Nicole G
Member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2016
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- 205
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Hi all! It's been A WHILE since I posted on here, so I hope you're all doing well.
As you may remember, I have a (now) 8 year old Frenchie girl, Ella. She is my everything, through and through, and when she was a baby we used to share a lot on here but life has just gotten crazy the last few years. For those of you on IG, I'm sure you've probably seen us go by as I think I followed any of you from the IG thread years ago, so hi if you're reading this!
I'm posting today asking for help because she is suddenly, out of nowhere, having breathing problems and I am legit terrified of what this could be. I want to start out by saying that of course the first thing I did was take her to the vet, and when it didn't get any better, for a second opinion at another vet. Both of them were...not as concerned as I feel like they should be, as they blamed it on "Frenchie noises" and let us go. So here's the whole story: E has always been a bit of a weird breather when she sleeps. Her ribcage moves a lot, and she tends to snore, and would occasionally make a "whooping" kind of snore, but other than me shifting her to get her into a better position sometimes, it would always resolve itself in a few minutes. It would also come and go and get worse sometimes with allergies or reflux (she tends to get reflux), but always subside and she'd go back to breathing fairly quietly. Until...the last week. Since then, the noisy breathing, the ribcage movement, and the noise I can only explain as stridor, squeaking and a sound like her airway is closing have magnified times a thousand. The minute she relaxes into sleep, she starts to literally squeak like a whistle, and I hear this noise that sounds like air being sucked through a straw. It's a raspy roaring sound with the squeak of her trying to inhale and her ribcage pulls very hard with each inhalation. The only time it stops in her sleep is if I can get her into a position where she's actively snoring - then her ribcage is normal and she doesn't seem to struggle to inhale. However, when she's awake, her breathing is perfect like it's always been - she walks at least 2 miles with me every single day and doesn't make a sound, plays ball very hard at the park (so heavy cardio) and doesn't even pant. She makes no clicking, choking or breathing sounds when she's awake, no signs of respiratory distress, nothing at all - it's just when she's sleeping. The only thing she does to when awake, which again she's always done, but is still strange, is sigh a lot. She's also had chest xrays, ultrasounds, bloodwork in the last couple of months (right before this all got bad) - all totally clear. But If she lays out on her side, the noises are even worse. I've attached two videos of her doing this, with a small mic near her nose so you can really hear it. Watch her ribcage and listen to the noises - this is what I've showed both vets.
It is terrifying to me as I feel, honestly, like she's suffocating in her sleep. I've rushed her to vets twice this week and shown them video of her sleeping, spent countless hours awake shifting her to better positions and crying because I feel like her breathing is just going to stop, talked on the phone with an ER vet all night trying to explain what she was doing, and thrown out everything that could be an allergen for her. The only thing that I could possibly think of is an allergen - she has had a new bag of food with flaxseed in it the last week or so, and she had a few pieces of it each day. Maybe it's that? But I've monitored her respiratory rate, given her the anti-inflammatory the first vet gave us (half a tablet of temaril P twice a day), and checked her tongue every few hours to make sure it's still pink and not blue...and can not figure this out.
Please help me here. My family thinks I'm crazy and the vets don't think there's any problem, and keep telling me that it's just BOAS. Trust me, my friend is a preservation breeder, and these dogs (particularly this dog) are my life. I'm well aware of their issues, and I've had my baby for her entire life - she's never showed any outright signs of BOAS. This is not that. This is new, or something is making the minor weird breathing that she's always done a million times worse. Have any of you got any advice, or have you seen this before? Is she in any danger? And what can I do to stop it? I'm terrified I'm going to lose my best friend.
As you may remember, I have a (now) 8 year old Frenchie girl, Ella. She is my everything, through and through, and when she was a baby we used to share a lot on here but life has just gotten crazy the last few years. For those of you on IG, I'm sure you've probably seen us go by as I think I followed any of you from the IG thread years ago, so hi if you're reading this!
I'm posting today asking for help because she is suddenly, out of nowhere, having breathing problems and I am legit terrified of what this could be. I want to start out by saying that of course the first thing I did was take her to the vet, and when it didn't get any better, for a second opinion at another vet. Both of them were...not as concerned as I feel like they should be, as they blamed it on "Frenchie noises" and let us go. So here's the whole story: E has always been a bit of a weird breather when she sleeps. Her ribcage moves a lot, and she tends to snore, and would occasionally make a "whooping" kind of snore, but other than me shifting her to get her into a better position sometimes, it would always resolve itself in a few minutes. It would also come and go and get worse sometimes with allergies or reflux (she tends to get reflux), but always subside and she'd go back to breathing fairly quietly. Until...the last week. Since then, the noisy breathing, the ribcage movement, and the noise I can only explain as stridor, squeaking and a sound like her airway is closing have magnified times a thousand. The minute she relaxes into sleep, she starts to literally squeak like a whistle, and I hear this noise that sounds like air being sucked through a straw. It's a raspy roaring sound with the squeak of her trying to inhale and her ribcage pulls very hard with each inhalation. The only time it stops in her sleep is if I can get her into a position where she's actively snoring - then her ribcage is normal and she doesn't seem to struggle to inhale. However, when she's awake, her breathing is perfect like it's always been - she walks at least 2 miles with me every single day and doesn't make a sound, plays ball very hard at the park (so heavy cardio) and doesn't even pant. She makes no clicking, choking or breathing sounds when she's awake, no signs of respiratory distress, nothing at all - it's just when she's sleeping. The only thing she does to when awake, which again she's always done, but is still strange, is sigh a lot. She's also had chest xrays, ultrasounds, bloodwork in the last couple of months (right before this all got bad) - all totally clear. But If she lays out on her side, the noises are even worse. I've attached two videos of her doing this, with a small mic near her nose so you can really hear it. Watch her ribcage and listen to the noises - this is what I've showed both vets.
It is terrifying to me as I feel, honestly, like she's suffocating in her sleep. I've rushed her to vets twice this week and shown them video of her sleeping, spent countless hours awake shifting her to better positions and crying because I feel like her breathing is just going to stop, talked on the phone with an ER vet all night trying to explain what she was doing, and thrown out everything that could be an allergen for her. The only thing that I could possibly think of is an allergen - she has had a new bag of food with flaxseed in it the last week or so, and she had a few pieces of it each day. Maybe it's that? But I've monitored her respiratory rate, given her the anti-inflammatory the first vet gave us (half a tablet of temaril P twice a day), and checked her tongue every few hours to make sure it's still pink and not blue...and can not figure this out.
Please help me here. My family thinks I'm crazy and the vets don't think there's any problem, and keep telling me that it's just BOAS. Trust me, my friend is a preservation breeder, and these dogs (particularly this dog) are my life. I'm well aware of their issues, and I've had my baby for her entire life - she's never showed any outright signs of BOAS. This is not that. This is new, or something is making the minor weird breathing that she's always done a million times worse. Have any of you got any advice, or have you seen this before? Is she in any danger? And what can I do to stop it? I'm terrified I'm going to lose my best friend.
