It's not a cough...(Long, sorry)

[Alexis' Mom]

Carter has had a few "episodes" where it sounds like his lung collapsed and he had to "cough" to re-inflate it. I know a little about this as our yorkie/chi mix had this for years.

The first episode happened in the middle of the night. It sort of started like hiccups, and then progressed into his "coughing". I took him to the vet and described what happened. His diagnosis was either the reverse cough or possibly a collapsing trachea. I did not agree. When he "coughs", it comes from his lungs, not his throat. I also have never heard of a collapsed trachea in a puppy that's only 6.5 months old.

We agreed to do an xray prior to his sedation for neutering. That was last week. I felt bad for him so I let him stick his head out the window on the way to the vet. Well...it happened again. He started coughing. It was almost as if he was getting too much air in his lungs. When I got to the vet, he was still coughing. I explained to the tech that it wasn't a "cough" persay and tried to describe the prior episode. I also reminded her that the vet and I agreed to do an xray of his trach and lungs prior to sedation.

A few hours later I got a call from the vet. There was a small area at the bottom of Carter's lungs that was "questionable". He took an xray breathing in and another breathing out. He was not comfortable putting Carter to sleep if there was a concern with his resperations. I agreed. He sent him home with 2wks worth of antibiotics and 1/2 pill per day of Benadryl (adult formula).

Well, today it happened again. He was just laying on the couch and started another episode. It sort of sounded like he kept taking a whole bunch of really deep breaths in a really big hurry. Then he "coughed" and was fine. It doesn't seem to bother him. He's done with his course of antibiotics in two days.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening to yorkies? It is not just the typical reverse cough. I KNOW it has something to do with his lungs. Anybody???

[YorkieShadow]

Im sorry Im no help here. I just wanted to say I hope he gets better and will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

[Baron]

go here and read about reverse sneezing, it sure sounds like that is what it may be.

http://www.yorkieviews.com/reversesneezing.htm

[blykmyk44]

It is great that your vet was overly cautious about putting your puppy under anesthesia while having a cough. We had a 12 weeek old puppy who was coughing once or twice every three hours and the vet we went to decided to do what is called a tracheal wash to diagnose the problem. Before that they took an xray which was supposed to help them make sure they should do the other procedure. Even though the vet got the Xrays back before the procedure and it recommended a anti-biotic and nothing else AND we had made it clear he had eaten the same day of the procedure, the vet decided to procede with the procedure and ended up making our puppy very sick. One week and thousands of dollars later our puppy died and now when we seek restitution from the vet they say they did nothing wrong.

It seems like your vet is a good person and I am sure your puppy will be diagnosed in no time.

[Hamoth]

I also have never heard of a collapsed trachea in a puppy that's only 6.5 months old.

Let me introduce you to my dog. Got him at 5 months old and he already had it. Sadly, it's terribly common in Yorkies to have this, sometimes from birth. The average age of onset is 7 years, however there is a second spike in onset for young puppies.

CT is different in Yorkies than in many other larger breeds. It's caused by a genetic defect that makes the trachea really weak.

It can occur deep down in the thoratic region of the trachea (deep in the chest). An early onset would sound a lot like what you are describing. I'm not saying that it IS CT, but it certainly could be. If the coughing sounds like a kinda honking noise, then it's downright probable.

The x-ray should let you know...Good luck, my thoughts are with you two.

Edit: Oh, you might want to try a tracheal massage to see if this causes a coughing fit...if so, then that's another indicator. Massage the throat for 1 minute along the trachea and see.

Also, puppy-onset CT can be linked to other respitory problems. If the troublesome spot in the lungs was some pnemonia, then that could lead to CT developing early in a pup with the genetic predisposition.