Thursday, February 17, 2011

8.6 Pounds - It's Not What You Think


It's been a rough day for Momo's (aka Max), and his momma.

Yesterday evening I noticed that he was taking very quick breaths but he was acting normal so I didn't worry too much about it.

This morning, same thing.

After googling for a while I learned that the normal number of breaths for a dog is 12-20 a minute and that rapid breathing could be a sign of pain or respiratory issues. I timed Max's breathing and he came in at 102 in one minute.

I called the Vet.

They told me to bring him in right away and when we got there, lungs and everything else checked out fine. Unfortunately, he was panting because he was so excited from his car ride that they couldn't get an accurate resting (breathing) count.

The Vet dude told me that he thinks Max may have a collapsed larynx and that an issue like this is common in smaller breeds. The only way to diagnose is with an x-ray that comes in close to $1,000.00. (We weren't able to see our military vet because they're an hour and a half away and at the time, I didn't think we had that much time to spare.)

I decided to pay for my visit and take Max home to see what our military vet would suggest doing and to also see if the x-rays would be any cheaper. Before leaving, the Vet told me to bring in a video of his breathing so that they could see what I was talking about since they were only able to meet Hyper-Max.

Once we got home, the breathing trouble continued. I made a video on my phone and brought it in to the Vet. He is still thinking it's the larynx and said that since Max's lungs, heart rate and everything else check out OK (and he's not in any pain), that we should try to manage this issue with diet.

He admitted that Max isn't too plump but weighing in at 8.6lbs., he could stand to lose a pound or two. It's probably all that Great Dane food he's been eating. LOL! He said that 1lb. to a dog is like 30lbs. to a human. So Momo's has been put on a 1/2 cup a day diet until he can drop a couple L.B's. The point of this, by losing weight and fat around his rib cage, the Vet is hoping that it'll relieve some of the pressure on the larynx.

Momo's is doing fine right now. His breathing has seemed to slow a bit, I think we're still high though, around 70-80 breaths a minute. But he's acting completely normal, a whole lotta lazy.

Also, just a note, I googled "Momo" to see if there was a better way to spell Max's little nickname (we also call him Maximus and Max-a-mo from time to time) and below is the Urban Dictionary's definition for Momo.

MOMO: A generic insult used to describe one who is irritating, annoying, or an idiot. (synonyms include but are not limited too: ass, asshole, bastard, bitch, blockhead, bonehead, cocksucker, dick, dickhead, dolt, dope, dunce, fool, halfwit, idiot, imbecile, jackass, jerk, mother-fucker, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, numskull, rascal, scamp, schmo, schmuck, simpleton, son of a bitch, tomfool, twerp)

Maybe we'll stick with Max-a-Mo from now on.

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