Dutch Shepherd Forum

Dear Users,

I have a question about a hole in Wega's Throat.
First time it came along 3 years ago and the vet at the clinic took Wega for one day in to stitch the hole.
He got pain medi for 4 days and was just fine.

A few weeks ago I realised that he had some problems with breathing while sports (heavy breathing with loud rattle every few seconds).
He also had problems with eating, he is a fast eater, he trys to inhalate the whole bowl at once and with that hole he had to choke a few times at every meal.

So I took him to the vet again, and he got the hole again stitched up but now it is open again and my vet and I have no clue about it.
The vet said I should let the hole be open...there is nothing to do, it will be sure opened a third time.
But it is very hard to hear Wega rattle under sports and see/hear the problems while eating...

Are some experiences here?
I really appreciate them.

Thank you!

The first thing that I thought of is that there wasn't enough time to heal before regular feeding and activity were initiated after stitching, but if your vet is unsure, it might be time to seek out a 2nd opinion. Perhaps with a specialist.

I'd agree with searching for some sort of specialist! My Shiloh Shepherd had a very troubling autoimmune problem with her soft palate (same area of the mouth). I thought for sure it would rupture, but it didn't, and got better on it's own.
1) that looks like trauma. I mean... It REALLY looks like something impaled the thin membrane there. I hunt. That looks a lot like wounds I have seen.
2) that area seems like it would be very vascular, and heal quickly, but with the thin skin, it might be very easy to open the stitches
3) are you 100% sure it was completely healed after the first time?

Also, Endeavor is a very fast eater. I use different tools to slow down her eating. She hacks and coughs a lot if she can eat free from a bowl and during training

Good evening,

Sorry for my late answer, we were at Crufts in Austria, Tulln today
I am very sure it was completly healed. I make snouts controll 2-3x/week and the wound has completely healed. For 2-4 month everything was fine and then twice the small membrane opened up.

I sure will visit a specialist about that, it is really strange...I had Wega in sleep now twice a time for the stitch and this is also a 2 day clinic torture for him.

Greetings from Austrai