Soft Palette Surgery

Oscar is a 6 year old male Pug. We have had him for 13 months now. He saw the Eye Dr. on Friday and she found early signs of cataracts and he has a bit of dry eye. He is now on a steroid medication and tear ointment once a day. She was concerned with Oscar's breathing and panting. He sometimes, when really warm or excited his panting sounds like seal barking.
 She has referred us to a specialist and suggest soft palette surgery. Has any one here had that surgery done to their Pug? We see the specialist tomorrow and would really like to hear from you. He doesn't always do that noise.

I have not had to deal with that surgery in either of my pugs but I wish you and Oscar the best of luck. Please let us know how it goes.

We have had numeorus rescue pugs have this surgery and they typically do fine and can breath so much easier afterwards. I prefer laser surgery for it, but they really do bounce back fairly easy from either laser or the regular surgery. Good luck!

I think a lot of vets recommend this procedure, without really knowing pugs very well. I suggest getting two opinions, if possible.

The Doctor states Oscar is in some distress especially when he get excited, She has recommended the soft palette be cut back some and the sacchules removed and the nostrils opened up more. She will do an investigative look at his Bronchial tubes, and Laryngeal/ Pharangeal examination. All of this will run us $2600-3110 he needs to lose 4 pounds as well.. I am not sure how I feel about all of this. I do want Oscar to have the best possible life. Any suggestions or idea's would be helpful. I am cutting his food to 340 calories a day as the doctor advised. Thank all for you support

lisjohnson11 wrote:The Doctor states Oscar is in some distress especially when he get excited, She has recommended the soft palette be cut back some and the sacchules removed and the nostrils opened up more. She will do an investigative look at his Bronchial tubes, and Laryngeal/ Pharangeal examination. All of this will run us $2600-3110 he needs to lose 4 pounds as well.. I am not sure how I feel about all of this. I do want Oscar to have the best possible life. Any suggestions or idea's would be helpful. I am cutting his food to 340 calories a day as the doctor advised. Thank all for you support

 My personal opinion, and I am NOT A VET, is to lose the weight first, if he is overweight, and see how that effects his breathing. I just feel that many vets, including specialists, automatically think all pugs need the pallete and nare surgery, when they don't. If weight is a factor, then eliminate it first. Unless, of course, he is in distress, in which case you want to act sooner.

You can give him green beans and canned pumpkin (not the pie mix), to supplement his food while you reduce his calories. If you are up to it, the food made by The Honest Kitchen is really, really good for helping with weight loss. All my pugs lost weight when we made the switch. Dramatic weight. My biggest pug went from 30 pounds to 22 pounds.

lisjohnson11 wrote:The Doctor states Oscar is in some distress especially when he get excited, She has recommended the soft palette be cut back some and the sacchules removed and the nostrils opened up more. She will do an investigative look at his Bronchial tubes, and Laryngeal/ Pharangeal examination. All of this will run us $2600-3110 he needs to lose 4 pounds as well.. I am not sure how I feel about all of this. I do want Oscar to have the best possible life. Any suggestions or idea's would be helpful. I am cutting his food to 340 calories a day as the doctor advised. Thank all for you support

 If he is in distress, then I don't know that you have much of a choice but a second opinion couldn't hurt. We have had a lot of pugs come through our rescue that have had these procedures done & they all are breathing much better because of it. As Brenda said, laser surgery is the preferred method and it has a much quicker recovery time. The price that you were quoted seems very high but I know that vet prices can vary by region. Hopefully you can find a cost effective way to get it done.

PugLady3 wrote: The price that you were quoted seems very high but I know that vet prices can vary by region. Hopefully you can find a cost effective way to get it done.

 This is what it would cost in Alaska to get the surgery.

Please don't take my advice to mean that you should ignore any signs of distress -- I just ALWAYS get a second opinion when it comes to major surgery.

Renee wrote:
 This is what it would cost in Alaska to get the surgery.

 Wow! Really? I guess I am used to seeing what we pay at vets with our rescue discount though. It probably would be that much if it was one of my own dogs.

PugLady3 wrote:

Renee wrote:
 This is what it would cost in Alaska to get the surgery.

 Wow! Really? I guess I am used to seeing what we pay at vets with our rescue discount though. It probably would be that much if it was one of my own dogs.

Even with a rescue discount, the cost of all vet care up here is very high. Supply and demand, I guess. Liver shunt surgery is approximately $6k up here. An MRI is $2200.

It sucks for people that want to do everything they can, but just cannot afford such expensive care.