|
Welcome to the YorkieTalk.com Forums Community - the community for Yorkshire Terriers. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be able to chat with over 35,000 YorkieTalk members, read over 2,000,000 posted discussions, and view more than 15,000 Yorkie photos in the YorkieTalk Photo Gallery after you register. We would love to have you as a member! Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please click here to contact us. |
|
| LinkBack | Thread Tools |
03-21-2007, 12:57 PM | #1 |
Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nebraska
Posts: 422
| Kennel cough vs. collapsed trachea To make a long story as short as possible as I am just needing opinions. Got my baby from a puppymill in December. She had a cough and came with antibiotics from the breeder. After that antibiotic was done she was no better. Took her back to the vet and got a different antibiotic and also had her wormed again (thanks puppymiller). Finished that antibiotic and no better. Took her back to the vet where they did x-rays. The vet noticed a very slight collapsed trachea. But he said it was so slight that it wasn't a thing to make him go "AH HA, this is the cause of that dry cough". Same with her lungs. Possible fluid, but if so, very little and again not an "AH HA, this is the culprit behind that coughing". So he put her on Tetracylcine, which they don't like to do as it is a real strong antibiotic and can possibly cause the teeth to yellow. We went that route and I did notice a HUGE improvement. Finished that antibiotic and within a few days noticed the cough picking back up. Called the vet and they called in another weeks worth of the antibiotic but said the first dose should have done the trick. I didn't see my regular vet as she wasn't in on the day of the x-rays. My regular vet then tells me "well, it could be the collapsed trachea and there is nothing you can do about that". I informed her (my regular vet) that the other vet in her office had told me that it was so mild that it couldn't be the problem. I know that everyone's opinion will be.....take her to another vet. Is that my only choices? Keep vet shopping? She mainly coughs at night or when she is really playing hard. I would think had it been an infection of some sort that all the different antibiotics would have cleared it up. Any other opinions on this?
__________________ Cheryle |
Welcome Guest! | |
03-21-2007, 01:29 PM | #2 |
YT Addict Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 293
| Hmmm...sounds like kennel cough to me. Kennel cough is very common in puppies, especially ones form puppy mills. Neither of my babies have collapsed trachea (knock on wood) but they both had kennel cough. Actually, Willow still does. When Biscuit had it as a puppy, we did the antibiotics and so on and so forth but they did not clear up the kennel cough. I thought he would never stop coughing! It really worried me, but sure enough, after a few months (which seemed like forever) it finally went away. But it did seem like it never would. We just eventually put him in a room with a humidifier at night (this is when he coughed most) to help ease his little throat, but did not put him on more than two rounds of antibiotics. Putting them on antibiotics is understandalble if it is an acute case where the dog is lethargic or not eating etc., but for the more general case where they seem to be normal in activity and eating and seem to feel well, antibiotics should be used to prevent a secondary infection, like pneumonia. Our vet did two rounds with Biscuit, but then decided that any more rounds would not be beneficial. Actually I have since learned that it is best to help boost their immune systems the best you can by diet and help control the cough, but to let it go away on its own. Right now, Willow's cough is worse when she plays, but I am just giving her a supplement to help boost her immune system and letting it go away on its own. Having been through it before helps, becasue now I am not always freaking out like I did the first time. Kennel cough can be stubborn, but it will eventually go away. IMO that's what it sounds like to me, but then again, I am not a vet...... Do some research on your own, here are a few good sites to start: http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=452 http://www.icanimalcenter.org/librar...nnelCough.html I hope that your baby does have kennel cough and it's not something more serious, that way, it will get better. Hang in there! |
03-21-2007, 03:34 PM | #3 |
Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nebraska
Posts: 422
| Thanks for the reply. Thanks also for the links. Very informative. It does seem that kennel cough can drag on a long time. That must be why initially she showed a huge improvement while on the Tetracycline. The rest will be up to her. I just didn't want to go the next route which was $500 in diagnostic testing. That just seemed cruel.
__________________ Cheryle |
04-01-2007, 07:59 PM | #4 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: yorkie town
Posts: 876
| Take her to another vet all those antibiotics can cause her to become sick again or immume to future meds. and last resort would be tetracycline,or doxicillian and the vet knows it will cause lasting damage to the teeth. |
Bookmarks |
|
|
Thread Tools | |
| |
|
|
SHOP NOW: Amazon :: eBay :: Buy.com :: Newegg :: PetStore :: Petco :: PetSmart