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Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / April 2005Canine Asthma and/or Caniine Tracheobronchitis?
Hi! I just found this group and was wondering if anyone here has any experience with canine asthma and/or chronic tracheobronchitis. I have a chihuahua (his name is Chico) and he has been suffering from an unrelenting coughing heave, which is largely unproductive. The only truly effective meds that have worked for his asthma are Sudafed (which makes him act like a junkie going through withdrawal) and prednisone (which made him bulk up twice his size). I've tried a variety of things, but none have been effective for extended periods. I still give him 200mg of theophylline, but he's also been on cyclosporin (which worked for the first course of treatment, but then became ineffective in later courses). I am at my wit's end with Chico because his hacking cough is disturbing my already poor ability to sleep. I know it's not his fault, but he's a sensitive dog who has always slept in my bed -- so it's either get his asthma under control or face the possibility of putting my favorite little guy to sleep. Chico has had two tracheal flushes, both of which have come back negative -- these tests were done by two different vets. He does not take in as much water as he should (oftentimes, I will make a 50/50 mix of water and apple juice to encourage him to drink more, as well as give him more wet food than dry food). When his hacking becomes really bad, he will attempt to drink water, then vomit it up within moments of drinking the water. He's back to his normal weight of 7 pounds -- I am seriously considering putting him back on the prednisone and letting him gain the weight back, although that most likely stress out his luxating patellas (his knee caps are nowhere near his knees, which gives him a funny gait -- this, however, has not given him any arthritic pain to date at the age of 9 years). Any help would be greatly appreciated!  SignatureRachel M. Fouché Has the vet ever recommended a diuretic. I had a cat who had severe asthma and took pretty much the same drugs as your dog. We eventually had to put her on lasix due to fluid around her heart caused my the prednisone. I know that fluid around the heart will also cause a dog to cough like you describe. Celeste > Hi! I just found this group and was wondering if anyone here has any > experience with canine asthma and/or chronic tracheobronchitis. I have a [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > has not given him any arthritic pain to date at the age of 9 years). Any > help would be greatly appreciated! I'll mention that to his vet when we see him next. Tanks for the info. Rachel > Has the vet ever recommended a diuretic. I had a cat who had severe asthma > and took pretty much the same drugs as your dog. We eventually had to put [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > has not given him any arthritic pain to date at the age of 9 years). Any > > help would be greatly appreciated! > Hi! I just found this group and was wondering if anyone here has any > experience with canine asthma and/or chronic tracheobronchitis. I have a [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > has not given him any arthritic pain to date at the age of 9 years). Any > help would be greatly appreciated! Hi, Are we really sure this is asthma? We just don't see asthma in dogs very often, as in almost never. It is seen in cats on a regular basis, however. In cats, the diagnosis is made based on the symptoms and x-rays of the chest, which show a typical asthma pattern. Have x-rays been taken? In a small dog, a collapsing trachea would be a more common cause of coughing like you describe. Unfortunately, there's not a simple treatment for it. You might also consider a broad-spectrum deworming in case there are any parasites in the lungs. I'm assuming he's already been on antibiotics. MK DVM Chico has had two tracheal flushes and one x-ray to determine if he had a collapsing trachea. Both flushes came back negative for bacteria, and the trachea was normal when he had his x-ray (although the x-ray was done when he was sedated, which made me doubt the normal diagnosis of his trachea). He is on Heartguard (ivermectin), which is the standard therapy for several types of worms that would affect canine lungs in this manner. His worm tests also came back clean in February. He has never been on antibiotic therapy for his cough, although we did try Atopica with him for a while. The first course worked, but he couldn't continue on the Atopica without prednisone. His cough is definitely in his throat area, and his lungs sound clear. It does sound like that the air in his lungs are being compressed as it is expired, much like pinching the neck of a balloon to get that whistling sound. When the attacks are at their worst, he will drink water but them vomit it up in a mix of water and viscous phlegm. Theophylline 200mg does lessen the attacks, but the prednisone arrests them. I would be willing to give him something else, but it seems most research on animal lung diseases is done on horses. If I could find a supplement to the theophylline (I've even increased his dosage to 300mg, but stopped because I couldn't find a toxicity level for dogs), so he is more comfortable and helps improve his mood (the coughing seems to be depressing his mood). I have been trying these ayurvedic pills that largely consist of pepper and ginger, which seem to make the phlegm more loose, but not much more. I also have been trying inhaled steroid therapy, but Chico holds his breath or breathes from his mouth while using the spacer, so I've given up on that temporarily until I can find a muzzle like mask so he can only breathe the air from the spacer, even if his mouth is open (he's a genius when he doesn't want to do something...) The only reason I mention canine asthma because Chico grew up with two outdoor cats, both of whom Chico loved to hang around (much to their chagrin) -- he is so "cat identified" that when he is happy, he does this rendition of cat purrs. The older of the two cats had chronic hairballs in her advanced old age, so I was interested in finding out if feline asthma was zooinotic, especially since that's when his cough started. > Are we really sure this is asthma? We just don't see asthma in dogs very > often, as in almost never. It is seen in cats on a regular basis, however. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > MK DVM Just so you know that in my cat when we upped the Theophylline she developed problems with not being able to hold her bladder. Skippi took 100 mg a day and 150 was enough to cause the leaky bladder. It doesn't sound like you've had the problem with your dog but I thought you might want to know. Celeste > Chico has had two tracheal flushes and one x-ray to determine if he had a > collapsing trachea. Both flushes came back negative for bacteria, and the [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] > > > > MK DVM Actually, I've had a couple of "mysterious" accidents with Chico regarding bladder control and theophylline -- but it's not a mystery anymore! I thought he was peeing in inappropriate places because he had been startled or something. Thanks for the info! > Just so you know that in my cat when we upped the Theophylline she developed > problems with not being able to hold her bladder. Skippi took 100 mg a day [quoted text clipped - 65 lines] > > > > > > MK DVM |
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