Chip, I am anxious for you and also hoping for the best possible outcome. Fingers crossed and sending all the positive vibes I can.

While driving (and OF COURSE) less than a mile from the vet's office she called. I pulled over for the diagnosis. Of all times not to have a pen handy, but here goes: Heart is not truly enlarged. Thinks there is fat around the heart, even though she is "classically" underweight, but fat-heart is common for the breed. Something about the vertebrae being close in these bulldogs gives a false enlargement score. Aorta might "come out" in an abnormal way. I swear she said that. Possible lung disease, or infection. One option is trans-tracheal wash to draw fluid, $400+ lab expenses. Or 21 days of doxocycline, which the vet would do if Rose were her dog. Then more X-rays, and a still a possible tracheal wash if no improvement.

I don't know what to take from this but whoo-hoo!!! No heart enlargement! I'm going to sleep on whether to try the anti-biotic or go for the wash first. Downside to the tracheal wash is more sedative, financial expense, and still will likely have to do the antibiotic to see if the lung issues get better. Downside to the antibiotic first is 21 more days of no hard running/exercise. Which is about to kill me! I'm on the fence; but leaning towards letting my dog hit that spring pole, catch that Frisbee, and chase that ball. I'd add bike ride with me, but I had to sell my bike to pay for Sunday's visit! If you happen to be in the Asheville area this week, please shop at my pet store! I'm joking, but I really did sell my beloved bicycle to cover this.

Wow. Lung issue and fat around the heart of such a sinewy dog. A skeptical part of me still wonders if the pre-diagnosis doesn't need to be somewhat maintained. I know that's not it, and the diagnosis is the diagnosis. But I was fine with, nay hoping for, "we were all wrong, here's the update." But here we are. And I'm still avoiding calling her back for clarification about the aorta possibly coming out abnormally. That was all she said except for that it was a genetic defect, and I shouldn't breed Rose. Which I have no plans to do, but I choose to keep her intact. And she's no fan of intact dogs, tell ya what.
How did I hang up and drive back home without asking that the aorta stuff being explained? It was the only thing on my mind I wanted clarified. Information was overloaded. Jeez, I should be ashamed of myself. I'll talk to her tomorrow and know more. But heart-wise, it's WAY better than expected from the X-ray, unless this aorta part that felt deliberately brushed over is serious.

Sounds like her heart is not enlarged, that the classic diagnosis of a heart bigger than "this rib to that rib" on the Xray may have just been "wrong" for her phenotype, that her aorta comes out in an unexpected way, that her anatomy is not typical.
What are you treating with the doxycycline? It's not going to change her anatomy.Did you get a feel for why they thought doxy would be a good idea?
What symptoms does this dog have Chip? Is she just getting really overheated?
Winded? Off feed?
If she were mine I'd get my films I paid for and send them to a vet school, get someone else to have a look. Another opinion.
I might worry about a heart based tumor if her symptoms are really new and different.
Or, I might just exercise her at night when it's cooler --- see if she really IS having new symptoms ---
I don't think I'd personally be doing a tracheal wash in a brachycephalic dog
unless I absolutely had to.
There must be a better vet on this forum than an old retired cow doctor who can chime in here....

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

There must be a better vet on this forum than an old retired cow doctor who can chime in here....

Betty, I think it is nice to have an old, retired cow doctor who can understand and explain stuff which makes NO sense to some of us. (Cows are people too, ya' know! LOL!)

Chip, I can only imagine how nerve wracking it was to listen to every last detail and when she said that it didn't look like the heart was truly 'enlarged' it had to give you a huge sigh of relief!
I like Betty's idea of getting a second opinion at a vet school.
It would help to have other Vets viewing the films and their read on things.
I am sure that you will be able to get a clearer confirmation of diagnosis or at the very least be able to get some other ideas and opinions at the vet school.

I wish I lived near you man, I would come in and patronize your store just to help you out!

Very positive and encouraging thoughts coming Rose's and your way Chip! Keep us updated!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

What are you treating with the doxycycline? It's not going to change her anatomy.Did you get a feel for why they thought doxy would be a good idea?
What symptoms does this dog have Chip? Is she just getting really overheated?
Winded? Off feed?

The main symptom is labored breathing after activity. She's a bulldog, so I've always dealt with a little of that, but this summer it's really taken a long time for her to cool down. As for why doxy, I'm guessing a bronchial infection is suspected.

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

If she were mine I'd get my films I paid for and send them to a vet school, get someone else to have a look. Another opinion.
I might worry about a heart based tumor if her symptoms are
There must be a better vet on this forum than an old retired cow doctor who can chime in here....

What Barbara said! I'm very grateful to have ya!

Hon, where is the nearest vet teaching hospital?
I'd take the x-rays there and get another opinion.
Seriously.
There seems to me to be lots of changing of diagnosis here and lots of expensive tests that might not be really necessary.

But most important, YOU don't sound happy with what is going on....so get another opinion.

In my imagination, I'm thinking this- perhaps her muscles, her body, is in terrific "good shape", that as race horse people might say, she's "dead fit", meaning she craves exercise, loves a hard work-out.
BUT-she's now a mature bulldog, with an over-long soft palette, and a fleshy inner throat area, and when she "works out" she can't get rid of the heat except by panting really hard, and those tissues swell some from the force of the air going in and out, and that perhaps the panting got so violent that she even aspirated (inhaled) some of her own saliva, now has a little aspiration pneumonia, which is the wet dark lung they see on the Xray. A wet lung is a great place for infection to start, and doxy would be a decent Rx for that. The doxy will not hurt her.
I'd still send those films for another opinion, it should not be costly. The first person you saw will get a report from the specialist by next week, a summary of the situation will be generated, and that could all be picked up and sent to another for 2nd opinion,just to be sure.
"grateful to have ya"- it's fun for me to think about Rose, but rather that grateful, you could be just pissed as hell if this internet consultation is WAY wrong, because my ideas could be WAY wrong, diagnosis without seeing the whole patient is such dangerous territory...

This was posted the other day on my Border Collie forum. But maybe this has already been ruled out with the x-rays that she has already had

 Quote:

FYI: Lung Fungus in Dogs, One Story

We had a dog (named Red Dog) come into rescue with what we believed was a throat injury - when he got overexcited he "coughed".
After having time to settle in, he was checked out and the vet thought he might have kennel cough. He was treated
several times for kennel cough and I believe once for ammonia. He was being taken to the foster home's vet and not
the main vet our rescue uses. When he was not getting better, he was taken to our main vet. After x-rays of his lungs,
he was diagnosed with lung fungus.

It so happens our rescue's vet had seen two other cases and worked with another local vet to diagnose the first case.
So they had seen it before. The medication to treat it is expensive and the vet said our little guy's lungs did not look good,
but we decided to treat him and give him a chance.

After three months of treatment, his lungs were x-rayed again. His lungs looked worse than before, the vet said they
looked horrible. Options were talked about. The vet said one case they had treated had cleared up and then returned
to infect that dog again 6 month later. Red Dog had been suffering for quite a while with the disease (w/out proper diagnoses).
The vet was not hopeful at all on his recovery from the disease, seeing absolutely no progress after 3 months of solid treatment.
The tough decision to put him down was made, so that he would not have to suffer any longer from a disease the vet predicted
he would not overcome at this point.

An autopsy was done in the hope that Red Dog could help other dogs diagnosed with lung fungus.

The common main symptom seems to be "coughing", usually associated with kennel cough, that does not go away even after treatments for
kennel cough. Symptoms later on in the disease included coughing up stuff and wheezing. : ( It can be diagnosed with a chest/lung x-ray.

Plattsmouth Animal Hospital in Plattsmouth Nebraska is the vet that diagnosed Red Dog. They have also seen a few other cases of
lung fungus. They know what to look for. I don't know if anyone else has seen this disease. We were told that lung fungus is fairly rare
in Nebraska, but seen much more often in the Southern US. It seems to be a disease where time is essential to curing it, I wanted to get the word out.

 Quote: Mara Jessup

This was posted the other day on my Border Collie forum.

Mara, did they specifify the fungus? Just curious.... I've had two dogs dx'd with a fungal (blastomycosis) infection. Very sad topic for me, but you're right it is very imp to get the word out.