[Yorkiexpress]

Hi Jo ann,
CT can be diet and medically controlled...My Rhett has been diagnosed with a severe collapse...his was also due to being over weight....for the last year he has been on 1/4 tab torbutrol and 1/4 tab lasix twice a day....he had to loose 3 lbs...which he did immediatly once we found the collapse...we put him on solid Gold Holistiq Blendz kibble....he was not thrilled at first but he soon realized there would be nothing else so he ate...he is at a healthy 5 lbs now and has maintained it for over a year now....I also use Olbas Oil...I rub it on his throat area when he has breathing problems..it really helps...you can get it at olbas.com humidity sems to be his worse enemy...we use a whole house cool mist humidifier...it is set up in the bedroom.....since his worse episodes seem to be at night....Rhett also has severe corn, wheat and soy allergies and that will also trigger breathing episodes...he however does not have the cough...but does honk like a goose....we have just upped his Torbutrol dosage to a 1/2 tab twice daily as his collapse has progressed...we have not yet put him on any preds...as we are not ready to introduce the steriods into his system.......he is just now starting to get an enlarged heart...that seems to go hand in hand with the CT.....if you would like to talk with me more please feel free to email me privately I would be happy to give you my phone number...I to am with YTNR.....
Your little one will do well as long as you get the weight off of her.....Rhett had the honk but never the reverse sneeze...then one day like yours it all changed.....other than his breathing he sems to get tired quicker but has learned his limitations....he is still the spunky, feisty boy he should be at 5.5 yrs of age.....
Big hugs.....

Originally Posted by miabellaamoure

My poor Bella got the news today that she does indeed have Collapsed Trachea...and I'm sad!

She's always been a "reverse sneezer"...sometimes we might hear it once or twice a week if she got over overly excited but, last week everything changed.

It started out with what seemed like a little cough so, I took her in to see our Vet and he put her on an antibiotic & cough suppressant for the "crud" and told me to check back if anything got worse.

Then, she started having these attacks which started out sounding like a reverse sneeze only to progress into a honking chorus which ended in a hacking cough and then they'd just start all over again. This might go on two or three times in a row.

I called our Vet who said to bring her back in the next day and until then, to bump up her dosage of her cough suppressant to every 4 hours to help her get some relief.

Well, in the back of my mind I've always wondered if Bella might have CT and so, last night I searched here for any threads on this topic only to come across one which had actual video links for each type of cough: Kennel Cough, Reverse Sneeze & Collapsed Trachea. Needless to say, I pretty much knew right away which one matched my Bella.

Fast forward to this morning's Vet appointment...I jokingly told our Vet as he scooped up Bella for her x-ray that if he found a little toy lodged inside there...I'd be ever so grateful and he was quick to reply, "here's hoping for a little toy horse!"...but, that was not the case. Instead, he came back to show me her x-ray which revealed an area of significant narrowing of her trachea = Collapsed Trachea.

The first thing he did was give her an injection of a Torbutrol, a pain relief medication to relieve the coughing. Next, an Rx for Temaril-P an Antitussive/Anti-Inflammatory (Prednisone) medication to help control the cough which she will take every 12 hours.

In conjunction with her Rx therapy, she must lose weight STAT or like yesterday...which we had literally started just yesterday anyway. Canidae-Platinum Weight Control was on Bella's menu and she loved it. Normally, if introducing a new dog food, I would have introduced it slowly but, because her serving size was so tiny...I went ahead and gave it to her straight. The only side effect noticed was a little gas...I can live with that. However, her Vet decided to restrict her serving half of the recommended package serving size to speed up her weight loss. Her goal loss is 4 lbs...which will bring her back to a reasonable 9-10 lbs for her frame. He'd like less but, this is a good starting goal.

Because activity such as exercise like walks can actually aggravate her condition...this will be restricted for right now till her weight starts to come down and than gradually introduced as tolerated.

The only downside I see in this plan is that the cough Rx therapy has a steroid component which could make the weight loss plan difficult since there is the side effect of that drug for weight gain.

Soooo...here we be and I was hoping to open some dialogue with others with this thread who are sharing the same diagnosis with their lil' furbaby, too.

I'd appreciate hearing ANYTHING from anyone who has info or tips to share on this subject.

Jo Ann & Bella