Retching/ gaging

[boomish]

Our beautiful Dexter has got a bit old now (11) and has a torried time of ill health over the past 2 years after being poisoned from something someone left in the park (people dump rotten food, it drives me crazy).

After thousands of pounds of tests he has come through it all but is now a bit slow, but he does this retching now and again, it's not every day and it's not all the time, but he does it most days, I think a build-up of mucus after he's lied down.

Is this just old age? We've asked the vet lots of times but they haven't found anything despite have lots of blood tests. (always seems a waste of money). After he was poisened he suffered from pneumonia, all of it not helped by going to a nasty vet practice in Richmond called Medivet, a subsequent Vet specialist said it could have been caused by them force-feeding him but because of the gagging the specialist did a lot of tests, including a swallow test to see if there was any obstruction, he was so ill the vet had warned us to expect the worst. However they found nothing, he was treated for pneumonia and has recovered well apart from this odd gagging that he does.

I can't help keep wondering if there is anything I can do to help him, we have changed his diet now on advice from the specialist and tried some anti-acid, but it never goes away. He doesn't seem to be too bothered by it, but I wondered if any others had experience of older Labradoodles doing this.

Appreciate any advice.
Cheers
Alan

[kobi&jazz]

Hi Alan & Dexter. So sorry to hear Dexter not feeling too good. My boy Kobi had this retching sound you describe and the vet suspected he had a tracheal collapse. Has your vet mentioned this?? Give him a hug for me xx

[boomish]

Hi Alan & Dexter. So sorry to hear Dexter not feeling too good. My boy Kobi had this retching sound you describe and the vet suspected he had a tracheal collapse. Has your vet mentioned this?? Give him a hug for me xx

HI Jazz,
thanks so much for your kind message, oh yes I forgot that bit, they did suspect tracheal collapse, they did a swallow test using some X-ray while he ate as they were worried about the cause of his pneumonia, everything looked fine, the only suggestion was diet and possible reflux.

We have moved him to a harness as he does seem to have a sensitive throat, we also had him tested for Pancreatitus recently as every now and again he goes downhill, he starts shaking and seems quite unwell and lethargic. We've been to the vets about 6 times with this kind of random problem, he does a course of anti-biotics and bounces back with a day or so. Maybe hes just old and we should worry so much, but you what its like, as we nearly lost him twice now we are making the most of him every day
I hope Kobi is doing ok.

[kobi&jazz]

Bless him - it is horrible to see them so unwell.
Like Dexter my Kobi was 11 years old, had been treated for colitis and a UTI, antibiotics & Metacam given - had good days followed by bad days. He was 40kg so a big dood who loved his food so when he went off his food I knew this was not a good sign. The vet said they could operate on his trachea but like any operation no guarantee could be given this would be successful. I felt he had gone through so much already and decided against the op. We took each day at a time but sadly in April this year he was so ill I just knew I had to let him go. It was heart-breaking, and I miss him like crazy but you just know when the time comes. Like you say enjoy and make the most of every day, he sounds a lovely fellow who is obviously loved very much. Do keep us posted. Big hugs.

[AnnaB]

Hi Alan, so sorry to hear of Dexter's problems. My little JR Mrs Nest had several months of gaging/choking a year or so ago. Watching her trying to get her breath was so distressing and it frightened her too. The vet's couldn't seem to find a reason for it but did say that it might cause damage to her trachea. We were very careful to avoid any 'activities' that caused her to choke - quiet slow walks, no excitement when greeting people, no going out alone at nights here on the farm to possibly bark/chase passing foxes/badgers etc (this was not a popular restriction with her ladyship I can tell you!). Eventually the problem passed but has left her a bit 'throaty' in that she is snoring when asleep, so I'm pretty sure she has some trachea damage. It also means that we would not agree to her having a GA where a tube was sent down her throat as we have been told that this could cause the trachea to collapse completely. But she is fast approaching 15 so we are ever hopeful that any operations will not be need on the time she has left.
I realise that none of this is really helpful to you, I think time and the avoidance of any 'choke' triggers are all that you can do to help Dexter. Wishing you and him good luck - please keep us informed on his progress.

[Michala100]

My Labradoodle 11 has laryngeal paralysis, I wonder if this is what your dog has. Characterised by a sawing breathing sound, can be accompanied with mobility issues, though in our cases it has just been the breathing issues. Hope your dogs are not too poorly xxx

[boomish]

Thank you for such lovely replies, excuse the long delay in replying I must have missed the notification of a reply.
Dexter did well all through December, still the odd gagging but it seemed less so, he was ill again on Jan 6th week, we woke up to him having been sick everywhere, he looked awful, weirdly only the day before everyone was saying how well he looked, he ended up being at the vet on a drip all-day, they couldn't find anything physically wrong with him, apart from him not eating or drinking for 2 days and looking like he wouldn't last the night. But he bounced back and once he started eating was back to himself.. Gosh every time it feels awful watching him get ill, maybe we are just sad over-worried dog people I don't know, but you know what they are like, they look so sad, you can't help feel dreadful for them when they are poorly.

One thing the Vet suggested which we haven't heard before was a hormone imbalance, Addisons Disease, it's quite rare she said but it does fit his random symptoms of getting unwell. So we shall be getting tests for that at the end of the month.

One quick question although I know the answer is going to be impossible to achieve, any food suggestions? we currently still have him on Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Dog - Hypoallergenic DR 21, as recommended the last time he was unwell as they think it might be an allergic to a specific protein. I did send off for a Dog DNA test (the vet thought it was probably useless) and it did show a mild reaction to chicken. So we avoid that now. The vet said once he is well is try him on different protein foods and see if he reacts, she also warned not to put him on RAW food as the bacteria could be disastrous for his system. We have tried a few different hi quality foods, and he seems fine on any however his coat is a lot dryer since moving him from the Hill Science Plan Mature adult he was on for many years, he had a strange oily black marks on his tail we never could find out what it was until we switched food and it went away.

Sorry for the rambling post..

Dexter says hi...Typically posing with his crossed paws:)

[kobi&jazz]

Hi Dexter & Alan
Lovely to hear from you . I was wondering how Dexter was getting on.

Re food - I am presuming it is a wet food you are looking for? If so have you had a look at the Forthglade range? They have a wide variety to choose from. How about giving Dexter a tin of sardines a couple of times a week, the oily fish is good for skin\hair. I also give my girl Jazz a teaspoon of coconut oil a few times a week as she tends to get a dry coat.

Like you say it is horrible seeing them poorly, they cant tell us what's going on so we can only do what we feel is going to help.
Sending you and Dexter healing hugs. Do keep us posted .

[boomish]

Hi Dexter & Alan
Lovely to hear from you . I was wondering how Dexter was getting on.

Re food - I am presuming it is a wet food you are looking for? If so have you had a look at the Forthglade range? They have a wide variety to choose from. How about giving Dexter a tin of sardines a couple of times a week, the oily fish is good for skin\hair. I also give my girl Jazz a teaspoon of coconut oil a few times a week as she tends to get a dry coat.

Like you say it is horrible seeing them poorly, they cant tell us what's going on so we can only do what we feel is going to help.
Sending you and Dexter healing hugs. Do keep us posted .

Sorry for the late reply Kobi & Jazz, only just seen I missed a notification (it was my birthday that day) it had got lost in the myriad of emails my inbox seems to be now full off:)Thank you for the wonderfully kind message of support and helpful tips! Thats so nice of you to take the time.

Dexter has been very well at the moment, we settled on some "Fishmongers Finest" from Pets at Home, it seems like its got a very high fish content, then we add in some wet food called Fishmonger senior. He seems to like that and has been quite bouncy lately. Good tip on the sardines we have done that before, though I never knew about coconut oil. I've started taking him to a dogs swimming therapy pool when we can, he's not sure about it but hopefully he'll get used to it, he loves swimming and it really helps his legs.

Take care

Alan

[AnnaB]

Hi Alan, just wanted to thank you for the update and to say how glad I am that Dexter is feeling so much better. Best wishes to both of you and your family.

[kobi&jazz]

Hi Alan & Dexter,
Lovely to hear from you and so happy to hear Dexter is doing well.
May I ask if any further news on the Addisons? The reason I ask is my girl Jazz has been a little poorly - drinking gallons of water leading to what seemed like constant weeing. Took her to vets who
1) tested for water infection - No.
2) Tested for diabetes - No.
3) Took ultra sound scans to see if anything there that shouldn't have been - No.
They now want to test for Addisons but to be honest I (and Jazz) am losing faith in them. They did say she had a grade 2/3 heart murmur but they did not seem overly worried about that.
In herself she is now fine - the drinking is back to normal therefore the weeing is normal, again this confused me as she wasn't treated with anything
I have noticed she seems a little weak at times in her back legs so have started her on the Yu-Move Senior, which has a higher dose of green lipped muscle and I do think it has helped.
I will have a look at the food you mentioned .
Good to hear about the swimming.
Do keep us posted - by the way you don't get notifications to your post's, you just have to keep checking which can be done without having to log in.
Stay warm and healthy x

[boomish]

HI Kobi & Jazz,

We still haven't had the Addisons test, we did try to book it but had to cancel, 1 we realised it was going to be a lot more money than we had been told previously and 2 he seems so well at the moment. We will book him for it though as I feel it would be nice to know for sure.
Not sure about the water drinking, Dexter I think gets lazy he'll eventually go fora drink then sits and drink loads, he much prefers the water in the garden so we go around topping that up with the filter water
I was looking at switching him to the You-Move senior as well, I found it tricky to find supplier though, on the YuMOVE website it seems to have been replaced with YUMove plus. I can get it from Amazon but it's expensive and only in a 240 tablet box. But we give him green lipped muscle as an extra anyway so undecided at the moment. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

Be interested what you think of the Fishermans finest, only complaint is they don't do large bags, there are lots of requests for it on Pets at Home website.
Take care x