[pcumming]

I have a wonderful 13 year old female beagle/cocker mix-spayed. Only pet in house. Pampered.
Over the past 2 months I noticed she was gaining some weight, panting more and the breathing through her nose became noisy - almost pig like.

Vet put her on Prednisone and also said she had Kennel Cough (no sneezing or coughing) since palpating her throat elicited something. Doxycycline got rid of the Kennel Cough. Prednisone has run its course, but nasal breathing issues still exist.
During the Prednisone she did drink more than usual and wet the bed every other day but she also was on a muscle relaxer due to some tenseness in her neck.

She has been on Rimadyl for years but I do notices some increased lethargy (perhaps due to weight) and more weakness in back legs-albeit a neighbor mistakenly ran over her hind quarter many years ago and my dog is getting older but perhaps a Cushings or other symptom.

I suspected Cushings (I am not a vet) or perhaps Stenotic nares (narrowing of nasal passage)-I have run my Google searches and I read a lot.
Dog has been to a very good vet practice 3 times in last couple weeks and 4th visit is on the 29th of August.

Vet ran some blood and one value was 5000 instead of below 500. This blood test was run while she was on prednisone, therefore another blood test will be run in a week to test for Cushings and then further tests for Cushings via blood and injection if that blood test warrants it.

This vet practice has 29 people there and about 9 vets so I am confident of their abilities. I still am concerned about her breathing through the nose being somewhat noisy and labored.
They can take an xray of Sadie and can scope her throat looking for excess skin and such that may cause the nasal noise.

They do not have the tools to scope her nose and to do so would require me taking her to a more highly specialized animal hospital, getting a CT scan and so on. Sure this may cost me over $2k but I am trying to first rule out Cushings and other things.

There is no nasal discharge from her nose and she does not sneeze.

I assume the structure of a dogs nose has 2 passage ways like ours. So I covered one nostril with my finger and she still could breathe although a little restricted. Covered other nostril and she pulled away from me (tried a few times) and I believe this other nostril is more restricted (just like me-her father).

I know this dog has had allergies (just like me) in the past, no changes to environment except some food changes I tried as I was on RX food and vet said it was unnecessary so I switched-but I really see no pattern to this breathing issue.

Sure she drinks more water and pees more due to the prednisone and the breathing/panting. She is more tired but also has gained more weight even b4 prednisone. But she is 13 and tires out more easily these days. She has gained about 3-4 pounds over the past year. Her weight was about 27 and is now 31bs. She still is an avid eater and I see no changes in that behavior and still likes to play occasionally with her toys.

Sounds like Cushings by Google reading but I am nt a vet and this will indeed be tested. I am much more concerned about the pig like sounds during her inhale of breathing through her nose

She never was a dog to breathe through her mouth except to pant.

There is no loss of hair (Cushings symptom). Abdomen getting more pot bellied-sounds like Cushings but still very concerned about nasal breathing so we could have 2 issues here.

So I am doing my best to try to get to the bottom of this. Next vet appt 8/29 to test for Cushings via ACTH test (we are waiting a week for prednisone to get out of her system completely. And if next values indicate possible Cushings, then more LDDS and the HDDS tests will be run. But not sure the Cushings would cause the noisy nasal breathing issue as opposed to an obstruction, narrowing of nasal passage, etc..

I am at a loss and need some advice....

She has been on Rimadyl for years due to arthritis.


Thanks so much for input. Apologize for the long message. Wanted a complete history.

Sincerely
Peter
Charlotte NC