Pug Owners!! Vet budget question!!??

[dixonismydog]

Oh my! Soooooo cute! I have mini doxies too....so I can't help you with the surgery part.

What I was going to suggest is PET INSURANCE. Your premiums would probably be less for the year, than paying for the surgery alone. And then you would have the extra coverage, for the rest of the year. Provided that the surgery is needed for him. (Sorry didn't read all of the posts.) We had insurance for our newfie and it paid for itself, in the first 6 months!

 

[RachaelA]

I'm not talking about going to a low cost clinic. The website (Friends of Animals) I used provided a voucher that my normal vet accepted. I just paid less for the voucher than my vet would have charged. I still went to my normal vet. My dog's spay was the same whether I used the voucher or paid full price. The website provides vets that accept the voucher. They are not actually low cost clinics. I totally understand not wanting to go to a low cost clinic.

Also wanted to add, our pug mix does the reverse sneezing as well. It was more when she was a puppy and now its every few days or so. We just cover her nose and make her breathe through her mouth and it goes away.

 

[Squirrel!!!]

Brachycephalic dogs, such as pugs and English bulldogs have stenotic nares, or small nose holes. They just do . Some are super small, some are somewhat small, some are just a little small.

This means that every breath the dog takes every day of its life is through a small opening. To demonstrate, Dr. Phillip Padrid DVM, ACVIM always requests the audience members when he lectures to pinch both nostrils partially shut with thumb and forefinger and breath in. Like breathing through a squashed soda straw.

I would ask you to do the same. When you do this, you find it is harder to breath in, and you will feel pressure in the back of your throat.

Do it, I will wait.

After years and years of this the soft palate will actually get a few mm longer making the airway even a little smaller. Just from the continual drag on the tissues from the pull of air.


So, there is REALLY a medical reason for making a dogs nasal opening larger, there really is. Just by taking a teeny tiny wedge from each side the opening is made so much bigger, the dog breathes SO much more easily, really.

I demonstrate and talk this talk every day at work, kind of a crusade. I really think it increases the quality of life of my smooshed faced little friends. Cosmetic, good recovery, long term good changes for the pet.

Less snoring, less over heating, but day to day, just easier to breath, each and EVERY breath.

Okay, off my soap box.

One animal medical professional's opinion!!! Many vets haven't been taught the procedure, or seen Dr Padrid talk, so do not crusade as hard as I do!!!!

Good luck with your little beastie, cute as anything!

 

[madcat]

my pug is a little over a year old and he grunts and snores too.. It's a pug thing, as long as he is not in distress he should be fine with out the operation.