Sensitive Trachea
 

DH brought Addie into a new vet for her 3-year rabies shot (old vet not so keen on titer testing, longer wait between vaccinations, so we switched). Unfortunately, I couldn't be there, so I wrote out some questions, one being to look into her respiratory function as she seems to have raspy breathing at times. The vet tells DH that she has a sensitive trachea (Addie did cough when vet palpitated her throat), but that the likelihood of her developing a collapsed trachea was no greater than any other toy breed dog.

This doesn't sound right to me. Dany and Mia don't have the raspy breathing and they don't have the reverse sneezing (Dany is a yorkie, but Mia is a chihuahua). Am I being paranoid?

If it is more likely, does anyone know what I should do to ensure she doesn't get it, or at least we put it off as long as possible? Should we see a specialist now, or wait?

A little background on Addie's respiratory system: when we got her at three months old, the first vet at the office said to watch the coughing she had. Well, I stupidly listened to her and at Addie's next appointment (2-4 weeks after that) the new vet (same office) said Addie had undiagnosed kennel cough, put her on antibiotics and said she would probably have chronic bronchitis for the rest of her life.

I'm so upset right now. Thank you in advance.

My dog had kennel cough for quite a while. After a couple of weeks I took him in to be examined and the vet took xrays to rule out a collapsed trachea. Nothing showed on the xrays - all looked good - according to the vet. The cough persisted for about a month and a half. He is now fine - no coughing at all. The kennel cough lasted a long long time. He was not put on any medication though because there was no fluid detected.

Yours may still have traces of the kennel cough - but why not xray to rule the trachea question out.

Thanks, I guess I should have mentioned, the kennel cough was when she was three months old. Addie is now over two years old. It can't still be kennel cough.

Sometimes CT does not show on xray.

The only advice I can give you is to keep her weight down and also always walk her with a harness.

Raspy breathing does not sound like CT, but anything is possible. If it makes you feel better, I suggest you go for another opinion. I suppose you could go to an internal med specialist.