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Old 05-21-2009, 09:32 AM   #5
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Default Collapsed Trachea surgery

My little guy Rhett has CT and has been treated for the last two years for it...he is on Torbutrol and lasix twice a day...1/4 tab each morning and evening 7 am and 7 pm....I have known of a few who have had the Ct surgery although it was not laser.....they actually had a stent placed in the trachea...but end result was.....the Trachea ended up collapsing in a different area than the original collapse.....the recovery for the surgery in my opinion is far worse than treating this.....there is the possibility of pnumonia...which several have died from within weeks of the surgery....CT is very tricky to treat....some give large amounts of meds that more or less keep the dog in a stupor...we have shosen to treat rhett with diet and mild meds....the important thing to remember it to keep the respritory sustem clear of fluids, as they build up is causes the heart to work overtime and the lungs and the trachea to clear them.....main thing is to keep the weight down so the heart does not have to work so hard...and watch allergies..Rhet is allergic to corn, soy and wheat....and the pollens from those really work hard on his system..we have him on Solid Gold Holistiq Blends food, and keep our house cool...humidity, especially where we live plays a major role in his breathing so the cooler the better...I also use Olbas Oil on his throat when he has bad breathing episodes, it works much like any menthol works for us..it opens his airways for breathing....he even comes to us now when he knows he needs it...He has learned his limits....other than that he is a pretty normal little 5 yr old guy....and he has no plans to leave us yet.....
Would I have the surgery for him, even if he was a candidate for it I still would not do it...his collapse is way to low....so surgery is not an option I have to deal with and if it was, I would not do it to him. But that is just my opinion.
Where are you having the surgery done? and how many surgeries like this have they done and at what success rate.....these are all questions I would be asking.....I am sorry if I sound negative on this but I have been going thru this with Rhett for 2 years now and he has even went out cold on us once a year ago....but came back. Plus we have not started with any steriods as yet as they do damage to the heart....and the longer you can go without them the better, especially since Collapsing Trachea and heart disease seem to go hand in hand.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Lindyloo View Post
Daffney was 4 when we adopted her 3 years ago. From the very start she did the reverse sneezing and when she got excited, she would cough and honk like a goose. At first it scared the dickens out of me, but she'd always recover very quickly.

I asked the vet about it and he told me it was called collapsing trachea or laryngeal paralysis. He said that he didn't think it would get any worse, so we didn't need to worry about it.

At the end of March Daffney caught kennel cough while romping outside with a neighbor's dog. As soon as I realized she was sick I brought her straight to the vet and he put her on antibiotics, which worked quickly. Unfortunately, this illness antagonized her collapsing trachea. The vet was seeing her a couple of times a week for steroid shots to keep the swelling down. She was showing tremendous improvement and we thought that she was out of the woods--until last Friday night.

She woke us up because her breathing sounded like a bullfrog. She was panting, her whole body was heaving with each breath, her tongue was hanging out of the side of her mouth, and her eyes were wide with fear. I was able to reach our vet almost immediately and he told me she wouldn't suffocate. He thought she might be too warm and to cool her down. That worked, thank Heaven. The next morning we went in to see him and agreed that we needed to schedule the surgery. He said that it would be laser surgery to eliminate the excess tissue in her trachea that causes the problem.

Our vet arranged an appointment with the same surgeon who repaired both of Daffney's knees, but we haven't had a chance to speak with him yet.

So, my questions are:
Have any of your babies had this laser surgery?
How long did the surgery take?
How long was the recovery?
Is there anything we need to know about?

Linda K.
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