Dexter's Story

Dexter is my beloved, incredibly gentle yellow Labrador. I adopted him via a local rescue when he was a year old.  

When he was nine, Dex started panting more heavily on walks. As we were in the middle of a hot summer, I put this down to the weather and simply decreased his exercise. 

 Then he started panting at night.  Quite a lot. I opened all the windows and put a fan in the room.  No improvement.  

Like many people, my first step was to turn to google. As soon as I typed in 'increased panting' and his breed, I was faced with entry after entry about Laryngeal Paralysis.  

With a real sense of impending doom,  I began reading.

It quickly became clear that Labradors are the breed most affected by Laryngeal Paralysis (LP).

Dex had the exercise and heat intolerance described in the articles. But he didn't have 'stridor' - the wheezing sound that happens when the affected dog breathes, that is so typical of this condition.

Nor had he lost his bark - another fairly common symptom.    Armed with all this information, off we went to the vet.   Dex had been with the same practice for nine years, and I'd never had cause to complain about them. 

Yet when I asked about LP, the vet looked me in the eye and stated categorically:  'Your dog's breathing is far too quiet and calm for Laryngeal Paralysis. He doesn't have it.'  

 And that, apparently, was that. 

The vet declined to do any tests and advised me to 'try and keep Dex calm'.  I pointed out that he was hardly doing anything energetic in the middle of the night.  The vet could not have been less interested.

Feeling utterly dismissed, I walked out, and  knew I would not be returning.

The panting at night continued - and increased.  

Then Dex began panting heavily during the day. I made an appointment with another local vet - this one even more experienced than the original one.  

She gave Dex a thorough examination and then shook her head. 'I really don't think it's Laryngeal Paralysis.  But I agree the panting should be investigated.  Let's start with a chest x ray.'  

And when she did the x ray, she took a quick look at his throat and larynx. She then informed me that yes - the left side 'is showing slight paralysis'.  

I'd wanted so badly to be wrong.  

The research began;  I read anything and everything about Laryngeal Paralysis.  After hours in obscure forums and online chat groups, learning about a plethora of weird and wonderful remedies and treatments that owners were trying.  I would then phone our new vet and ask about each one. 

We started - at her suggestion - with Vitofyllin (also known as Vivitonin). This helped a tiny bit but not for very long.  

Then, with the help of a facebook forum, I learned that many LP dogs also suffer acid reflux. This made sense of the retching and gagging that Dex had now started suffering at night.  

The vet, when I spoke to her, mused 'Oh yes, yes, quite a lot of dogs with LarPar get reflux.'  I bit my tongue and resisted the urge to throttle her with Dex's lead.

So Dex started taking an anti acid and I also researched homeopathy and found some remedies that might help.  

And through it all, there loomed the spectre of Tie Back surgery.  

The mere idea of throat surgery filled me with fear.  I mean, I can't even swallow tablets, for crying out loud. So no way did I want to put my boy through that.     

I gathered that while it was fairly popular for LP dogs in America, here in the UK many primary vets were negative about the benefits.  

Indeed, our vet - to whom we'd now been going for a year - informed me:  'I don't recommend surgery. It's really just what owners do so they can feel as though they're doing something.'  

Hardly a ringing endorsement. 

 I asked the vet if there was anything I could give Dex to keep him calm.  The ultimate fear of any owner with an LP dog is that they experience a breathing crisis - i.e. the larynx freezes on both sides and the dog suffocates to death.  

The vet prescribed Gabapentin.  This kept Dex calm and did seem to ease the panting attacks a bit. 

But his world was shrinking. 

Walks were down to ten minutes or less. I dreaded anything that made him excited or animated as this exacerbated the panting somewhat. 

What sort of life was this for a now almost 11 year old dog....?  

Then one night, as he was suffering yet another panting attack and I was sitting with him, trying desperately to keep him cool with a wet cloth,  Dex looked at me. I can only describe the expression in his eyes as pure panic.  

And it hit me - I was letting MY fear of the surgery  stop my beloved dog from having a chance at breathing comfortably.  

The next morning I told the vet I wanted an urgent referral to the Royal Veterinary College.  

I'd learned the ideal is to find a surgeon who has done over one hundred Tie Back operations, and has a high success rate (i.e. dogs don't immediately suffer Aspiration Pneumonia or other complications).  

We saw a lovely surgeon but when I  asked how many Tie Back's he'd done, the response was a hesitant: 'I think, around 40.'  

And there was another problem.   A small lump that Dex had for years, had started growing more swiftly and was now the size of a melon.  There was no way Dex could hae two separate anaesthetics; I needed a surgeon who would do both operations at the same time.

Meanwhile, our current vet was being incredibly negative about the mere idea of Tie Back surgery.  I moved Dex again,  and the new vet was far more encouraging.

He immediately recommended Davies Vet Specialists in Hitchin, Herts.  They had, he told me, saved his cat's life.   

When I called to make the appointment, I was given the name of the surgeon we'd be seeing. I looked for her on the Davies website but couldn't find her.  When I called back and asked why,  it transpired  she was a locum who had been there for five weeks....  

No. Just.... No.  She might have been brilliant.  But I wasn't taking any chances. 

I asked to be assigned to someone more experienced and the lovely lady with whom I was  speaking got me an appointment with Mr Ronan Doyle - the head of the soft tissue department.  

I googled him, of course.  He appeared to be highly experienced with LP and Tie Back and had produced a podcast on LP.  I felt cautiously optimistic.  

The consult went well. 

Mr Doyle was clearly a total expert on LP. Crucially, he was also happy to remove the huge mass on Dex's flank. 

And so two weeks later,   I was back at Davies,  watching Dex trot off happily with his new friends, the nurses who were taking him for his pre-op tests.

Two hours later, the surgeon phoned me to confirm that he'd scoped Dex: his larynx was 100% paralysed on one side and 99% on the other.   In other words -   his breathing was severely compromised and he was getting hardly any oxygen.   Goodness knows how close he came to suffering a breathing crisis.  

Tie-Back usually takes about forty-five minutes - but because Dex was also having a huge mass removed, he was in surgery for around three and a half hours.   At a local cafe, I sat and watched the clock.  When  the call from the surgeon finally came to say that the ops had gone smoothly, I sobbed with sheer relief.

Some dogs get to go home the same day as having Tie Back or a day later.  Dex was subdued after surgery and wasn't eating so the team kept him in for an extra two days just to be on the safe side.   I phoned a few times each day for updates and felt lost without my constant companion - we'd only been apart for one week in the entire twelve years since I adopted him.

Dex's recovery from Tie Back was remarkably smooth.   He was tired and subdued for about three days while the anaesthetic left his system. Five days post surgery, he was eating normally and breathing easily - it was  wonderful to see.

The surgeon advised not letting Dex go up and down stairs for a few weeks as it was vital to keep the stitches from rupturing.  So I slept downstairs with Dex for a month.   It's also advised that dogs don't bark post surgery for a good few weeks - easier said ithan done when you have a lively, vocal Labrador!   I disabled the doorbell and anyone who came to the house had to text or phone when they arrived.

One worry for any dog with LP is Aspiration Pneumonia(AP)  This is when tiny particles of food or dust get past the larynx and onto the lungs.   If not caught early, AP can be extremely serious, even fatal.

Any dog with LP - whether they have surgery or not - can develop AP, because the larynx is not working properly.

In a bid to prevent AP many owners change how they feed their dogs post tie-back.   Avoiding dry kibble is a popular choice as it can be 'dusty'.     It's also vital to try and get any reflux and regurgitation under control as these can increase the chances of AP.

Following the advice I got from other owners, I switched to hand feeding Dex kibble that had been briefly soaked.  I also started him on FreshPet which several people had found helped avoid reflux.    Being a typical Lab, Dex was happy to eat anything, any way, any time.

It is now almost two years since Dex had Tie Back.  Warmer weather is still a problem - a dog who has had surgery only has a 50% functioning larynx.  So when the sun's out, we walk early in the morning or late in the evening.  In cooler weather, Dex can happily do a 45 minute walk and if allowed, would still chase the girls and the squirrels.

He has regained his wonderful sense of fun and mischief which is a joy to see.

My one big regret?   Not pursuing surgery sooner, and not getting Dex to a specialist faster.