Snurfling
That is the sound Scoop makes while he is trying to forward and reverse sneeze this horrid fungus out of his nose. One week ago Scoop went under the gas for the third time in as many weeks, this time to flood his nasal cavity with anti-fungal poison. I was hoping that the gagging and sneezing would diminish after the treatment, but instead it has blossomed into a ragged sounding head cold.
Scoop is on two oral anti fungus medicines as well, and hopefully this three pronged aggressive approach to killing the fungus will do the trick. The fungus can take hold and start working deep into the bones in the nasal cavity, and it can takes months and possibly years to totally clear up. I have also heard there are some dogs that remain on medicine for life. I so hope that Scoop’s treatment works as planned and that we caught it early enough so that in a couple months this will be behind us.
He will get blood tests monthly to check for any ill effects from the meds, and he is being monitored by his internist who is luckily also my student Dr Helen Hamilton! When she came to class last night she looked him over and checked lymph nodes for swelling and nose for any discoloration or discharge. He obliged her with some reverse sneezes, but that was about it. I am happy to report she watched him jump last night and said I could train a bit since his head does not seem to be in any great discomfort. I thought he jumped really well, yeah!!
During the time all this was coming up he was also jumping pretty funky, I thought I had two things going on, not just this one. Only time will tell but I believe his head was so uncomfortably that he really could not jump well. Landing big 26 inch jumps can’t be pleasant when your head is being eaten by a fungus!
I have no photos or videos of Scoop to share, but Ace and Scoop and I spent last weekend at a 4 day AKC trial and Ace had an almost perfect weekend going 7 for 8 in regular classes, and also getting 3 of the Excellent fast legs. I like those triple Q things. If it wasn’t for pulling the panel jump on standard round #8 he would have been perfect. I think I jinxed myself because I texted a friend before I ran that I was on my way to 8/8:) I also skipped the practice jump, which in hindsight I might have popped him over a couple times to remind him how high to jump. How do they forget those things anyway?? Uh, they probably don’t and if I hadn’t excelerated out of decel while he was on top of the panel he probably would have kept it up.
Here are Ace’s standard and jumpers runs, thanks Silvina and Agility in Motion for the excellent video footage. Ace looks pretty great to me, this is about the last time he will jump baby 20 inch jumps, we will go to the European Open in July in Austria and of course run in the 26 inch class where Ace earned a bronze medal in 2009, our last time competing at the EO. The EO is one of the most competitive International trials in the world. Just alone in the 26 inch class in 2009 there were more than 300 dogs from almost every European Country, and a total honor to win a medal with that kind of competition. It is an exciting and competitive event and I can’t wait to get there!
I hope your juvenile is healthy and that your trained adult is helping keep you sane and patient for the times that your pup does not oblige!
NJG
Nancy – good to hear that Scoop’s treatment has started; hope he feels much better soon! Nice runs with Ace!
How frustrating! I do hope the treatment clears him out soon.
I had a dog who had a cryptococcus fungal infection when she was 6 years old. Shortly after it was diagnosed her breathing was also “snurfy” because she had a granuloma in her nasal cavity. She was a VERY sick dog and would have died if I had not force-fed her while the meds took affect. She stayed on the meds for two years, which was a lot longer than I thought it would be. My vet recommended staying on them for three months after a clean titer just to be safe. She recovered fully and lived to be 14 1/2 years old, although she did snore a little due to the changes to her nasal cavity. But after the first couple of months of treatment she acted like any normal, healthy, active dog. She tolerated the treatment very well and we had her tested regularly for liver function because of the medication and she was always fine. It sounds like you caught it early with Scoop and I hope he too recovers completely and you will be back training and trialing him again soon!
You runs looked great Nancy! Thanks for sharing them with us:)
Thanks for the update on Scoop; this sounds like a horrible thing to deal with. Balto my just turned two year old border collie sends get well soon wishes to Scoop; and now every time Balto sneezes first thing that comes to mind is this crappy fungus in poor Scoops nose…so just another thing to add to my list of things to worry about!