Permanent Tracheostomy
Submitted by patty on December 19, 2010 - 4:51pmNew to board. My English Bulldog had emergency surgery on Tuesday due to Laryngeal Collaspe. They put a Permanent Tracheostomy in to save his life. He had already had to the palate surgery when he was 10 months and they scoped him before the surgery and all of that was fine. The surgery was performed at Loomis Basin Vet Clinic by UC Davis surgeons. My question is has anyone ever heard of doing a permanent trach on an English Bulldog and if so, can anyone give me advice. I don't know if I have done the right thing or not for my beloved dog Club.
I have heard of it in a pug
when the airway is that bad, a trach is the 100% best solution. You will get used to it, as will your bully. Imagine being able to breathe easily again. I work with trached babies ans children and it is not all that scary. Just be sure no water goes into the trach. Your bully will cough out any secretions and you will learn how to change the trach in time.
Congratulations for providing a better quality of life for your bully.
how is the bully doing now?
how is the bully doing now?
Permanent Trach
My dog is doing ok. I got to bring him home Thursday night, but he had to go back to Vet on Friday night for Head Tremors/seizures. I learned from this board that head tremors are common after surgery, but we are waiting to see if it progresses to full blown seizures. I visited with him tonight and he actually looked so improved over Friday that I became "hopeful". This has cost me $7000.00 so far and has been far more radical then I expected. Only time will tell if it will have been worth it for my dog. The one piece of advise I can give other Bully owners is that this problem started well over a year ago and to pay attention if your dog breathes really heavy. My dog started excess panting in March and the Vet and myself assumed it was from doses of prednizone for severe skin infections and him being overweight. We switched to Temaril P when he needed it but that still did not stop the heavy breathing. He has not been on any meds since the end of September. He did weigh 80 lbs and was on a diet but nothing helped the panting. We were walking in the Park last Sunday and he was panting heavy as usual but this time he started making a honking noise in his throat and I was lucky to get him to the Vet. Two different surgeons from UC Davis in Sacramento scoped him and Palate and Trachea were normal. The "Tie-Back" surgery has over a 50% failure rate and I could not afford two surgeries or take the risk of him going into Respiratory distress and not getting to the Vet in time so I decided to do the Tracheostomy. It has been the scariest week and I just pray that I made the right decision. The one thing I ask of the Vets was to not let him suffer and if they felt he was then I would end it. He has a great fan club at the Vets and everyone is rooting for him and it is not for the money, but for the dog and that just makes me so happy that so many people are fighting for him. Just pray for him please.
I've been trying to do some
I've been trying to do some research online about this as our French Bulldog has a permement trach hole as well. I see that this thread is about 2 years old now but I thought I would lend some support as I am going through the same thing. Gus has had his trach hole since 2010 now and he's been doing great. We have been fighting infections here and there though and most recently quite a serious one. His quality of life was the most important for me and like you if he was going to suffer I too was not going to let that happen. Thinking of your guy!
No experience but
I just wanted to say good luck. From what I've read it appears that you will have to perform a lot of little maintenance type things to keep the trach clean and healthy. Hopefully all will go well and you will have many more years with your baby.