Pulmonary Fibrosis in Dogs

My dog was a rottweilor/mastiff aged 9 years. We had no signs or symptons what so ever, and by this i mean honestly no signs. She walked without being any breathless than the norm, her toilet was fine as always her eating habit never changed. She just collapsted one morning randomly out of the blue, we rushed her to the vets, they done blood work etc, couldnt x ray her because she was that critical x raying her could have killed her, and the vets were most alarmed to how quickly she was deteriating. She went into cardiac arrest 4 hours later at the vets and died. Very sudden, very shocked, and ourselves and the vets had no idea how she died untill the autopsy results had beeb sent off and came back. Very very shocked, lost and sad.

We have a 14 year old American Bull Dog/Pit Bull Mix. He was always a large dog and is currently at 135lbs. About 4 months ago he started hacking, coughing and wheezing. This would happen a couple times a day and last for about 30 seconds in duration. It is particularly bad in the middle of the night. We have taken him to a Vet, then a specialist and had a few thousand dollars worth of tests done and he was diagnosed him with pulmonary fibrosis and ventricular complexes. They prescribed him Prednisone and Thyro-tabs and Tramadol. He is scheduled to meet with a cardiologist in a few days. He is still alert and as active as a 14 yr old can be. He eats, drinks and goes outside without issue. However, when I try to walk him he will only walk about 30 feet and then sit down and refuses to go further. From reading your article it seems that there is nothing to be done except making him comfortable until the time comes to make the decision that none of us want to make. My question is what can be done to make him more comfortable at the end of his life? Are there any additional medications that can be given to him to help with pain and discomfort? Is there anything we can be doing to ease his pain? Are there any questions that I should ask my Vet? Thank you.

Our great friend Maxie is 13 years old and weighs 75 lbs. Maxie is a mixed breed and has some Rottweiler mixed in. She still has a good appetite although she has all the other symptoms mentioned above.

Maxie has been to the vet and has had X-rays and blood work. The X-rays shows the problems in one lung. The vet did not prescribe any medication and after reading this article I’m disappointed that they didn’t.

I’ll look online for herbal medicines and call the veterinarian to discuss their recommendations for medications.

Hello, My 14 year old Sprocker spaniel was diagnosed with Fibrosis of the lungs in November after we became concerned about him coughing and heaving.

He has a constant cough and the anti-inflammatory seemed to do very little for him so with the vets advice we took him off it. I cannot remember the medication he was prescribed.

He has an extreme decrease in appetite and over the past 7 days has eaten very little. we have tried everything and are now resorting to giving him food that we are eating of an evening, just as to get him to eat anything at all. On his walks he is only interested in eating grass and has been sick a few times upon return from his walk.

My partner is very distressed over it, but refuses to acknowledge there is an issue as our pet still seems happy in himself, he plays with his toys and wags his tail.

Any information you can help with is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Clarice