My tri-color, Puppers, went to the Vet yesterday for a dental cleaning. We're not sure how old Puppers is as we adopted her. We think she is going on 8 years old.
Puppers has had few health problems, but even with brushing her teeth have been bad and it was past time for a dental. When I called the vet I was told that they had not been able to clean her teeth as they could not insert a tube in her throat for the anesthesia. Her throat was swollen and the tube would not go in.
The vet tried a bronchioscope, but the throat was so swollen it only it a blockage. He put in a very small tube which passed to the top of the lungs. The throat was swollen past where she swallows.
From the lungs came a phelgmy liquid with "chunks" of something. He has no idea what these chunks are. He says they look like trachea bits (but aren't) and crumble when you touch them. He sent the stuff off to a lab for pathology.
He gave her penicillin and steroids. He says the results will be in in about a week. Meanwhile Puppers is home and now has a dry hacking cough which seems to scare her at times. The vet said her throat was irritated from the tubes and this was "normal.'
I asked if it was cancer or a bacterial infection and he has no idea. He says he is "puzzled" and "baffled" and has never seen anything like this.
So now we wait and hope. Vet will probably refer us to a specialist but at this point he has no idea what kind of a specialist he would send us to.
Puppers is my 5th Cavalier -- I've had Cavaliers since the 1980s. I've had dogs with MVD and wonder if she has fluid in her lungs from MVD, but that wouldn't explain the chunks and so far no sign of a heart murmur. Vet says lungs sound clear (which is just plain weird).
Any ideas?
Puppers has had few health problems, but even with brushing her teeth have been bad and it was past time for a dental. When I called the vet I was told that they had not been able to clean her teeth as they could not insert a tube in her throat for the anesthesia. Her throat was swollen and the tube would not go in.
The vet tried a bronchioscope, but the throat was so swollen it only it a blockage. He put in a very small tube which passed to the top of the lungs. The throat was swollen past where she swallows.
From the lungs came a phelgmy liquid with "chunks" of something. He has no idea what these chunks are. He says they look like trachea bits (but aren't) and crumble when you touch them. He sent the stuff off to a lab for pathology.
He gave her penicillin and steroids. He says the results will be in in about a week. Meanwhile Puppers is home and now has a dry hacking cough which seems to scare her at times. The vet said her throat was irritated from the tubes and this was "normal.'
I asked if it was cancer or a bacterial infection and he has no idea. He says he is "puzzled" and "baffled" and has never seen anything like this.
So now we wait and hope. Vet will probably refer us to a specialist but at this point he has no idea what kind of a specialist he would send us to.
Puppers is my 5th Cavalier -- I've had Cavaliers since the 1980s. I've had dogs with MVD and wonder if she has fluid in her lungs from MVD, but that wouldn't explain the chunks and so far no sign of a heart murmur. Vet says lungs sound clear (which is just plain weird).
Any ideas?