgery a couple of weeks ago during his scheduled neutering. He snored, snorted like a pig and propped his head up (but I thought that was just because he liked to have his head on ME all the time :)). He snored really bad at night, worse than my boyfriend, and now after the surgery I can't even hear him breathing in his kennel.
I suspected the surgery may be necessary, he didn't tolerate heat well and he did occassionally barf up foam - but I had got to be really good at keeping him from getting too excited and thus we didn't have the barfing issue all that often.
When he was under for the neutering his doctor inspected his throat and said that his epiglotis was "catching" on his palate and it was very much so inhibiting his breathing and it was highly recommended to have the surgery.
The recovery after the surgeries was tough and kinda scary, but a couple weeks out he's doing great and seems to have more energy/heat tolerance. He still sounds like a pig - like last night when he was sniffing some tasty morsel that had fallen under the couch - but for the most part he sounds like he's breathing a lot easier. I noticed that the part of his face next to his nostrils doesn't suck in now when he breathes, like he's not working as hard to breathe.
It was tough to decide, but ultimately, I trusted my doctor to help make the decision. And now, a couple of weeks out, I think it definitely was the correct decision.
Palate Surgery
Both our bullies had the surgery. They both got fixed, nostrils opened more and the soft palate surgery done at the same time. They didn't have any issues after the surgeries. Trust me the snoring will still continue. It would be hard to sleep if I didn't hear the nice bully snore. Our one bully still likes to sleep with her head up on something. But I think that is preference and not anything else. Sometimes I look at her and wonder how she is comfortable. Good Luck!
Sarah
surgery
Pudgy had soft palate surgery yesterday. We put it off when the vet first suggested it because we were afraid of the risks compared to the benefits. We just had a new clinic open in the area, they use a laser and the risks are lower. Pudgy has been pretty sleepy today but already his breathing is so much quieter and less forced. Based on our experince I would say go for it. Make sure the vet knows about Bulldogs and their special issues coming out of the medication.