Anyone else's lab ??

[Cleo8]

Hi I have a 8yr old lab and for a while now she has started breathing and snoring loudly sometimes. One vet said it could just be her now (they check here breathing and all good and normal) but another vet said its something to do with her throat which is common in labs and take her back if starts doing it when on a walk. Has any one else's lab had this please as I'm really not sure what it is or anything.

[smartrock]

Some older dogs get something called laryngeal paralysis. I haven't had a dog with it but several others have had labs with laryngeal paralysis, sometimes referred to as lar par. Maybe that's what your vet was referring to. You could try looking online to read more about it. I'd have to look it up myself before I could tell you more. If I find a good link before someone else gives you more info, I'll add it here.

Laryngeal Disease in Dogs | petMD

[Cleo8]

Thank-you for ur reply and help. I will phone the vet in morning and see what is what I think.

[windycanyon]

I doubt you have any concerns. Sometimes labs can have a soft upper palate (think that's the term) so they snore a bit louder but believe me, I had one w/ LP... the bark will change first to a high pitch bark and you'd know...
She is probably just having a good sleep. Dang, some of us would kill for a good deep sleep..............

[Cleo8]

Thank u for ur reply.. Fingers crossed it's that. But she never barks lol so I wouldn't know if that's changed.. But she has got a few of the symptoms on the list of the other comment.. But iv got to wait another couple hours before the vets open. But thanks

[SunDance]

Good thoughts that it's just age.. please let us know.

Welcome to the board!

[sparky]

Hello and welcome to the Board. Hoping it's just an age related issue.

[labsnewfy]

If it is LP or not I would recommend going to a harness for walks so there is no extra pressure on her throat from a collar. You can think about elevating her food dish too, keep her as stress free as possible. We did all these things and a little more for my Tootsie girl - she had LP from having her vocal cords cut (puppymill survivor) there was a lot of scar tissue in her throat. Keeping her on the light side will help her breathing too and with Tootsie check with your vet, we gave her Benadryl to help her breath a little easier especially on hot humid days. That was another thing keep her cool the more she pants the more her throat will become irritated causing her to cough which will cause more irritation.

Good thoughts for your girl.

[Annette47]

Jolie developed mild Lar par as she aged. We switched her to a harness on walks and kept her calm in the hot weather (which since she was 11 when we got her wasn’t hard). Her breathing never turned into a big problem, but she did develop significant hind-end weakness (which can be part of laryngeal paralysis) when she was about 14, but we lost her to a splenic tumor, not to that.

Even if it is Laryngeal Paralysis there isn’t much that can be done until it gets severe, at which point you can consider (depending on the overall health of the dog) something called tie-back surgery. That is not without significant risks though, so you wouldn’t do it unless the lar par was significant.

For what it’s worth, Chloe, who is 7 has been a snorer her whole life, as was her father Mulder and he lived to almost 16, so a bit of snoring doesn’t necessarily mean anything significant.

[POPTOP]

Mardi could cut down a forest with her buzz saw snoring. Archie never makes a sound. I've had labs who stand on both sides of the snore fence which were not caused by any anatomical problem.

Sending good thoughts.