Hypoplastic Trachea
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- Published on Friday, 06 May 2011 23:18
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Q- BigBulldog, my 12-week old Bulldog puppy had been coughing and wheezing for a few days, so we took him to the vet. He was diagnosed with a hypoplastic trachea. The vet said his condition would worsen and that we may have to put him to sleep. We are very concerned because we love him so much. He still eats well and has energy but coughs at night and seems to get tired quickly. When we contacted the breeder, they said not to worry about it that he would probably grow out of it! Does this make any sense? Even though we love him to pieces, I cannot bear to have my children become more attached to a puppy that we will have to euthanize. Do you have any advice or knowledge on this subject? Thank you, Jackie.
The BigBulldog: Jackie, thank you for your question. This really strikes a nerve with me, so get ready because here it comes. “ DO NOT PUT YOUR DOG TO SLEEP.” If this is your desire, I will take him. Wanna know what I’ll do? I will treat him with antibiotics and gentamicin for about ten days. Then I will wait one month for him to have a growth spurt, then I will sell him to a wonderful family for full price and give a 1 year health guarantee. These half-cocked vets make me furious. I have heard these types of stories many times as well as experienced it personally at least 100 times. In my experience, over 75% of the time when some “specialist vet” diagnoses a severe hypoplastic trachea on a Bulldog pup, he’s wrong.
“IT IS COMMON FOR BULLDOGS TO HAVE A SMALLER THAT NORMAL SIZE TRACHEA…ESPECIALLY AS PUPPIES.
NORMAL SIZE TRACHEA – A normal size trachea is about the thickness of the spine. This is rare in Bulldogs.
LESS THAN ADEQUATE SIZE TRACHEA – Defined as 50-80% less than the spine thickness. This is common in Bulldogs and most of the time they outgrow it.
SEVERLY HYPOPLASTIC TRACHEA –20% or less than the size of their spine. Most of the time, the pup will not survive.
All Bulldogs have some degree of what is referred to as Brachycephalic Syndrome. Basically, this means that they have a pushed in nose. This characteristic is what makes a Bulldog a Bulldog as well as what makes a Bulldog prone to several breathing issues.
The severity of the condition is determined by how much genetic narrowing of the breathing passages has actually occurred. Here are a few symptoms that I have seen:
1. SEVERELY HYPOPLASTIC TRACHEA- Puppy is small, thin and lethargic. He has chronic respiratory infections and pneumonia. He cannot seem to get comfortable no matter what he does. He can’t play with his litter mates and he sits with his head tilted straight back, nose pointing to the sky so his trachea is straightened out and he can breathe. Currently, nothing can be done to remedy this very sad condition. I have NEVER seen this degree of hypoplastic trachea improve. The only humane thing to do here is to euthanize the pup.
2. LESS THAN ADEQUATE SIZE TRACHEA- Puppy is full size and looks healthy. He eats well, has energy and plays. Often times there is no warning of this condition because the trachea is normal size until he is 8-10 weeks old. He then has a growth spurt but the trachea does not grow with the rest of his body. Next, he develops an abnormal cough/wheeze and/or raspy throat sound that often leads to an upper respiratory infection that is difficult to cure. However, he does improve gradually, eats well and remains reasonably energetic.
BEWARE not to confuse these symptoms with a basic cold or pneumonia. Baby Bulldogs can have a normal size trachea and still suffer from upper respiratory issues as well as pneumonia often. We are specifically speaking of hypoplastic tracheas here. In some instances, baby Bulldogs eat so fast that they choke on their kibble and can actually pass out due to lack of oxygen. In a case when you suspect an abnormally small trachea, always soften their kibble with warm water or place a large rock in their bowl so that they actually have to work to get to the food instead of inhale it.
Years ago when the symptoms of LESS THAN ADEQUATE would show, I’d run Bully to the vet and get a chest X-Ray and most of the time Doc would say, “This pup has a less than adequate size trachea. Go home and treat him for upper respiratory infection for 2 weeks and wait a month or two. As you know, he needs to have a big growth spurt so that his trachea can grow to adequate size.” I have seen or heard of this too many times to count through the years. “It’s just a Bulldog Thang.” Sometimes my client will do absolutely the opposite of what I recommend. They believe that ALL VETS ARE THE SAME. Weekly, I receive a phone call or two where a vet scares the heck out of my client by wowing them with their veterinary expertise and scholastic degrees making them believe that I’m nothing more than a stupid know nothing low rent white trash dumb breeder. (I love these guys.)
Hey folks..."ALL" Bulldogs have a smaller than average trachea. Especially when they are pups...
This happens so frequently that I have decided to dedicate a section to them on my website. Name to be determined.
I am not posting this information to make any person look foolish. I have never met this doctor in the story below and know nothing of her character. However, if she is going to give my client WRONG information and advise her to return the dog to me as and suggest KILLING ONE OF MY SWEET BABY BULLDOGS because of her ignorance, then I choose to put the information out there so you can become more educated and BE AWARE of how uninformed a licensed vet can be.
The bottom line is this: the vet stated in writing that the pup had a “SEVERLY HYPOPLASTIC TRACHEA AND SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE BREEDER." SHE ALSO TOLD THEM VERBALLY THAT THE PUP SHOULD BE PUT DOWN.
Fortunately for the Bulldog baby, the client called asked my opinion before they did something drastic. They came over the next day to return the pup as their vet suggested. Instead, we took her to see Dr. Eaton who saw hundreds of Bulldogs per month until her recent retirement. As you see in the .pdf file attached below according to Dr. Eaton, THE PUPS TRACHEA SIZE FOR HER AGE WAS NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY SMALL. NOT SEVERELY HYPOPLASTIC. I might also add that Dr. Eaton was 100% correct in her prognosis of this pup. We medicated her with antibiotics for a couple of weeks and she was healthy thereafter. In fact, two and a half years later, she has had ZERO trachea problems.
Please note to pay special attention to the yellow highlighted areas. A/O means Advice to Owner. The trachea is the dark line that goes down the middle of the baby Bulldog’s chest and dumps into the stomach. What do you think??
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VET RECORDS FROM A SEVERE MIS-DIAGNOSIS OF ONE OF MY PUPPIES.
So Miss Jackie, with all that said, it is my advice to you to get a professional opinion from someone who is very experienced in Bulldog care rather than your average run of the mill vet no matter what letters and or degrees they have after their name. A veterinarian can be your Bulldog’s BEST FRIEND or WORST NIGHTMARE. It is your job to do your homework. I agree with your breeder completely. Keep an eye on him and give him time to grow. It is likely he will be fine in a month or so. Get a Bulldog vet and listen to him. Make sure someone doesn’t just say they are a Bulldog vet but get someone who has seen thousands of Bulldogs. Let me know if I can refer you to one. I have counted over 80 Bulldogs in the waiting room at my vet’s office during a single 2 hour visit. Go figure.
Purchase a healthy English Bulldog puppy, or French Bulldog puppy, visit www.BigBulldogs.com