Is there any house that raises short-faced dogs? Do the little ones have any strange symptoms? For example, do they have difficulty breathing, cough, or get tired easily? These symptoms are not normal for pets in general. Instead, they are abnormalities in the physiology of short-faced dogs, which have large but short, flat skulls, causing the structure of the face, nose, and mouth to be short.
Elongated soft palate is when the soft palate tissue extends beyond the larynx or extends into the airway, obstructing the movement of air into the lungs. This is a life-threatening condition that, if left untreated for a long period of time, can lead to more severe symptoms in the animal.
What follows is a worsening of the respiratory tract, whether it is laryngitis, thickening and deformity (Everted laryngeal saccules), deformed tonsils (Everted tonsils), laryngeal stenosis (Laryngeal collapse), or even tracheal stenosis (Tracheal collapse). In addition, if the animal is found to be choking, coughing, the animal is easily tired, or has difficulty breathing, therefore, immediate treatment should be performed by surgically removing the soft palate that is too long.
The breeds that can be affected by this disorder are usually brachycephalic breeds, including:
- English bulldog
- French bulldog
- Pug
- Pekingese
- Boston Terrier
- Shih Tzu
- Shar Pei
- Boxer dogs
- Lhasa Apsos
- Bull Mastiffs
The abnormal symptoms that can be found are as follows:
- Heard loud breathing
- Use your mouth to breathe more often instead of your nose.
- Showing symptoms such as attempted vomiting, coughing (Coughing), gagging (Gagging)
- Exercise intolerance
- Purple tongue and gums (cyanosis) due to lack of oxygen.
- Collapse
Differential diagnosis
Anesthesia is required to enable endoscopy and examination of the throat. The soft palate can be seen extending beyond the epiglottis into the respiratory tract. In severe cases, the soft palate extends into the larynx, causing inflammation of the larynx, causing swelling and redness. In chronic cases, the cartilage of the larynx cannot be stretched like in normal animals. Additional examinations include chest X-rays to examine abnormalities of the distal respiratory tract and lungs. Abnormal elongated soft palate should be treated once the disease has been diagnosed.
There are two main methods of surgically removing a protruding soft palate, called Staphylectomy:
1. Conventional technique is a method of cutting the protruding soft palate with scissors and stitching it with dissolvable sutures. The disadvantages of this method are that it takes a long time to perform, there is bleeding and tissue swelling, and the wound healing takes longer.
2. Surgery using a tool called “Bipolar sealing device or Ligasure” to cut the protruding soft palate. It is a device used to cut the soft palate while sealing and stopping bleeding. The advantages are that it takes a short time to perform, there is no bleeding and less swelling and inflammation of the tissue, and there are few complications after surgery.
Postoperative care and surgical outcomes
In case of swelling in the surgical area, give the dog cold water and soft food, and observe for any abnormalities such as breathing sounds, gum color, tongue color, and other abnormalities such as vomiting or attempts to cough. After surgery, the wound will heal in about 2-3 weeks. If the animal is diagnosed at a young age (under 2 years old) and has a normal weight, it will be easier to fix the respiratory problems that occur and reduce the chances of having difficulty breathing. However, if the animal is old and obese, it will be difficult to treat surgically because the animal often has abnormalities of the cartilage plate of the larynx. This is a chronic symptom of abnormal respiratory system disease in dogs and cats of short-faced breeds before seeing a veterinarian for treatment.
Thanks for the information from
Dr. Oraya Prapanpot (Dr. Nun)
Internal Medicine Center, Surgery Center
Cardiology Center
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