Elongated Palate:

"Noisy Breathing" is synonymous with obstructed breathing. Bulldogs, Pugs, Pekingese, and breeds with "pushed-in" faces show some degree of airway obstruction. Mouth breathing, snorting and snoring. The difficulties are more pronounced during exercise and when the dog is hot. In some cases the mouth breathing may be associated with collapsed nostrils.

The problem in the Bulldog breeds is that the palate partially blocks the opening into the voice box. Changes in the voice box lead to attacks of acute airway obstruction or "Laryngeal Collapse"

Surgical treatment before laryngeal involvement often will give permanent relief.

"Laryngeal Collapse" This is the final stage of problems which affect the voice boxes of dogs with elongated palate or vocal cord paralysis. At this stage the opening through the larynx (throat) is quite small. Any change in the dogs need for air can cause a sudden collapse.

Treatment: If a vet is not immediately available, give the dog a mild sedative and put him in a humid atmosphere. Then find a vet that is available for further treatment options and to check the Bulldog. The steam from a shower can be used. However you must be careful not to overheat the atmosphere, this can make matters worse. If there is a blockage from excess mucous then a squirt of pure lemon juice should take care of that. See your vet right away for this condition. Preferred correction is the laser surgery. There is less bleeding with the laser surgery, faster surgery time, speedy recovery and its just a whole lot safer and better surgery for this condition. There don't seem to be to many vets that do this laser surgery for the cost of them owning or renting the laser equipment among other things. You had better have an EXCELLENT vet, with lots of experience! You should also check to see if you can find a vet with experience in laser surgery to have this correction done if your vet don't do laser surgery. It is so much better and safer than traditional surgery and would be worth the effort to find one that does laser surgery and that knows Bulldogs as well.