Brachycephalic surgery/soft palate reduction - recovery advise please!

[emmaf87]

Hi there,

I’m helping out a rescue and fostering a 6 year old Frenchie who underwent brachycephalic surgery 4 days ago - they removed a large chunk of his palate and surgically widened his nostrils. Thus far, recovery has been much worse than I anticipated which I’m sure is partially because of his age. They also said he had a fairly extreme case because his palate was so enlarged so has a ton of welling and inflammation in his throat right now from the procedure. This is his fourth day home and he’s still coughing/reverse sneezing badly when awake. He sleeps ok but wakes up to cough about every 45 minutes. So far I haven’t seen an improvement and am anxiously waiting for him to turn the corner. He’s eating and drinking well but the cough is not improving. The vet said to give it a few days but I’m starting to get worried. Has anyone else experienced this during the recovery phase? He’s on an anti inflammatory, pain med, and sedative to keep calm.

Thanks - Emma

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

I’m sorry to hear he is going thru this!

My Frenchie had his soft palate surgery, everted largneal saccules take out and opened his nostrils all the same surgery.
He had the surgery in November and he recovered better than the vet thought but he had quite the cough during the recovery(I think it lasted 4 or 5 days after the surgery day). He came home the day of surgery.

Is he eating soft wet food??? That will help with the swelling and inflammation cause it’s easier on the throat. I recommend staying off kibble until he is recovered.

I gave Rusty small meal(breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack before bed) so the meals are smaller and it’s soft food. That really helped Rusty’s recovery and with the coughing. The surgeon told us the coughing can create more swelling and to do everything possible to eliminate the coughing.

Can you cook for him?? Or you can buy store bought gently cooked which really helped Rusty recover(the extra carbs in the food create inflammation and that can make things worse for swelling).
Try not to let him bark cause that also can cause swelling.

The store bought gently cooked foods I used were:

Open farm gently cooked
Raised right gently cooked

I also did cook for him. All those are balanced and low carb options!

Rusty’s throat took about 3-4 weeks before fully healing, he wasn’t allowed to play or go for walks or bark or anything. We limited it until 11 weeks before letting him race around and playing(just let him play a little bit at a time and see how he does then let him do a little bit more after each week after the 4 weeks of rest). I didn’t want him to overdo it!

I didn’t see immediate improvement because I didn’t let him play during the first 4 weeks.
He is so much better and can breathe properly, hardly ever snores anymore(he used to wake me up cause he was so loud), he can go for walks and race around the house with my other dogs without issue now.

Keep us updated!

 

[emmaf87]

Thanks for the reply - that puts me at ease hearing from someone else who experienced this during recovery. This is his fourth day post surgery so hopefully it starts to wane any day now. It’s horrible to listen to! I’ve been trying to keep him sleeping as much as possible since that’s when he seems to be most comfortable and the cough finally subsides.

I have him on a basic ingredient soft food (lamb) from blue Buffalo. The shelter had him on Blue Buffalo kibble before this so I thought it best to stick with the same formula through this whole ordeal. I’ve been giving it to him in small meals throughout the day and even mix in a little water to keep him hydrated.

This is day 3/4 without a poop post surgery. Is this normal after a procedure? When should I start to be concerned?

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Thanks for the reply - that puts me at ease hearing from someone else who experienced this during recovery. This is his fourth day post surgery so hopefully it starts to wane any day now. It’s horrible to listen to! I’ve been trying to keep him sleeping as much as possible since that’s when he seems to be most comfortable and the cough finally subsides.

I have him on a basic ingredient soft food (lamb) from blue Buffalo. The shelter had him on Blue Buffalo kibble before this so I thought it best to stick with the same formula through this whole ordeal. I’ve been giving it to him in small meals throughout the day and even mix in a little water to keep him hydrated.

This is day 3/4 without a poop post surgery. Is this normal after a procedure? When should I start to be concerned?

That’s good to hear you have him on wet food and give several meals and add water to it(I always add water to his homemade food) and it’s definitely better than kibble for the throat.

The cough is more of irritation from the intubation tube that irritates the throat.

Rusty had that side effect from the anti inflammatory medication for 2 days and I was worried and I stopped the ani inflammatory medicine and started giving him CBD oil instead which is also anti inflammatory with no side effects. Once I stopped the anti inflammatory meds and started CBD oil he was feeling much better(I think the CBD oil was more effective for the inflammation and pain) and since the anti inflammatory meds was stopped, problem solved and he did go to the bathroom.

Now every time the vet wants me to give him the anti inflammatory meds I say no thank you and give the CBD oil only if it’s needed. No one tells you the side effects of those meds unfortunately!

Hope he gets better soon!

Keep us updated!

 

[emmaf87]

Update - Diesel’s cough finally started to subside yesterday. I think he’s finally rounding the corner. This morning he spit up a huge ball of gooey flem which had me worried for a bit but he seems to be feeling fine now. Perhaps it was just an accumulation of gunk that had built up in his throat? I’ll be bringing him back in to the vet on Wednesday for his 1 week check up.

Do you have any CBD recommendations to help with inflammation?

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Update - Diesel’s cough finally started to subside yesterday. I think he’s finally rounding the corner. This morning he spit up a huge ball of gooey flem which had me worried for a bit but he seems to be feeling fine now. Perhaps it was just an accumulation of gunk that had built up in his throat? I’ll be bringing him back in to the vet on Wednesday for his 1 week check up.

Do you have any CBD recommendations to help with inflammation?

That’s awesome his cough is getting better!

The vomit was probably build up in his throat. Hopefully he doesn’t vomit anymore cause you don’t want him getting aspiration pneumonia.

I used the brand Hemp 4 paws(I used the small breed for his weight of 22lb ). This one doesn’t contain any THC. Ideally look for CBD oil without THC in it.
They usually come in certain concentrations for the weight of the dog. I have only had to use it on Rusty for the palate surgery and 1 other time(which was only for 2 days).

How is he doing otherwise? Still tired and painful? Is he getting more playful?

The hardest part with Rusty’s recovery other than the cough was to not let him play or bark(he wanted to play the next day and the following week he was ready to race around the house).

Did the digestion issue from the medication go away? If he still is on the meds you can give him a probiotic to help if he needs it.
How long is he on the meds for?

Just curious cause Rusty was on anti nausea meds for first 4 days and then he had the anti inflammatory meds for the first week and if needed we could go back and get more but with the ‘side effect’ he had we didn’t get anymore of the anti inflammatory meds, just continued with CBD oil for a week or 2.


Keep us updated on how he does with recovery and how the appointment goes!

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

How did Diesel’s vet appointment go today??
How is his cough????
How is he feeling, is he getting more playful, and back to his normal self???

Keep us updated!

 

[2bullymama]

Update - Diesel’s cough finally started to subside yesterday. I think he’s finally rounding the corner. This morning he spit up a huge ball of gooey flem which had me worried for a bit but he seems to be feeling fine now. Perhaps it was just an accumulation of gunk that had built up in his throat? I’ll be bringing him back in to the vet on Wednesday for his 1 week check up.

Do you have any CBD recommendations to help with inflammation?

How did his follow up go? Thank you for fostering and helping this baby heal

 

[henwilson12]

i haven't gone through exactly what you're dealing with, but my dog had surgery too (tplo surgery to be exact). how's your frenchie doing now?