Any experience with collapsed trachea and heart disease?
 

My 3.5 year old furbaby was recently diagnosed with a collapsed trachea and a leaky heart valve. I have been dealing with her coughing since mid July. It was first thought it was kennel cough. After not getting better we did an x-ray. My vet saw that her heart was enlarged and figured it was pressing on her trachea. But he said once the heart specialist came in (he comes in once a month) he would have him take a look at it. He is the one that saw she had a collapsed trachea and heart disease. She is on Enalapril and Furosemide for her heart. And she is on Torbutrol for her cough with supplemental Hydrocodone syrup as needed. Whenever she starts new meds its like a miracle and she will hardly cough for 2 - 3 weeks and then it slowly goes back to the way it was. She used to mainly cough at night. That was thought to be from her resting and fluid would build up around her heart and cause her to cough. Now it seems she is coughing all the time. It breaks my heart. Besides the meds she is on, I don't wear a collar on her and I run a humidifier at night for her. I am asking for any advise on maybe different meds we can try or things I can do at home for her to help with her cough. Thanks so much.

I'm sorry sweetie. There are some people experienced with CT on here. I hope they see this thread and offer you any advice they can. It's heartbreaking to see them sick.:(

I don't have any info, but just wanted to say that I was sorry for your baby. I hope she feels better soon.

I am so sorry. CT is a very difficult condition to deal with. Heartbreaking. The best advice I can give you is to keep her weight within normal limits...don't let her be even slightly overweight. I found that high temperatures and humidity made my pups worse...not sure about that humidifier...and I would keep her sleeping area on the cool side. Try to keep her environment as stress free as possible.

We used many different meds with my last CT pup. One that we got very good results with was Lomotil. It is an anti diarrheal for humans...been around for a very long time. They have found that it does sometimes help with CT. You might want to ask your vet about it. If he has not heard of using this med, tell him it is in Kirk's Veterinary Therapy. Not sure what edition, though.

Oh, and another thing that can help when they really get bad is a fan. I used to go out to the car and turn the air conditioner on high and let it blow in his face. It really did help!
The main thing to always check is the color of their tongue and gums...if they start turning bluish, they really need to have oxygen!
I really hope that you can strike a good balance with some meds that will alleviate this. Many times these pups can be managed well with the right meds.

Thank you LadyJane for the advice. She is not over-weight, so we are good there. She is the only dog I ever had that when she was full she took it somewhere to hide it. Most likely under my bed pillows. lol . She always weighed anywhere from 4.5 - 5 pounds. We have a woodstove and it gets pretty warm in my house. I was wondering if that had something to do with her coughing more. Our bedroom, where she sleeps stays very cool and we always have a fan running. And things are stress free around here for her. I have no little ones and she lives a posh lifestyle. I will ask my Vet about the Lomotil.

They definitely do not do well in heat. Please keep us posted! :) I will keep her in my prayers.