[brendarash]

Friday evening while sitting in the living room with the pups watching TV, Julie my 5 lb yorkie started to cough on her kibble while eating. She coughed it up right away and seemed to be fine.
Saturday morning I got up and she was having a hard time breathing. I called the vet and ran her in to the vets office. They did an xray and then came in to the exam room and told me Julie was in congestive heart failure and the prognosis was poor. She was gasping for air and she sounded bad. They said her heart was enlarged and I needed to take her to the emergency vet right away for more tests. After the er vet checked her out,she said they will need to keep her over night to see how she would do once the medications kicked in, that they gave her. I kept calling and checking on her.They said at first the breathing issues was because of the heart being enlarged. I felt it was a collapsed trachea. Only because she had no symptoms of heart failure. After checking on Julie all night, they said she was doing good and the breathing had returned to normal. Today the doctor called and said Julie can come home. She has tracheal collapse.Her heart is enlarged but it has nothing to do with this issue. Tonight she is back doing the same thing she did yesterday.it sounds like she is puffing,and panting. I called the vet to see what to do, she said unless she is having a problem breathing,they will not need to see her tonight. They put her on three meds. I asked the 2 er docs if I should take her to the cardiologists on Monday and they said if I wanted to but it is not nessary,and not related to this at all. I first off what to know, with any of you that have this same issue, how long does it last? the puffing and popping spells? and should I take her to a specialist about the heart issue? Thanks for any input. I have not been on her in a while because I have been taking care of my husband while he was sick,but he passed away in July. Again thank you for any info. Brenda