[fifeandshaffer]

my fife had ct, his dx was over 2 years ago, in ct to the degree he had 2 years is long time sure he had his bouts a bad day or 2 here and there a few trips to the vet change of meds and then he was back to himself,,, this heat and humidity is horrible. I needed to put fife 2 sleep a few weeks ago anyone who knows about ct knows its horrible to see and hear them suffer. I loved fife from the min i saw him, whne he needed his g4 lp fixed off we went to the univ of penn, when he again started to limp off to the vet again who said you need penn, he needed a new hip mind you he wasnt even 2 yet, but fix it i did, breeder didnt give a hoot told me she would exchange the dog umm no ty he is not shoes that the heel broke off of, anyway new hip both g4 lp fixed all was good for about 2 years then ct omg how awful back to the vet and another and another back to penn saw dr weiss the best in the world or top 3 in collapsed trachea, i was ready for a stent the surgery is 5k i didnt care if it was 25k i would have fixed him,but he couldnt be fixed in order for the stent to work it needs to be high up not low like fifes was, so we tried so washes and scoped him tried every drug in the previous post plus about 10 more, at first fife did well on all of them, then they stoped, so we would change tried some marax, tried holistic stuff that worked for a time too, he got it daily even if he was ok, and for most of the 2 years he was ok, its like an asthma attack once its over your fine but some of his attacks could last a few days. a light sedative helped him at times to take the edge off if people would come to visit,, fife was always a happy dpg and the excitment of seeing people over did it and he could not breath, after a while I learned what helped him and I had all the meds at home. I could pretty much do for him everything the vet could, excpet oxygen, so i got that at home too,, mind you it wasnt all the time i did not make him suffer for 2 years, well may came and the humidity in nj is awful and fife really started to change he slept under the soaf or bed he removed himself from me in 6 years he never did that,, in his last 2 weeks he had NO good days so I needed to do what was best for fife, i miss him everyday. He was a gem of a dog. If you have any questions feel free to contact me but you are pretty close to penn maybe go for a 2nd opinion,, dr weiss has left penn he is now in ny but the people at penn are the best of the best. they will tell you if the stent is possible but if it is know the rate of success is not huge and your dog will need to be on steriods pretty much everyday after the stent is placed. You can ask your vet to give you a script for oxygen, in nj you dont need a script for oxygen for a pet but they like to have it anyway, you can rent a tank or buy one i bought mine, i had a tank and a spare that i could exchange out when needed. The other thing with ct is its cumulative so once it starts to go bad it only gets worse it doesnt ever repair itself. The steroids may work for a short while, sadly they seem like a miracle for a while but in my experience it doesnt continue to work and prolonged use of them makes the need for more and more a reality. I tried it all i wish i could have done more for my fife but i did what i needed to do and put him out of his pain. All of this is just my experience with ct, but i have done tons of research and sadly even the cure of the stent isnt a great option even if your baby is a good candidate for it. im sorry for you and your baby i know how horrible it is and all the sleepless nights, i still hear that noise, in my head. my fife has been gone 2 weeks today and my heart has a big empty spot. i made a sizablke donation to dr weiss and to penn so maybe they can find a cure or a better option,, but the sad part it could be fixed if bad breeders didnt exist. I thought i had a GOOD breeder,,she represented fife as 1 thing I paid 4200.00 for him I thought i did enough research cleary i didnt, they cost of the dog was not my only factor but i thought he was quality.. my breeder/ broker went to jail so i heard, i never sued her but many others did. She sad she was a breeder she lied. I sice found out fife was born in MO in a puppy mill and my broker paid 400 dollars for him, Even with all his problems my pain and his, i dont think anyone could love me more, Im so glad for the time I had with him even if he was a health disaster. I wish the bad breeders would have seen the pain they caused me because they wanted to make a dollar.