[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

Okay so here is the update on Amaya. She does have collapsing trachea but its in a very mild form. The vet that looked at her said there was no reason to worry or put her on medications right now, but in the future she will probably have to be on some medication. It scares me and makes me feel horrible for her. Its very common in toy dogs yes, but not for a dog thats a month shy of two years old. I am afraid its going to shorten her life and make it hard for her in the longrun. It will just get worse as she gets older, so if she has the start of it now, what about 2 years from now when she's 4? Maybe I worry too much, but does anyone agree? Amaya also went with me to therapy and made a huge improvement, she took some treats from my MAN therapist. I was so happy because she has never done that before. She hates men, so I think we are making some progress!

[Lightwingcreations]

I'm sorry to hear about Amaya, poor thing. I don't really know about collapsed trachea but I bet someone will chime in. When I worked in an animal hospital there were quite a few small dogs that had this problem and they all seemed to do well, and most were pretty young. Good luck with her treatment and keep a positive outlook.

[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

Thanks LightWingCreations. I have been doing alot of reading on collapsed trachea and I think I am making it out to be worse than it really is. I mean sure it could be a serious problem, but it rarely is. I am hoping someone has experiance with collapsed trachea but if not I'm sure I could find a forum of some sort to join. I could really use some support right now, I am stressing so bad. For one over Amaya, for two because we are having a thunderstorm so bad right now that we really should be seeking shelter underground, and Mazie is flipping out. She is terrified of thunderstorms and this is the worst one we've had this year.

[briteday]

IF you still have electricity to run a computer with a t-storm going through...my papillon has had a collapsed trachea since about 6 months old. She is now 7 yo and is actually better. Or maybe we have done things differently as we went along to decrease the incidences.

We took her collar off and only walk her on a harness that goes around her chest. It's the type that the dog steps into and then you pull the two ends up and clip the leash to the two rings at the shoulders.

We had to teach her not to gulp her food and water. That was what usually started the honking. So at first we fed her by hand, one kibble at a time, until she got the idea. And we put just a small amount of water in a larger, flatter bowl so she couldn't go diving her face into the bowl and come up snorting and honking.

Putting her out on cold winter mornings also can start a honking session. So we got her a nice warm sweater for the coldest of mornings.

And when she honks we hold her close to stop the shaking and stroke her neck. It seems to stop faster that way. Honestly though, I can't remember the last time she honked.

Hopefully Amaya's prognosis will be similarly well.

[Ginny01OT]

I am soooo sorry to hear about Amaya--this sounds weird but would some kind of little mask help in cold weather (if she would tolerate it)---(I know people with heart conditions would wear a surgical mask in real cold weather)

[borzoimom]

Originally Posted by Amaya-Mazie-Marley

Okay so here is the update on Amaya. She does have collapsing trachea but its in a very mild form. The vet that looked at her said there was no reason to worry or put her on medications right now, but in the future she will probably have to be on some medication. It scares me and makes me feel horrible for her. Its very common in toy dogs yes, but not for a dog thats a month shy of two years old. I am afraid its going to shorten her life and make it hard for her in the longrun. It will just get worse as she gets older, so if she has the start of it now, what about 2 years from now when she's 4? Maybe I worry too much, but does anyone agree? Amaya also went with me to therapy and made a huge improvement, she took some treats from my MAN therapist. I was so happy because she has never done that before. She hates men, so I think we are making some progress!

Oh dear Lord.. I am sorry! I am just reading this as our week has been wild..
I agree cold makes it worse.. I am trying to think... Can you litter box train her before winter?

Litter training a small dog.. Its not hard- but takes time..
* You can not use sand or regular cat litter as with the trachea this could irratate as well so you want something like pellets..
* get a large litter box..
* line with alittle of this stuff and put newspaper on the bottom.
* when she goes potty outside- pick up the poop ( just for training for now) with a plastic bag, and blot the urine with a paper towel and place both in the box near the door she goes out to. The box needs to be deep enough she understands you not allowing her to " go in the house" but that this is a special thing just for her... I know this puts urine odor or poop odor in the house for now in training- but later you would discard or flush the current.
* if she goes in the box- say nothing, casual pat, and move along. Clean up AFTER she has left the room.. The reason is she is already housebroken and assocites maybe clean up with she did something wrong..
* it helps if the box although near the door- is out of the way of traffic so she can relax and know she is a good girl..

******** // edit- forgot you have cats too- you could just use newspaper and no pellets. and place hers no where near the cats litter box..//**********