HELP! How sick is my Yorkie?
 

Hi, everybody. I need help & advice as Coltrane is my very first puppy, and I love her way more than I thought I could ever love a dog, honestly. Now she's like my first-born daughter and there is nothing I won't do for her.

Having said that, she's very sick. I've had her a month and we've been to the vet every single week. She's coughing & sneezing constantly. I feel like it's getting worse. At first the vet said it's an upper respitory infection and prescribed an antibiotic. Went back because it wasn't getting better, asked about Kennel cough, they said maybe, but her lungs are healthy & clear and she hasn't lost her appetite so she'll be fine. But gave me one more round of antibiotics just in case. Went back a week later, still not better. Sounds worse, lots of gagging & coughing & sneezing...almost like she's got something caught in her throat. Took her back to the vet, they told me it's not kennel cough because when she presses on her trachea it's not making her cough, like it would with kennel cough. She said now it might be a mild case of collapsed trachia, though when she felt around her trachea she said it felt fine, and usually older dogs suffer from that. Also it might be reversed sneezing. She gave me "hydrocodone" for the cough and said this should work because it's stronger. IT'S STILL NOT WORKING, 4 DAYS LATER.

Is my baby okay? I'm so scared something will happen to her, and she'll stop breathing. I stay up with her at night because the coughing episodes absolutely break my heart. She still has her appetitite, sort of. She's still playful. But the coughing/sneezing, gagging episisodes cannot be good for her, or normal.

Coltrane is sitting right here and says THANK YOU to anybody that can help her feel better!!! :aimeeyork

Sorry, I can't offer any advise, but I too agree with this much meds, she should be showing improvement if it's an infection. I would get a 2nd opinion as it appears your vet is at a loss. Do you have an emergency 24 hrs clinic in your area? I one I use is in the adjoining state, but they are high tech and very knowledgable. When in doubt, I go there for a 2nd opinion. I sure hope you can find the cause of her illness and she gets well soon. Please keep us posted on her progress. :(

I would take her to a different vet and get a second opinion. They may think of something that the first vet didn't think of. Good luck and sorry I am not more help!!! Best of luck!!!

I am so sorry! I know that has to be frustrating. :( I would call around and find a vet who is very familiar with small breed dogs. I agree with the others that a second opinion is important at this point, but I would suggest that you make sure that this one is VERY familiar with small breeds. Small dogs have very different issues than larger ones.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

I see your location is Richardson, is that Texas? If so, I'm providing you the name of a Vet that is very familiar with Yorkies, one that most reputable breeder/exhibitors in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex use. He was my vet when I lived there, until 2 years ago and when I'm in the area showing I still use him and call him for advice from California.


Dr. Robert Hawthorne
White Rock Animal Hospital
11414 E. Northwest Highway (The corner of Jupiter and Northwest)
(214) 328-3255

He's marvelous and is not one that has huge vet prices.....you'll love him, never makes you feel dumb when you ask questions and explains everything completely in plain english.

I would for sure get a second opinion but Kennel Cough can stick around for 6 weeks or more unfortunately. That is one of the hardest coughs to get rid of. Sometimes a 3rd round of antibotics is necessary and I've also had the vet give me cough meds to help with kennel cough. BUT...I would take your yorkie in for a 2nd opinion preferrably with a vet that has the knowledge in toy breeds. I've had one of my yorkies have kennel cough and it has lasted for about 6 weeks but kept him on meds the whole time.

Hope this helps,

Donna Bird

Mary, is he the one that does the Cerfs for LCP and hips? I need a good vet that does this :)

Yep, that be him. Donna, you'll love him.....I drove from Colleyville into Dallas whenever I needed a vet. He's never misdiagnosed and whenever I'd call him with a situation and give him the particulars....if it was unnecessary for me to drive into see him, he'd call in a prescription for me....I still have his cell and home phone #.....would meet me at the office in an Emergency and does so for Lee and others.

Can you please email that information instead of me getting it here? I want it in my personal email for when I need to give him a call so I can set up an appt. with him in the near future.
Thanks Mary!

Donna

Has the Vet watched this happen? I had a similar situation with Milo, they were just about to schedule a test for collapsing trachea when he started while we were driving by the Vets office I quickly got him out of the car to show the Vet the episode and she said it was reverse sneezing, and we figured out it was seasonal allergies in the fall. It is very hard to tell between the 3 they all present very similar symptoms. I would try another Vet and if you can get a video of the dog in the act.

It's done. He's open on Saturdays till noon or one......Very small practice....you never need an appt. unless for something like you want.

Hi and welcome and YT.

I went through this with Roxie when I first got her. We went to the vet several times ourselves. She would cough and cough and gag and it always sounded like something should have been laying in a pile on the floor, but nothing ever was. She did the antibiotics too and that's good because I'm sure it kept it from turning into full blown pneumonia. Once they get these sort of upper respiratory infections it can just take awhile for the irritation to go away. My vet said that she had known of another case with another dog where the dog was better but the cough just took a long time to subside. This was Roxie too. It took her months to get past that cough. Her bark is now very hoarse sounding and almost doesn't exist. I think all of that coughing scarred her vocal chords. Does your little one seem ok in spite of the coughing, and have a good appetite and is running around playing? If so I'd say your on the mend it's just going to take time for the cough. To help soothe the cough you could take her into the bathroom and run a hot steamy shower and just let her breathe the steam in. Another thing you can do is tap on each side of the rip cage gently with 2 fingers (about where the lungs are) several times a day. When we first went through it Roxie was so sick I thought she was going to die in my hands. I was very scared. Even though the cough lasted a long time I knew she was much better then when we had first got her. If it makes you feel better to get a second opinion from another vet then by all means do so. Sometimes these kinds of things just take time to get over and as long as your little one seems like she's doing better that's a good thing. Hope this helps a little.

Roxie and Lori

:thumbup::thumbup:

I think you already got really good advice about the second opinion, but I would still be concerned about kennel cough. Our girl got it when she was tiny and the vet didn't think it was kennel cough at first either because when he tickled her trachea, it wasn't making her cough. But, he said we had better prescribe treatment for KC just in case (it was Friday going into the weekend and he didn't want her to get worse without treatment). Sure enough, he said if it was KC, her coughing would get worse before it got better with the antibiotics, and by Saturday night she sounded like an old geyser with emphysema--hacking, coughing, and sounding like she was gagging when she did. But, by Monday she was back to her normal, non-KC self. I'm not really about giving medications they don't need, but I wouldn't mess with KC, especially in a little one.

Hopefully you can get a second opinion as to what your baby's issue is, but like I said, I think you already got good advice here :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your responses and advice. I'm overwhelmed at all the advice you've given, and I'm already at ease now knowing that it's not just my sweet Coltrane that has gone through this. I will definitely make an appointment for a 2nd opinion with a vet familiar with small breeds, and I am about to go start a hot shower and see if the steam helps her any. And I just pulled out our vaporizor! She's still active, but I can tell being sick is taking a toll on her. She's very tired and wants to sleep more than usual, and cries after a long coughing episode. It breaks my heart.

I will keep you posted of what the 2nd opinion is. I'm very curious to see what he/she has to say! Thanks everybody!!