Too Much Excitement For Tanner



~Tanner~

Tanner has laryngeal paralysis.  This means that he has this hard edged panting along with throat clearing that sounds a lot like a goose honking or a loud "HRRRAAACH."  When he inhales there is a harsh edge sound similar to the wheeze of an asthmatic. These sounds are more pronounced and prolonged when he's excited or stressed. On Wednesday as the storm was starting to roll in I got the dogs outside, and something caused Tanner to not be able to catch his breath.  After several minutes of nothing more than a squeak from him as he tried to inhale, he started foaming from the mouth, his tongue and gums turned gray, and he collapsed. You know as well as I do that time is critical and I knew I had to get him to the animal emergency.  He was totally limp and I somehow managed to get him in the van.  Typically the drive would take about 20 minutes but with the storm, the road conditions were quickly deteriorating.  I tried to not panic but I have to admit that I really thought he was going to die before I got there--Along the way the sounds stopped all together.  I pulled over on the side of the road opened Tanner's mouth and pulled on his tongue and I heard and saw him take in a breath.   In just a minute or two he had his head up and by the time I got to the animal emergency Tanner was fine...The vet, no bigger than a pencil and looked to be about 12 years old, did an exam and x-rays.  She gave him an injection of a steroid in case he aspirated fluid or irritated his vocal cords.  Within the hour we were on our way home with the instructions to keep him quiet.  Other than his bark sounding a bit hoarse, he's been just fine.  

Yesterday afternoon Carl and I finished clearning out the last of the snow from our driveway.  We had the dogs outside with us and someone stopped by. Tanner became excited and just as a precaution I got him inside and away from the commotion--I figure that it's better to be safe than...well, you know...   

All in all a quiet weekend for us.  Another storm is predicted for Tuesday, but there won't be a snow-dance for this one.  I think we have enough snow, at least for right now.  I thought I'd end this post with a picture of Hamlet.  I thought he looked a bit regal standing in the snow.