My sister's 9 year old chocolate boy is showing signs/symptoms of laryngeal paralysis. She lives near Erie, PA and it seems most vets around here aren't well versed in the issue. Does anybody know of a specialist closer to her area? The only places I can think of off the top of my head is Cornell and maybe the University of Ohio. Any other suggestions? This poor boy had a severe "attack" yesterday afternoon, the vet attributed it to overheating. Listening to her describe what happened, I'm thinking it was indeed LP and not simple overheating. Considering what happened and how severe the incident was, she needs good help sooner rather than later. Thanks in advance.

My first suggestion is to go to the LP list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LP/ where all kinds of support can be found. Also you can go to the ACVS website and do a seach for surgeons in the area.

Thank you. I actually googled "canine laryngeal paralysis" earlier this morning, and your link with Kansas was the first to come up. I looked at it, and with all the info you have there, I'm pretty sure LP is what poor Moon has. Thank you for being so forward and proactive about the condition, it's what my sister needs right now. Ill pass on the info about the Yahoo group, as well as the site for the ACVS. Thanks again, we both appreciate it.

Meanwhile, she may ask if it is okay to supplement him with Co-Enzyme Q10, 30 mg to start, then increase if his bowels are okay with it. It seems to help with oxygenation, based on what I have seen in the oldies. She could also have his thyroid levels checked; controlling low level hypothyroidism helped my girl who probably wasn't as badly affected as he. He can't be out in humid air for long, and cranking up the AC helps somewhat. As does keeping him calm.

Been there, done that, probably will do it again with another rescue someday.
Wishing him well!

My 12 year "Old Lady" has it, but it's not severe. My vet put her on Prom Ace, but ut didn't agree with her. It put her in a coma, basically.

I just keep her quiet and cool. She loves to lay in front of a fan and that helps a lot.

Cornell will do surgery, but it is pricey and as long as I can keep her comfortable, that's the route I will go.

The humidity is worse than the heat.

The surgery is dangerous. Many dogs wind up with aspiration pneumonia from it as eating is a problem post operatively. They normally do 1 side first, then the other so it could be 2 surgeries. Check into the surgery carefully before making a decision. Your vet can help you do that.

I have an older girl with it. She does well until she gets excited or walks more than a few feet. She is indoors in the air conditioning except when she needs to go to the bathroom 4 times daily. She holds her urine and stool well for her age and doesn't want to go out unless she needs to.

My vet said, when they get worse, it happens very fast so be prepared to make a decision and discuss it before that happens. I'm sorry to mention it but it's important to know that.

My vets go by the color of the gums to tell how oxygenated she is. If they are pink and not blue, they're doing ok and my girl is always a shade of pink. The noise they make can be upsetting, it sounds like severe croup in young children. The amount of noise they make is not necessarily how bad the disease is. It's how much oxygen they're getting.

I suggest keeping him comfortable, in the air conditioning and only outdoors to urinate or move his bowels. I stay with my old girl during the less than 5 minutes it takes her.

Sometimes a steroid will be prescribed by your vet and will help if they get worse. Most dogs are not kept on it long term. It's used as needed unless it's a severe case. Something to discuss with your vet, it did help my girl settle into a lesser form of LP after 10 days of pred.

At only 9, I hope he has many years ahead of him and this is a mild case. The sound makes us humans nervous b/c it's loud so checking the gum color during those times is a good idea. If they see poor color, get to the vet as soon as possible. Keep the lines of communication open with your vet is my suggestion.

I think I will try the yahoo group too. It's been suggested prior. Good luck with the boy.

I forgot to ask, how far is Erie from The Univ. of Penn? If you opt to go for surgery, I would go with an institution of that sort. Make sure you're well informed regarding the good and bad to the surgery. My vet does not recommend the surgery overall but each case and vet or surgeon is different.

Our old guy, Mick, was diagnosed with LP when he was a little over 11 years old. Through supplements and life style changes, we had another 4 years and 3 months with our boy before we had to have him pts. So many people have been asking for help/advice on LP in the last year that I put what we did into the following word document so I wouldn't forget anything.


As scary as it is, it's important to stay calm when he is having trouble breathing. Stress will make the episodes worse (or bring them on). Just sitting and petting & talking to him during an episode should help.

Heat, humidity, cold and wind will bring on an episode. Not only did Mick wear a coat when it was cold out, but, in the bitter cold or wind he also wore a homemade scarf (the end of a thick hunting sock held in place with a Velcro muzzle).

Also, get him used to drinking out of a spritz bottle. Spritzing some water in his mouth will help end episodes. At first we thought it was the cold water, but eventually we realized it was actually the swallowing that stopped the episodes. You don't want to "flood" him with water, just little bits at a time. Plus it's an easy way to give him a quick drink when you're out someplace.

Avoid putting pressure on his neck. A tracking style harness is great for walking dogs with LP because of how the straps are. Premier's Sure Fit harness is the same style, and what we used. A leash can be clipped to either the ring at the front of the chest or the one on the back.

Oh- if they aren't already- raise his food and water dishes so he doesn't have to stretch his neck to eat or drink. My vet suggested feeding smaller meals more often. When I told him I fed Mick out of a huge dish so the food was spread thin, he said that would work, too. The idea is for them to eat slow.

I put Mick on ArthriSoothe about a year before he was diagnosed. I thought he was slowing down because of arthritis. Eventually I learned it actually had more to do with the LP (acquired LP causes muscle wasting from the rear forward). Anyway, we're thinking the ArthriSoothe was one of the reasons Mick's LP didn't progress as fast as the vet thought it would. Little by little, other supplements were added- MSM, Biotin, Cholodin and Vitamin B Complex.

The biggest mistake we made with Mick was treating him like an invalid after he was diagnosed. He lost a good amount of muscle from lack of exercise in that period. And, with LP, once it's lost, it's gone.
Oh, thinking about the ArthriSoothe reminded me of something else- except for that and the Biotin, all Mick's supplements were crushed. The Biotin was a capsule, so I just opened it and sprinkled it on his food. I bought the horse version of the ArthriSoothe, and adjusted the dosage (more economical that way).

Its about a 4 hour drive to Penn State, my sister got her degree from there. What happened when he had his "attack" yesterday was this- she and Moon went for an ambling walk(and I really mean ambling, she had her 2 year old son with them), and he started panting hard and breathing very noisily. They weren't too far from home, so they turned around to come back and things got even worse. He barely made it there, collapsed in the yard, and started "throwing up white foam". She said his gums were black, his tongue had purple spots on it, and was panting very deep, fast, and noisy like a freight train. She and her husband loaded him into the car and went to the emergency vet clinic, the vet on call said he was "overheated" and his temp was 106 degrees. He was treated with a cool bath and "medications", I'm not sure just what he was given. The weather yesterday here was only just above 70 degrees and a little muggy, I really dont see how he could've gotten "overheated" in that weather. Does this sound like LP? He is about 10-15 pounds overweight and leads a sedentary lifestyle. From the looks of his papers, he came from a BYB...her husband had him before they met(I really don't know if that matters or not, I know next to nothing about the problem besides what I've learned today). Thank you for all your responses and advice, I'm relaying them as they come.

I would think that a even local vet would know about LP. I don't know that you need to drive 4 hours to see someone who knows what can be done, but I could be wrong.



It could have been caused by the heat, but you would think that a 9 year old dog could go for a walk on a day in the 70's.

Maybe you should run a basic bloodwork and monitor the dog to see if he has other symptoms, before going to UPenn?

We have 2 dogs now (littermates), that seem to have the symptoms for LP. They are 12 1/2. We had it before about 12 years ago and the 13 year old girl went down a couple of times. Overheating, no oxygen. We tried to keep her in the A/C, but by July of that year, we had to let her go. She was a real dog's dog and we decided that her quality of life without surgery was of the upmost. She would have wanted it that way.

No matter the age, heat, sun and humidity and exercise can bring an attack on. I never even let my old dog years ago out when it was hot. I know that it does get very humid in Erie, Pa. My dog would get out of breath and breathe nosiily, but later the attacks were very bad and he would lose control of his urine and bowels. His tongue would turn blue. He would recover but got worse each time. It happened one day at the vet office and they put him into a tub of cold water as his temp was up to 106. He was over 12 years, not overweight, but my vet said I should do him a favor. He was very embarrased when he lost control. My vet did not recommend surgery as they can aspirate and get pneumonia. I am sorry to hear about this horrible condition, but it sounds more like heat exhaustion than the lp attacks my dog had. Ellie And most vets are familiar with Lp

My boy lived to be over 13 years. Keep the dog out of this humid extreme heat. That is the only thing that made my dog have an attack. No to surgery.

Dr. Gregory Faulkner..Madison, Ohio..an hour and a half from ya.

The best thing your sister can do is GET THE WEIGHT OFF! With the extra weight he was carrying around he started panting harder and harder and went into vicious downward spiral where he ended up with heat exhaustion.