My chocolate lab was also 11 when first diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis. I didn’t want surgery because of my fear of aspiration pneumonia. I tried everything I could but her breathing worsened over the next 18 months until it became truly frightening when she went wading in the lake and came out choking and gagging and throwing up foamy mucus and she couldn’t breathe at all. She collapsed and her tongue turned blue as she struggled to breathe. It was truly awful to witness (and for her to live through, I imagine!). She was in surgery four days later and had a unilateral tieback at 12 years, 7 months of age. She lived another 16 months with her tieback and never had an issue with it. She never got aspiration pneumonia. She went on to die of oral malignant melanoma, nothing even remotely connected to laryngeal paralysis. She was 5 weeks short of her 14th birthday.

There IS a risk of aspiration but the surgeon told us that 85% of the dogs she performs the surgery on never have a complication and never get aspiration pneumonia. The surgery is extremely operator-dependent, meaning the surgeon’s skill has a lot to do with the eventual outcome. A few millimeters too much and the aspiration risk becomes much greater.

Good luck with Velvet. My vet said that while LP is progressive, in some dogs it never progresses to the point of needing surgery. Some dogs die of other causes before the LP becomes life threatening.

My advice at this point is to watch and be aware of changes, be aware of whether or not he struggles to inhale, and watch the color of his tongue (it should be pink, not pale or purplish). You probably should remove his collar and switch to a harness instead so as not to put any excess pressure on his throat. Also, in a laryngeal paralysis dog, you need to always be watchful of aspiration pneumonia, as it is a risk even without surgery.

Also, go to Yahoo Groups homepage and type in “laryngeal paralysis.” There is an LP group and an LPAlternatives group. Both are a wonderful source of support and information for owners dealing with LP in their pups.