Samie's collapsing trachea has severely progressed. I am so worried about her..

[tpaxton23]

I can understand how you feel. I have grown kids and a grandchild and I love them dearly but I feel so much more responsible for my pets who depend on me for everything. Both of my yorkies have health issues and they are not quite 2 years old yet. One has a compromised liver (MVD) and the other one has CT and a luxating patella. I have heard that the University of Tennessee has made a lot of progress with surgery on the trachea. I don't know exactly what their percentage of successes are but they have come a long way with this surgery. I know that they will also consult with your vet in regards to medications. I am waiting for my vet to do a consult with them. I don't think the surgery is anywhere near $8500 but I guess it depends on how many stents they have to put in. They use to have to use human stents but now they have a company that can make them specifically for each dog. I guess the surgery makes a world of difference. I plan on managing my CT yorkie with medicine as long as I can and then having the surgery done when the medicine no longer works. I'm hoping that they will continue to make improvements in the surgery. Attached is a yahoo group for CT babies. They might also have some good advice or suggestions for you. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/YAPCTsupport/

Prayers for Samie coming your way.

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by tpaxton23

I can understand how you feel. I have grown kids and a grandchild and I love them dearly but I feel so much more responsible for my pets who depend on me for everything. Both of my yorkies have health issues and they are not quite 2 years old yet. One has a compromised liver (MVD) and the other one has CT and a luxating patella. I have heard that the University of Tennessee has made a lot of progress with surgery on the trachea. I don't know exactly what their percentage of successes are but they have come a long way with this surgery. I know that they will also consult with your vet in regards to medications. I am waiting for my vet to do a consult with them. I don't think the surgery is anywhere near $8500 but I guess it depends on how many stents they have to put in. They use to have to use human stents but now they have a company that can make them specifically for each dog. I guess the surgery makes a world of difference. I plan on managing my CT yorkie with medicine as long as I can and then having the surgery done when the medicine no longer works. I'm hoping that they will continue to make improvements in the surgery. Attached is a yahoo group for CT babies. They might also have some good advice or suggestions for you. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/YAPCTsupport/

Prayers for Samie coming your way.

thank you very much! I just joined the yahoo site and waiting for approval. I appreciate you responding. My Samie had luxating patella as well. She had surgery back in 2003 for crusiating ligament. the surgery was very hard on her (this was when we first became aware of the severity of her trachea) the vet specialist was wonderful but the staff sent us home w/o samie's pain meds. i did not realize this until midnight when I looked inside the take home bag and found only 1 bottle of pills. It was anti imflammatory- the paper i read said anti-inflam PLUS pain meds and there was nothing in the bag they gave me for pain. We almost lost Samie that night she was in OMG soooo much pain. Her little leg was so sore after the antisetic wore off. my husband drove up to the hospital at 1am and we gave her the pill. Only to find out 2 hrs later she was getting worse and worse by the minute. she could not breathe and her face was all wet from saliva. Her eyes bulging. I was so scared. When we put her up on the kitchen counter we found the pill stuck in her little beard. she NEVER HAD THE PILL we gave her. she spit it out. we rushed her to the emer vet and they put her on oxygen and gave her a shot of pain med that started working immediately. She does really well with her back leg now. we made steps for her and there is NO jumping on or off furniture. she knows not to jump. I am always careful with both of my girls. I don't like when anyone makes them jump or stand on their hind legs. I do not hesitate to tell them to stop. Samie has 4 artificial ligiments in her leg. The vet told us they look similar to fishing line. I think she ran in the back yard and stepped in a low spot and that's how it happened. She would hold her leg high up and not walk on it. I pray this surgery does not cost 8500.00 and i really would consider it if it would help her. I don't want to lose her. I think my husband would be the one that needs the convincing. All he has read about ct surgery is that it is usually unsuccessful. I hope I find something or the vet can tell us something that will change his mind. I would love for this little girl to run and play and not have to worry about her losing her breath.

Do you have the ph# for University of Tenn?

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

I decided since I am not feeling well myself today, I stayed home from work. I mostly wanted to see how Samie does throughout the day so I will feel more at ease leaving her alone tomorrow. I am really starting to think that taking her for a walk (for the first time in 6 mos) even though we only went for a super short walk -maybe 6 houses down was too much for her. -she was fine while we were walking. fine when we got home, but within 30-45 min she started her loud deep cough. Once I gave her the Hydromet she completely calmed down and the coughing stopped.

Maybe my other dog Sadie yesterday knocked her on her back and she lost her breath so fast that's why she fainted yesterday. It's hard to know what happened b/c i was not in the room. I do not know exactly what happened. I know once before sadie did put samie flat on her back. Part of the reason is b/c samie thinks she is a 200 lb dog and she is not afraid of Sadie who is a little bigger than she is. It was weird the way she passed out in my arms and then awoke having a seizure though. We are also in the process of getting samie to loose weight. She is 2 lbs overweight. -when we discovered she gained so much weight and was very restless we had blood work and that showed her to be hypothrroid. she is much more herself now that she is taking the soloxine. But still we need to cut back on her food and treats to help her lose since she cannot exercise at all.

I am going to try and not re-live yesterday and take this one day at a time. I am going to ask the vet to xray her trachea in another 2 wks. this way if the walk effected her- maybe her trachea will open up more. I have been researching the flovent on line but haven't yet found anything too helpful. I read somewhere that the flovent would help with the help of a "spacer" i do not understand the spacer part. If anyone finds anything on line please forward it to me. I would really appreciate anyones info or personal experience. Means the WORLD to me. I will keep checking this thread every day and continue to post updates. The vet will be calling us this week with the results of samie's labs from yesterday and also after she talks with a specialist regarding Samie's xrays taken yesterday as well. thanks for all of your kind words and prayers. WE WUV YOU!!

ok- i think the spacer -is the infant mask that i use to give Samie the Flovent inhaler. I hold the mask on her face and the inhaler goes in the end piece so she can breathe in the med. I want to start giving her this again but it really makes her pant extremely heavy and that heavy panting worries me. A friend of mine that works at a vet told me that the flovent could just be making her excitable.

[saphire]

Don't feel bad about loving your yorkies like children. They ARE our children.
I know it's so hard for you to have two sick babies, but maybe they were meant to belong to you and your hubby because thats the best place for them to be.
The two of you are just the best "parents"

I will be saying prayers for your babies, and for you to have the strenght to cope with all the heartache you're going through.

Hugs,

[Lopsi]

Please let me know how you all are doing! Hoping Samie's feeling much better and you are recovering from your own trauma.

*Big hug* to you.....

[rustyni]

I hope for the best for you and your babies. Stay strong.