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Post by Patrick on Feb 16, 2016 17:14:28 GMT 10
Hi I have a young dog who is well in himself but after a little run he tends to cough any idea why he does this?
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Post by Tom Meulman on Feb 17, 2016 8:32:56 GMT 10
Hi Patrick,
The most common reason would be a low grade tonsillitis with some inflammation in the tonsils and upper respiratory tract. Basically the heavy breathing by the dog during its run irritates the throat and tonsils, increasing the inflammation and causing short term coughing.
A carefull examination of the troat and both tonsil areas may shed further light on the cause. Unfortunately if the tonsils are inflamed in most instances it may require a course of antibiotics, and even then it may not solve the problem in the long term. Unless the tonsils are severely inflamed and affecting both the health of the dog and its ability to breathe comfortably I'm not much in favour of having tonsils surgically removed.
With slight inflammation making up a mixture of a soup spoon full of glycerine in which three drops of tincture of iodine have been thoroughly mixed, and then swabbing the tonsils using a long stem cotton bud with this mixture daily for two or three days may help to shrink swollen tonsils.
Better still if you can find an old time chemist shop and a chemist still able to mix their own treatments, a throat paint called Mandl's paint which was very effective for this particular problem in reducing the inflammation in tonsils and the throat. Unfortunately the chances of this are highly unlikely these days, however with a bit of searching the formula for this is still available on the Internet.
Cheer,
Tom
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Post by Guest on Apr 19, 2016 8:56:42 GMT 10
Hi Tom,
While on the "Tonsils" topic here just wanted to know if a greyhound is making terrible loud coughing noises and both tonsils are inflamed straight after a trial over less than 300m would that suggest he has 'severe' case of tonsillitis and needs them removed? I am under the understanding that tonsillitis will cause a viral or bacterial infection as such resulting in low blood count and not able to run the distances out as strong.
Your thoughts would be appreciated
Cheers
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Post by Tom Meulman on Apr 19, 2016 19:30:41 GMT 10
Hi Guest Guest,
While I'm not keen on having tonsils removed, in some instances it simply cannot be avoided due to the severely damaged state of the tonsils affecting the health of the greyhound.
Tonsils are the first line of defense against many viral and bacterial infections, especially those that affect the upper respiratory tract.
Basically the virus or the bacteria that enter the mouth and throat are taken up into the tonsils where the first reaction by the body occurs in eliminating those invading bugs. That is also why a dog may get a slight cough that disappears in 48 hours but leaves the tonsils with slight inflammation, all as a result of setting up an immune response via the tonsils.
Unfortunately these immune response challenges over time can leave the tonsils swollen, and worse still affected by secondary bacterial infections. In the end it affects the ability of the greyhound to breathe easily and they then can also act as a constant source of bacteria that affect the white cell count. Including the general health of the greyhound and its ability to perform at its best.
In most instances the judgement whether to remove the tonsils or not should be left to an experienced veterinarian that deals with racing greyhounds and understands both the effect of damaged tonsils on the greyhounds health, as well as the complications that can occur as a result of the surgery.
While the actual surgery is simple, because normal sedation tegniques involve intubation which can not be done because the actual surgery is in the throat, extra care has to be taken with the anesthesia.
In most instances (except for emergency surgery) I believe it is important that a greyhound has a full seven days rest with light walking only prior to any surgery, and that every effort is made to ensure that they are fully hydrated prior to that surgery.
Cheers,
Tom
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