Paralysed trachea/coughing/droopy eyelid

[kathie738p]

My 9yr old (Julia Mary) developed this horrible wracking cough afew days ago and it was accompanied by a droopy lower eyelid...she is unable to bark as well.
My husband took her to the Vet's yesterday and he said the flaps in her throat are paralysed and the eye problem is connected to this.
Has anyone experienced this condition with there dog?
Were waiting for blood work to come back but I would feel better if I knew someone who has been through this....thanks for any info.

[Bruce Lanthier]

Sounds like she had a stroke to me.

[moondog]

I've heard of a collapsed trachea, where the cartilage is weakened, but that's not like what you're describing. Julia Mary's almost sounds stroke-like, did the vet mention that possibility? I think I'd want a neurologist to take a look at her.

Can she swallow and eat okay? I wonder if the coughing could be from aspirating food?

You must be worried sick, I hope it's just a temporary condition. Please let us know what the vet says.

[kathie738p]

Got a call about the blood work...nothing unusual there. The Vet said the eye problem is called Horner Syndrome and the other part is Laringial paralysis he has not come across the two things happening together. We have an appointment on Tues. with a neurologist. If it is a stroke nothing is involved but the throat and the lower eyelid...

[luv2beanurse]

Definetly does sound like a stroke, seriously. But hey I am not a vet. I would definietly be keeping a close eye on her eating and drinking. Question: Did the coughing start before the eye drooping. From a medical point of view (human)..if she did stroke...it could affect her swallowing reflex..hence aspirating fluids and food into the lungs...causing pneumonia. Usually when strokes are a possibility the head should be CT scanned and an MRI performed (of the head). And if positive for CVA..I would definitely want a doppler ultrasound of the caroids..and a chest Xray should be done as well. It will rule out aspiration and any asymptomatic PEs. In humans, if they even suspect CVA, you are NPO until these tests are done and then a swallow evaluation is performed to prevent possible aspiration...b/c that would just really suck to develop pneumonia on top of a CVA and its deficits. Unfortuately there are no labs that specifically will indicate problems in the brain..I mean, if it was a MI then cardiac enzymes could be done..But this is different.. Labs could show an increased WBC (which indicates infection somewhere)..or low Hemocrit and hemoglobin (which is bleeding somewhere)..So I would depend on labs so much unless it is for a specific test for a specific diagnoses. How did vet conclude these diagnoses? Any diagnostics? Or just a conclusion from looking at dog?..... So, all in all, I am glad you are going to see a neurologist...but in the mean time..keep an eye on her respirations..if she starts sounding junky (lungs sounding wet...maybe wheezey-which indicate different problems), get her to the vet ASAP. Good luck..PLEASE keep us upadated.

[kathie738p]

Thank you so much for your reply.
A few weeks ago Julia Mary would yelp in pain for no apparent reason...just occasionally, like she was being pinched. We checked her all over and it seemed to happen most often when she would shake her head, or when she was getting up from lying down. We took her to the Vet's and she had a good going over and nothing could be found...she was put on an antibiotic for 5 days and the problem seemed to go away. Last week the yelp happened again several times, and then one morning the lower eyelid was droopy, and she started with this awful chokeing, wracking sounds like she is going to vomit everything up strangling sound.
The Vet did do xrays and the lungs are clear and her heart looks good, but he said the flaps in her throat that keep things from entering her lungs are parylzed.
She is very lethargic, we have taken her off dry food and are feeding her canned food from a fork so she will eat slowly, and she is drinking more water than usual.
Julia is currently taking 500mg.of Ciprofloxacin...I haven't noticed any improvement at all.
It's going to be a long 5 days until we see the neurologist.

[MARYDVM]

A stroke is not likely in this case. Both these problems could be caused by damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve - a nerve that actually branches off of the spinal cord in the chest region, and then runs up the neck to innervate parts of the throat and head. Trauma to the neck (even a hard jerk from a chain collar), local infection, degeneration of the nerve (there are a couple of polyneuropathies seen in Rottweilers), a tumor, these are all possibilities. The neurologist will be able to help pinpoint the cause. Horner's syndrome and laryngeal paralysis are both easily detected on a physical exam. The hard part is isolating the cause.

[kathie738p]

Thank you so much for this information. Julia has not had any trauma to the neck that we can think of...she lives in an adult home and spends most of her time indoors or in an enclosed backyard lolling on a deck.
I don't feel this is a stroke situation either. All the involvement is on the right side of her head..her mouth on the right side is very slack and drools profusely...she can't seem to chew food anymore so we mush it up for her to swallow down in small pieces....she doesn't lick anymore..not herself, or anything else..she can't bark at all..her right eye is sunken in the socket with the lower lid drooping.
Our Vet made the laryngeal diagnosis when she was under anasthesia for the xrays of her chest...the flaps are open and won't close...I thought it was the other way around but my husband corrected me.
Other than all of this, she is healthy and still has a good appetite, and is very aware of everything going on around her.

[dmoniz]

My friends rottie/GSD mix had this happen, can't remember what it was called, mandible paralysis maybe? She had the same symptoms. The vet put her on prednisone, but it is questionable if it actually does anything for the dog. With time she slowy came back to normal. One difference is that before she held her ears like a rott, now she holds them straight up. This happened when she was 6-7 years old.

[moondog]

Originally Posted by dmoniz

My friends rottie/GSD mix had this happen, can't remember what it was called, mandible paralysis maybe? She had the same symptoms. The vet put her on prednisone, but it is questionable if it actually does anything for the dog. With time she slowy came back to normal. One difference is that before she held her ears like a rott, now she holds them straight up. This happened when she was 6-7 years old.

Are you referring to masticatory myositis, where the head muscles atrophy and the jaws cannot move? If so, it doesn't sound to me like that's what this one has.

[dmoniz]

Originally Posted by moondog

Are you referring to masticatory myositis, where the head muscles atrophy and the jaws cannot move? If so, it doesn't sound to me like that's what this one has.

When looking up masticatory myositis it mentioned that it is painful for the dog to open its mouth or it is unable to open its mouth. That isn't what happened to my friends dog. She was unable to close her mouth, her jaw just hung open and her whole face drooped like it was melted.

[moondog]

Got it..two completely different things. The masticatory myositis is an auto-immune condition, and the "dropped jaw" that you're talking about sounds like a nerve disorder.

[kathie738p]

Julia Mary had her MRI last night. The Vet called today to report that there is a mass at the base of her brain. He drew spinal fluid to see what shows up and will call us tomorrow with the results....I'm praying it's a fatty benign tumor, please keep your fingers crossed for us.

[moondog]

Oh, boy...it sounds pretty serious. If they DO find it is just a fatty tumor, how do they treat it? Paws crossed you get the best possible news back.

[Vista]

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Julia Mary