An Xray is absolutely required, as are many other procedures. CT can vary greatly in it's degree and it requires an xray to find out how bad it is. Your pup might do fine with some lifestyle changes, medicine, or may require surgery. However this can't be known until some tests are performed to determine the degree of the problem.
I suggest seeing a vet who specialises in small dogs, or at least getting any vet's second opinion. There's lots of treatment options and the diagnosis of CT shoudl come with at the least, a degree. For example a 1st degree collapsed trachea can be treated with lifestyle changes. A third degree requires medicine ususally. A 5th degree is ultra serious and surgery might be called for.
Is it thoratic? I mean, how much of this dog's trachea, and which parts, have been collapsed? There's a lot of info you should be getting here.
Here's some things you can do to help:
Make sure he is WARM, especially in sleep. Try a heated crate and keep it on as much as possible.
Do you smoke? Cigarette smoke is TERRIBLE for CT pups. It inflames their throat and cuases more collapse episodes ( when he's honking like that ). I have a dog with CT and I had to start smoking exclusively out doors and as far from him as possible.
Has he been tested for other respitory problems? It's odd that your young dog is this problematic, and frankly it's a really bad sign. However sometimes young dogs with the soft trachea defect will have CT episodes when a second problem is there. Kennel Cough, Flu, Cold, and other such infections could be bringing this on. Unless he's had lots of bloodwork done to check for signs of an infection, and also some other tests for various other tracheal issues, then your diganosis is not complete and you need a better vet.
If all your vet did, was massage his trachea, hear him honk, and then say "Yeah, that's CT", then you need to go elsewhere. That's only enough to create a clinical impression and not enough for a usefull diagnosis.
If he's honking for an hour, the case sounds very severe and I shudder think what the poor pup is suffering.
Another thing I wanted to address was this:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by rob67 Most breeders KNOW when there is a genetic defect in their line of dogs...I was sold my first yorkie in 1995 and he had a genetic liver disease, i watched him suffer for years and grew to love him so that i had to see a counselor when he died...I would call the breeder and ask for vet records and demand a partial or full refund and basically raise hell with them...I know it wont help the condition but it wil let breeders know that they are selling relationships too...and that we get very attached to our little friends...It enrages me that this happens ...this trachea thing is hereditary and they should offer compensation..let them pay for the little dogs surgery...My alex suffered 5 years before he finally died...i know you hate to see biggie suffer...In the mean time try this...make the room that he sleeps in ultra clean and dust free, also use a humidifier and an air cleaner (available at walmart) keep him clean and free of dander and dont let him get too excited...surgery is probably required...good luck...Rob |
There is no test for CT. There is no way to determine if a dog caries the defect until symptoms emerge. In most cases, symptoms will not emerge until the dog is already past breeding age. I have a thread in the breeder's forum on this site about this very problem. They are clueless as to how they can prevent the spread of this particular problem.
I have also spoken with the president of the YTCA, and the nice lady in charge of Yorkie Rescue and the Collapsing Trachea website. They all agree that untill more research is done, there is very little breeders can do to eliminate this defect. Most specialists see this as a polygenic disorder, which means that many different genes combined in a complex pattern of heredity create the weakened cartilege that leads to CT.
In this pups case, the Collapse might have been triggered simply by the stress and horror of being air shipped. The pressure differentials could be sufficient trauma on a small dog to lead to a collapse event. If this occurs in a place where the animal is upset, the CT cycle begins as the dog pants hard in stress, leading to more collapses, leading to more stress.
I would not be so fast to villify the breeder. Other than giving prospective breeding pairs a trachea massage to determing if a mild collapse symptom is allready present, there is nothing they can do. Retrospective reporting of symtomatic dogs is being considered, but there is no official guideline or understanding of how to breed this out.
Research is being done to identify ways to test for the defect before a collapse occurs, but this is not yet available.
Estimates of the propagation of this defect in the yorkie breed range from 20 to 100 percent. This is the reason that we often use harnesses instead of collars. It's not, as I have often read "because their small tracheas are so delicate", but because we don't know if a given pup may cary the defect or not until it's already developed a collapse. We use harnesses and halti's as a "just in case this dog has the defect" measure, hoping to reduce the stress and trauma on the trachea, to prevent a CT episode.
I hope this helps.
Here's the thread where I discussed this with the breeders, and my sources for this info:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18164