Collasping Trachea - Dry Cough
 

Hi YTer's,

Does anyone have any experience with treating an extreme case of "dry cough"? My yorkie has a collasping trachea and recently starting a "dry cough", which today has gotten really bad making it difficult for her to breathe without coughing continually. I have her on glucosamine and Vit C
but any other suggestions would be great!

Yorkie hugs,
Laura&Bonzi

Hi Laura,

Could you try some of these things:

TREATMENT

The following steps are often helpful in long term management of the tracheal collapse patient:

If any of the above listed secondary problems are of concern, they must be addressed. This may mean that the owner gives up cigarettes or that the dog goes on a formal weight loss program or other treatment to resolve the exacerbating problem.

Dogs with collapsed tracheas become unable to efficiently clear infectious organisms from their lower respiratory tracts. Antibiotics may be needed to clear up infection.

Cough suppressants such as Hydrocodone or Torbutrol may be handy.

Corticosteroids such as prednisone and related hormones cut secretion of mucus effectively but are best used on a short term basis only due to side-effects potential. Long term use may promote infection and weaken cartilage further.

Airway Dilators such as theophylline or terbutaline are controversial as they may dilate lower airways but not the actual trachea. By dilating lower airways, however, the pressure in the chest during inhalation is not as great and the trachea may not collapse as greatly.

This is the link:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body..._collapse.html

Ct
 

thanks for the info. and link Karen!

my mom's yorkie has a bad case of collapsed trachea. if he ever stops breathing put cough medicne down his throat with a syringe. don't feed him any dairy products. we give him hip chips and super 5 supplement from wellness. he's doing pretty well. he did go to the emergency vet last year when he stopped breathing.:( he could use the stent surgery , but my mom couldn't tolerate losing him if anything happened to him during surgery.

Since the airway is already compromised with the collapsing trachea I wouldn't take any chances. I would go to the vet and make sure it isn't a bacterial cause that he needs some antibiotics for.

Torbutrol is really good, it gave my dog (who had heart failure) a longer life, as it stopped his coughing due to his enlarged heart, without it, we wouldn't of had the extra few months we had.

THANKFULLY your little ones condition can be treated well, as it is a fairly common problem with Yorkies.

I wish you all the very best. :aimeeyork

My Yorkie Gizmo is 13yrs old and has the same condition. At times he seems okay and other times it seems like he is having problems breathing. We have had to sedate him at night just so he can sleep. I was told that there is not much else that I can do but to try and make him comfortable. I just pray that he is not in pain.

Thanks so much for the link. Adonis does this "snorting" thing at times, and I thought maybe he just has allergies or asthma. Maybe I need to have him checked out. Its not a cough at all though, its a "snorting or snoring" sound.

Bnot,

It might just be harmless reverse sneezing - check out this link to differentiate between collapsed trachea and reverse sneezing.

www.glassyorkies.homestead.com

choose hypoglycemia on the left and then collapsed trachea.

Thanks, I think he's doing the reverse sneezing thing, not positive though. I know when he did it last night, I petted his head, and he quit.

Sounds like he's gasping for breath, and scares me. I know though, if I took him to the vet, they'd want to keep him to be there, when he does this. I do NOT want to leave him anywhere!

My dog does this only at night, I think she's allergic to something in the bedroom. At first I freaked out, I asked my vet and he explained that longer snouted dogs have reverse sneezes and regular sneezes. I felt better after that and after paying close attention I am sure that's what my Cricket is doing, sometimes it takes her a while to "get it out" , which is rather horrifying, but in the end you do hear a "final" sneeze or some sort of final snorty thing, and then she's done with it. She also had a cold a couple weeks ago and she did this several times over the course of the night. Leading me to believe that it is indeed, sneezing.
Hope that helps you feel better,
Amy :aimeeyork :)