Information on a collapsing Trachia...? (spelling)

My little 14 year old Tiffy has developed a dry cough in the last few months... Vet said it might be a collapsing Trachia.. She has a heart murmur... And the heart enlargement sometimes pushes against the Trachia... They checked that - but her heart is not enlarged to that point.

Doesn't happen unless she lays down to rest...

She's got an appointment in June... They will try medication first... And if the med's don't do the trick, they have some kind of apparatus they insert in the Trachia - to keep it from collapsing...

Anyone else have experience with this...?

 

Ive never seen the surgery done and from what Ive heard its not 'always' succesful which is probably why most vets will opt for medical treatment as opposed to surgery.
Ive put 2 links on here for you so you can read a little about it, also if you go into Google and put in "treachea+collapse+treatment+dog" you'll find at least a couple of pages with more info. ( I like these 2 websites though, Ive found a lot of good and accurate information is on them....just my personal opinion, Im not a vet).

http://www.pethealthcare.net/html/body_ ... achea.html

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_tr ... lapse.html

Marvistavet actually has pictures of a couple of x-rays taken of a collapsed trachea and a few diagrams so you can get an idea of the areas they refer to.

Is your dog on medication for this now? It seems from what you said they are waiting until June before treating.

 

If the heart is not pushing on the trachea, then why are they doing the surgery? I'm confused.

Don't many dogs with heart conditions cough, just like humans?

This page: http://www.2ndchance.info/cough.htm tells about the many possible reasons for a dog to have a cough. It says, "Coughing is one of the most consistent signs of heart disease." It talks about collapsed tracheas separately but only mentions it in reference to congenital problems and not as a side effect of heart disease.

 

The trachea can collapse at any point from the back of the throat where it starts through into the chest cavity, I think if the collapse is actually in the chest cavity then its less likely they will be able to do surgery.

I got the impression from the post that the heart had already been checked out though and was ruled out as the cause of the cough, collapsed or collapsing trachea will cause a dry cough.

now Im confused :?

 

I am waiting till June for more treatment as I live in a very remote area (Yukon) which is five hours away from the nearest vet. I have a medical appointment myself at that time, and have booked another appointment for Tiffany at the same time.

Her last appointment with the vet was a month ago to remove three small benign mamory tumors. They did the xray's at that time... And determined that - while she does have a heart murmur, and it has gotten worse since her last appointment, it wasn't quite at the point where we had to start medicating for it yet. And the heart had not enlarged to the point where they believed it could be pushing on the trachea.

They actually said she did not really cough much while they had her... So when I called to book her appointment, the receptionist spoke with the vet, who said they would try medication before any procedures. I expressed surprise that there was actually a "medication" that helped for a collapsing trachea, but the receptionist said "Yes - there is medication".

Sometimes I pick her up with one hand under the bum and the other around the front shoulders. I realize now that I have stopped picking her up that way for a couple years now, because it seems to always make her cough. Yesterday - going on a hunch - I pressed on the front of her throat, and this started a coughing fit. "Seems like" that points to a physical thing happening with the trachea itself rather than a cough caused by heart disease... So I have called the vet's office and let them know this...

So now I'm off to the links provided above for more info on this...

 

Okay, until you said this I was still wondering why you were assuming collapsed trachea when there are so many other reasons she could be coughing. Now I get it.

I wonder if this happens in cats, too. I have a cat with a heart murmur...

 

The links above were very helpful... Happens in small breeds... Best they can figure, it is caused by an abnormality in the chemical makeup of their tracheal rings. (a weakening of the cartiladge that holds the windpipe in it's tubal shape)

Tiffy's age counts against her (surgery becomes less successful after 6 or 7 years of age)... But seems like we are lucky she has not suffered from this for more years of her life, as it usually appears in middle age... (tiffy is 14 now)

But she is not overweight, which would apparently make it worse...

And because she does not seem to cough unless touched in the front of the throat (including laying her head on something to sleep), I'm hoping this means her collapse is restricted to the area "outside" of the chest cavity - in the throat. (if it were within the chest cavity, surgery is not possible as the vet cannot reach it)

The links indicated that some dogs will actually have coughing fits which are made worse by the distress over the coughing fit itself. Intense incidents where the dog must be calmed to stop the attack. This has not happened with Tiffy... Most often, she coughs 2 or 3 times when she is laying down to sleep... And that's it.

Besides this condition, she is in excellent health.

Thank you all again for your input... And thanks for the links Delauk...

 

Good luck with Tiffy when you do get to your vet, cant imagine living 5 hours away from a vet....the last place I worked in the High Desert area of California (Victorville) people would complain because we were the closest emergency clinic for about a 1-2 hour drive....they had plenty of daytime clinics around though during regular business hours.

Keep us updated if you can...thanks.

 

Hi Cheryl,

Sorry that I can't help you with specific information, but I wanted to refer you to the yahoo group caninehearthealth. Many people on the list have small dogs with mitral valve murmurs and heart enlargement; plus, at least one member of the group has a small poodle with tracheal coughs and heart enlargement. She may be able to give you some advice/info on that.

 

Well... Actually Delauk, my town has been lucky enough to have had a local doctor for the past 27 years that helps with the emergencies... (I posted a previous thread named Stories of Animal Saviors that talks about him)

But don't like to take advantage of his generosity by bothering him with non-emergency medical problems.

Actually he is planning to sell his practice and move away within the next year... Which we are all dreading... :cry:

I guess we will learn about the four hour emergency trips to the city (5 hours regular time - 4 when a critter is hurt?) :?

 

That same town doctor came to my home to put my Tiffany down for me last night...

She had been on medication for heart murmur and for the collapsing treachea for 3 or 4 months now... But I believe she had a stroke yesterday sometime, as she stopped using her front left leg.

It surprises me that it has only been five months since I posted this thread... So very many things have changed in my life since then that it will take quite a while to recover...

Most of all - the loss of my dear freind...