I have had a lot of experiemce with this. My first yorkie Karma had it but it only bothered him when he got excited. H elived to 13 years old no problems. Then my second yorkie Zorro got it and he also lived to almost 13 years of age with out any real complications. My third Yorkie Gracie got it at age 5 years old and it was so severe that she had heart and lung problems she died at 6 1/2. A few things I learned was never put then on a collar, Gracie would love to chase a soccer ball around the yard and we had her on a tie out when we had her out and she would pull on it, which I think in hindsight was what really did her in, also you need to keep the weight off of them. I checked into the surgery with TEXAS A and M university on the recommendation of my vet and they sent me a massive report on a study they had been doing on surgery for collasped tracheas and the outcomes were not good. I spoke to a vet there and she said that where Gracie's was collapsed, in the thoracic areararely had a good outcome. Also they can come out of the surgery with a trach tube which is very hard to handle. Now this was in 1997 so I no it may be outdated. The vet can also give broncho diallator medicine to help open the airway if it gets bad. Hiopefully it will never get any worse. |