[Lopsi]

Pixie was having a LOT of problems at one point. We tried lots of medications, but we have settled on a combination of Prednisone and Torbutrol.

The prednisone really helps keep her from having her fits - keeps it from collapsing. The torbutrol keeps her airways otherwise unblocked and helps with the "nagging cough."
The prednisone is likely the best thing we did for her... but at the same time, it's the worst. However, it's the ONLY thing that helps her. We did the "half a tab twice a day, then drop to every day, then every other day till its gone"... for a boost, but once it's gone for more than a couple days, she immediately relapses back to not being able to breathe. The steroid itself is very bad for her and eats away at her liver, but for us it was the choice between the best of two bads. We do know the side effects of having her on a steroid permanently, and we have gotten her down to only having to take it about once every three days or so to reduce some of the long term side effects. That is something to seriously consider before putting your baby on that though. The vet suggests we do the torbutrol daily, however, she does fine MOST of the time without it. We know that we are hurting her enough as it is, so we give as little as possible if she is fine otherwise. The vet knows and understands this. If she is not panting, coughing, or showing any signs of needing the torbutrol, we generally don't give it to her.

We tried other options - we tried things to "keep her clear" like what you were describing, and we've tried just cough medicine, and that type thing... but nothing worked until we did the Prednisone. With it, unless something sets her off, she really doesn't have many problems. And we generally know when it's been about 3 days because she'll start having problems again. Then we give her 1/2 a Prednisone tab, and she's fine again for another few days.

The down side is we also know what we're doing to her by giving her the steroid... but she was having lots of very bad problems similar to what you describe, so this was one of our only hopes. I would suggest talking to your vet about Prednisone - it may or may not be right for your pup, but it may be worth a try anyway.

We keep other stuff on hand for Pixie in case we need it - I don't remember the names right off, but it's similar to what you have I believe - for times when she just can't catch her breath and such.