Penny needs her tonsils out

[Zoe bowie]

As you might remember from almost 3 weeks ago, my little dote Penny wasn't well & had spent 3 days & 2 nights in the vets...I have had her back each week since for a check up as her tonsils & glands were still very swollen, I brought her back today & unfortunately her tonsils are still very swollen, so Paul (my vet) thinks they need to come out as she has been on antibiotics & steroids for almost 3 weeks with little improvement

Has anyone experienced this before? I didn't even know that they suffered with this!! Any info would be great.

Also Bonnie needs one of her anal glands removed, again we've been treating her with mess & again no improvement but he also thinks she is asthmatic so we've to get her breathing under control before her op!! It never rains but it pours!

[Karlin]

Never heard of dogs getting tonsils out but if you Google search you can see that it does happen. On asthma -- hmmm -- would really wonder whether these are breed related issues, not asthma or tonsil problems? Cavaliers can have a lot of breathing/throat related problems. See for example:

http://cavalierhealth.com/brachycephalic.htm

I'd always want to be absolutely sure there was no alternative to removing anal glands as sometimes this surgery can cause incontinence, very unpleasant as it involves faeces. But some dogs have endless problems with them and it is truly the best choice. See:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_anal_sacs.html

If an alternative is simply emptying the sacs manually, I'd go for that.

[Mindysmom]

Mindy had infected tonsils (and possibly her tumour had spread there) but our vet said he wouldn't take them out because of the amount of bleeding that would occur. She was also nearly 12 years old and had a tumour in her lymph glands so I'm sure that factored into the decision. I'd imagine there are places that would be equipped to deal with tonsil removal but our vet didn't offer to refer us and at her age and medical condition I wouldn't have pursued another surgery for her.

[arasara]

I was at an internal medicine specialist a few weeks ago for a similar problem.

Faith had to be put out to have a scope down her throat and check out her issues. She has enlarged tonsils also, but it seems to be genetic. They are bilaterally equal and symmetrical, but just big. The specialist told me that she has taken tonsils out of dogs before and that it's a pretty heavy procedure because of the complications surrounding it. Basically, she said unless they caused a significant issue, she wouldn't recommend it.

I would also be looking into whether or not there could be other issues. Has her bloodwork shown any abnormalities? Faith had a "swollen throat" that ended up being eosinophilic granulomas back there. Have you done a biopsy of the tonsil? If it were my dog, I would be searching for other possible explanations. How are her teeth?

Good luck with whatever you decide!!