Laryngeal Paralysis An American Bully Killer?

This condition is seen in other breeds of dogs such as Irish Setters and Labrador Retrievers. Generally it's trauma to the neck and throat, also tumors or space occupying lesions in the neck that can cause this condition. What's happening in the case of Bullies? And why are we seeing more of these issues when none of these dogs are related to Labradors or Setters? There are a couple of reasons this is happening. One is the size of the bullies neck muscles.  The neck muscles are taking up space in the neck making it hard to breath where the air is being forced into a narrow hole encroached by muscles; and the second issue is a small trachea.  Either one of these issues can cause a health problem, more so the small trachea. If the two issues are present together it can quickly become a disaster.



Bon Petite has both issues. She has huge neck muscles and the trachea the size of a Frenchy. This is very unfortunate and this happens more often than most people are aware of. Fortunately she was the only one out of the litter of 9 who came out this way. Thank goodness we are breeders with enough experience to know from her 1st week of life she was going to have issues. in this case it was Dawghouse Bullies and VenonIine who decided she would be best not sold. She stayed with us. I would say the majority of breeders would have unethically put a high price tag on her and sold her or worse yet tried to breed her.



When producing heavily muscled bullies, breeding a larger dog with a smaller dog this condition is possible and can appear generations later. Breeding to create a size especially dwarfy should be left to experienced breeders. That is to be another topic for another day. Back to the issue.



What are the symptoms Of Laryngeal Paralysis? This is a tough one to spot because the symptoms are shortage of breath, noisy breathing or a cough(dysphonia). Coughing will happen after exertion or when the dog drinks water. Their bark changes and you may hear a clicky sound when they swallow. You may see a bluish tinge to the tongue or gums and your dog may collapse. A good rule of thumb is if the dog appears to be struggling go to the vet immediately. These symptoms can be confused for heart problems, kennel cough or Bronchitis. This is a condition that is under diagnosed.  Vets and pet owners need to be made aware that bullies can suffer from this, especially the thick necked bullies. Ultimately to diagnose this the vet will need to examine the larynx with an endoscope or Laryngoscope.



After diagnosis to most other breeds mild to moderate Paralysis can be treated with Anti-inflammatory drugs such as Prednisone, antibiotics, cough suppressant, and sedatives. A lot of times these dogs who suffer from this are older, closer to their end of days. There are current studies of drugs on the market effectiveness to this condition. Unfortunately there is no proof whether these new drugs work or not. Bon Petite is currently on Prednisone, sedative and cough suppressant.



When there is an increased respiratory effort constantly and clearly your dog cannot relax because of it and the endoscope shows a collapse surgery is needed. One procedure is arytenoid lateralization by tie-back.  They basically go in and tie back the cartilage that is collapsed out of the way so the dog can breath better again. Complication, This procedure will work for 1-2 months before the right Laryngeal wall collapses into the left wall and for bullies with large neck muscles this can leave the dog in worse shape than they began, the dog winds up smothering to a horrible death.  This has been proven to be successful and an excellent way to continue life for small or old calm dogs with no myostatin defects. However even in regular dogs this does not restore Laryngeal function. Another option is a partial arytenoidectomy, 25%-50% of each arytenoid is removed. A Laryngeal stent Can also be put in which has a high complication rate and tend to easily be displaced or have a thickened granulation tissue ingrowth. Lastly there is a permanent tracheostomy where they make a new hole for the dog to breath through. Again, this procedure works best in small dogs or older calm dogs. Young larger dogs can also do ok but they need constant monitoring and they cannot go near water.


Bon Petite's Doctor's name is Dr. Patrick Flynn from Veterinary Specialty Hospital. This was the Doctor we used for Bon Petite's 1st surgery. She suffered from Brachycephalic Airway syndrome with soft palate. We corrected this and did a nare resection, he reduced the size of her pallet and increase the size of the nostrils. As Dr. Flynn was reducing the size of her soft palate he notice her small trachea. He new Laryngeal paralysis was going to be a problem due to her large muscles around her neck. He was right. Between the both of us, after he discussed the high risk this would be, and in her case even worse because of her myostatin defect, we felt it would be best to perform humane euthanasia instead of attempting a permanent tracheostomy or partial arytenoidectomy. Our shared fear was her smothering to her death. We remembered how hard it was for her to recover 1st surgery, which left her in ICU for days because her O2 levels in her blood would not stay up, they kept dropping to dangerous lows and Dr. Flynn also had to use hoses down her nostrils into her lungs so she could breath because her throat inflamed shut from the soft palate surgery.  Let me tell you how bad she suffered and almost didn't make it. She was young and resilient then, now we are years later confronted with a considerably invasive surgery. I cannot in my right mind keep doing this to her.





As for now! She is happy, we keep her as comfortable as we can and she is still full of spunk. She is on medication and the medication is making her comfortable at the moment as you can see in this video she is still having a very fun-filled life that will soon end. But for now we let her have all the fun she wants :)  This is what she does before my morning coffee. She's 1,000 steps ahead of me and she has no idea she has problems. In a sense I wished I was more like her!