I was wondering if there was any way to tell if my dog has been debarked. I got her from a shelter- she was formerly a puppymill dog. All the noises she makes (crying, whimpering, growling...) sound completely normal. It is only when she barks. It is kind of raspy sounding and definately not as loud as I would imagine it would be (her cries are louder than her barks).
If she has been debarked, can that lead to any other health problems I should watch for?
2007-11-08 09:16:50 · 12 answers · asked by Amanda 6 in Pets ➔ Dogs
She is a 5 1/2 month old pug/beagle mix.
2007-11-08 09:30:50 · update #1
We adopted a rescue dog 12 years ago that had been debarked. She's now 13 and her breed only lives 10-12 years (generally). She is perfectly healthy so I am absolutely positive that there aren't any health problems.
She doesn't know that she doesn't bark, she isn't mute, she sounds like she has laryngitis or a sore throat. Instead of a loud BOW WOW, she has a little arf-arf.
Debarking isn't as horrible (although I wouldn't chose it for my dogs) as some envision; the vet numbs the dog's neck and then uses a needle (bigger than a regular shot needle) to punch a hole in the vocal cords. That's it. No "slicing" or "cutting" the animal's throat; that's why some dog's eventually heal and can bark again.
Our dog is a wonderful animal and hasn't had any mental, physical or emotional problems because she has been debarked.
We have had a couple of funny things happen because of her debarking....a couple of people have knocked on our door to make sure that she wasn't choking on something.l It gave us an opportunity to meet someone that likes dogs and to explain about rescuing her.
2007-11-09 05:01:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
My grandmother had to debark her dog when she moved into a seniors living center,
(only way she could keep him, so don't knock my Gran, I think hers was one of the few instances where debarking was a good thing!)
Her dog had a raspy bark too, and his other vocalizations were muffled a bit, but not as much as the high pitched bark was. He sounded like he had a cold, but you could still hear him if you were in the house.
When I working in a shelter I met a few dogs who had had infections that damaged their voices too, so yours may have been debarked surgically or might even had an illness that damaged his voice. I would ask the Vet to check it out only because you are interested and if it was illness related or he has a throat tumor you would want to know. The problems involved with debarking are complications with the surgery, and build up of scar tissue. Your Vet will be able to see if an scar tissue is obstructing your dogs ability to breath or eat ect.
2007-11-08 17:43:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I highly doubt any puppy mill would put out the money for the surgery.
It is expensive to do the surgery.
Some dogs cannot make any noises and others make low pitch barks they sound hoarse though like they have barked so much that they can hardly bark.
The best thing to do is when your dog is due to see the vet again then you can ask them about your dog. Capture your dog barking and whining on tape and then your vet can tell you whether or not the surgery has been performed on him or not.
My dogs haven't been debarked but, I must tell you they all have a different sounding barking, I have 2 that are high pitched barkers and the other 2 have a deeper bark.
2007-11-08 17:33:35 · answer #3 · answered by Silver Moon 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
That sounds like she has been debarked. A vet can tell you for sure. De-barking affects the vocal chords ruining the ability of the dog to make certain pitches of noise. Thus some of them can still whine, whimper or cry.
2007-11-08 17:20:43 · answer #4 · answered by anon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would think her crying, whining would be more quiet too if she was debarked.
I'd have the vet check her out.
Debarks usually don't lead to problems if they don't present right after the debark procedure. Often the bark comes back almost as loud as before unless the debark included removing the voicebox. She could have more mucous in her throat that could causes her to cough it up.
2007-11-08 17:23:07 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
My dog sounds like this when she barks. It's low and raspy. Much lower than her whines and whimpers. She's from a shelter too. Check with a vet if you are concerned.
2007-11-08 17:20:40 · answer #6 · answered by caitiejx36 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what kind of dog is it ? Different dogs bark differently. but I know Basenjis actually don't bark. If the dog has been debarked by its previous owner, then nothing to worry about.
2007-11-08 17:28:39 · answer #7 · answered by Rexydoberman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not something I would worry about either way. While debarking is one of those things that provokes a lot of human emotions, the surgery it's self is pretty simple and minor.
2007-11-08 17:54:31 · answer #8 · answered by tom l 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I would not even take a guess. It would not be resposible of me to do so. Your vet can tell you if there has been any kind of surgery done to control her bark. I can only add that I can not see a puppy mill spending the money to have this done.
Your vet would tell you before any of us here could.
2007-11-08 17:24:59 · answer #9 · answered by ♥Golden gal♥ 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
All you have to do is ask your vet to use a scope and look at her vocal cords!! You don't need to guess, call the vet and ask the vet to scope her and look if this is so important to you! It is no big deal.
And if a vet tells you that it is very expensive to do, you need to ask another vet. The vet intubates the dog, clips the vocal cords, and that is it! Not a tricky thing to do for a vet.
2007-11-08 17:36:30 · answer #10 · answered by bear 2 zealand © 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋