trachea specialist needed PA. area
 

Can anyone recommend a trachea specialist surgeon for my 6 year old Tucker who has the collapse in his chest area. I am looking for someone who has a good success rate and one that is in or near Pennsylvania. Any info. will be appreciated.

I'm sorry about Tucker. :(

This surgery isn't as common as some others, so I'm not sure how many people on YorkieTalk would know of a specialist. You could try posting this in the regional section. Did your vet say it is bad enough for surgery?

I would go to UPENN Veterinary School Clinic. You can google and get the phone number.

Best of luck to you and your baby.

my mom saw a specialist in pa.

she comes home from hawaii this weekend.

i will get you the info.

he specializes in this.

The vets don't think he's bad enough yet, I just want to be as prepared as I can. If I could find someone who has a great track record with similar cases then I would have the surgery, but the way things look it's very risky. Right now all he is on is hawthorn herb, glucosamine, and a occasional inhaler, plus his holistic foods and veggies.
I'll just keep looking for any info. that I can get to possibly slow the illness down some.
Thanks for the care, Tracey

that's phila. right. That's not SEVS is it? Because SEVS I already found online as far as trachea vets. Did you hear of any good results from UPENN?
Thanks for the info.
TraceyAnn

Thanks alot, I would appreciate it.
TraceyAnn

Hi...

Any information you find would be great for me too...we are picking up a rescue Pup tomorrow, an owner surrender...she is in critical care and is going to need the surgery...ASAP....

I am from the Boston area... so we are looking at Tufts but would prefer to go to a hospital who has more experience with the operation... however we are not sure how much time we have...

I will also keep you updated when we get the surggery done for this little girl...

Hi Tracy :)
My soon-to-be 3 year old yorkie Pixie has a collapsing trachea. She was diagnossed as a puppy - 10 months or so.
So we're going on 2 years dealing with the same issue.

During that time, I've done a lot of research and experiments to see what I can learn to try to help her. As far as medication - I found that prednisone helps her the most, though we try to regulate how long she's on it because we don't want to damage her liver too badly either. And we frequently pull her off when we're able. Right now, she's on Prednisone and Torbutrol. We also give her gloucosamine... and something else we've recently discovered to keep it at bay: calming tabs.

A lot of times her collapse is due to excitement or too much activity - giving her an all natural calming tab seems to help those times tremendously, and it kept her off the steroid for a couple months longer than she would have otherwise.

Other things that tend to irritate her: very cold weather - it makes her throat scratchy and irritated, making her cough, thus subjecting her to collapses. She's always on a steroid during the winter months for this reason. Also - cold or hot foods/liquids tend to set her off. I try to make sure that we give her only lukewarm foods and liquids - and if she gets something from the fridge, we put it in the microwave to try to get it room-temperature before allowing her to have it. We also try NOT to give her cold water - fresh, yes - but not cold. Dairy also sets her off - when she drinks milk or has cheese or something, she has more and worse collapses than when she doesn't.

Every dog and every trachea is different. I'm not telling you this to say that you have to do this with Tucker - not at all. But it helps to know what sets them off to try to keep it at bay, and hopefully by reading Pixie's information, it'll give you somewhere to start.

If you find other things that set Tucker off, please let me know - it may just be useful for Pixie's treatment also.

I live in PA...my YOrkie had surgery for a liver shunt at Veterinary Speciality and ER Services in Langhorne. Their number is 215-750-7884. You may want to call them and ask.

Good luck.

Thanks so so much, that was all wonderful info. What bothers me the most with Tucker is that his breathing has always been noisy, I always thought it was from his short nose, every breath is an effort. Like a person with a stuffy nose. If he has a gagging or cough like spell it is very brief. I heard being on glucosomine puts on the pounds, and it sure did, he went from 4lbs. to 8lbs. in 2 years, which thats not helping,plus I no longer take him on walks anymore because then he will have an episode for a day or two.
I will keep hoping for something out there that will slow down this collapsing trachea, or better yet fix it completely with great results.
Thankyou again, Good Luck with Miss Pixie.
Tracey

here is a link to read about the collapsing trachea :

Tracheal Collapse - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

here is another link with lots of info on the surgery

Tracheal Collapse - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

[QUOTE=YoRkiE Te aMo;2455458]here is another link with lots of info on the surgery

Tracheal Collapse - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company![/QUOTE

Thank you so much for the links.

more information and a link too...

trachea info


Herbs to help with coughing include mullein (Verbascum thapsus), elecampane (Inula helenium) and marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) but I would also suggest that you consult with a qualified professional in your area who has exerience with both animals and herbs to set up a programme that deals specifically with your animal's condition. Such a person may be found through the Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association (VBMA - Home)

Dr. Richard Pitcairn has some ideas in his book also...

seems calcium is good for strengthening and there are other remedies..like unpasturized honey for the cough to sooth the throat ..also to massage or rub the neck, throat area lightly, slightly elevating the head ..also try to keep the saliva down in the mouth with more fluids or fruit.. watermelon is good for that and they love that...then, also try not to use strong cleaning agents in the home like lemon waxes and air sprays as they aggravate it ..also chemicals for cleaning and in the yards...there are also massages to relax the little one..to massage right behind the pads of the paws ..they are in heaven then and of course no collar on the neck...
just a few suggestions..i have read about and also used when our little Oliver has a coughing session...we were told he had it but i am not sure if he has that or reverse sneezing..but as he is getting older it is better:animal-pa