Narrowed Trachea

[John Popp]

Appears that things are improving a bit more with no horfing or wheezing last night and this morning. That's been replaced with some sneezing and what sounds like progressive coughing from Dino. Dooley is about in the same boat without as much of a cough.

It's now been too weeks since Dino showed his first symptoms and went to the emergency room. No idea why this took off so bad with him, but I just think a combination of factors piled up on him. He's eating OK, just had lost a fair amount of weight that he isn't putting back on very quickly. Then of course he's a very skinny boy anyway.

Really makes you think hard about getting labs done with something that seems as simple as a mild upper respiratory issue comes up. Certainly not the case with Dino, but as mild as Dooley's symptoms were, it could have certainly been a case of treating the symptoms and leaving behind the disease.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I'm the paranoid sort that tends to do the labs at the slightest excuse...but yes, often one doesn't bother when it seems a minor issue.

I wonder with Dino whether there is mild asthma as WELL as the infection? With us humans, sometimes after a cold we have mild asthma symptoms while normally we don't need medication...well not me, I'm a full-blown asthmatic but I see this often enough in friends...

 

[John Popp]

I think that's probably true and why the doctors were leaning toward the asthma diagnosis, I had mentioned that on occasion we have noticed Dino making that honking sound but it never lasted more than one or two breaths. Of course we always thought it was a fur ball he was trying to launch that never came to be.

I'm a full-blown asthmatic but I see this often enough in friends...

This experience has given me a whole new view on what it's like for people with asthma. Never realized that in part the issue was the trouble exhaling. You can see the look of concern come over my boys face in a heartbeat when they are having trouble exhaling. Just always misunderstood the way it happens and how helpless someone feels when they need to tense up their chest muscles to exhale as opposed to just relaxing them.

 

[SV Dad]

I'm with Brigitte on this. I'm thinking asthma piled on top of the bordatella.

 

[Eddies]

Very happy Dino is doing better, definitely a surprise on the Bordetella...don't we vaccinate against this? I just wonder did he get it from a live attenuated vaccination? Anyway, THANK YOU for keeping us updated, as for Dooley, he was stressing over Dino so it's not a wonder he finally showed it, but hey now your boy can OPEN DOORS....this post needs renamed...The very scary expensive Bordetella episode so anyone can find it fast!

 

[John Popp]

Bordetella is something that our vet and most others no longer vaccinate against as the issues outweigh the benefit. Bordetella is generally just pretty easy to treat if it's identified, and that really brought up the issues Brigitte spoke so eloquently of. At the same time, the stars just really aligned to make it take off so badly in Dino and nothing piecing together to make the diagnosis easy.

So far just some real minor sneezes today, which is great although it seems to wander a bit from day to day.

 

[Eddies]

Maybe it's by location, I checked their papers when I saw that come up....my cats were all vaccinated for it just like my dogs but we are inside the cornfields for real... happy your boys are on the mend!

 

[John Popp]

Part of the issue is that the vaccine doesn't protect them very long, which is why kennels require the vaccination within 6 months for dogs that are boarded.

I'll see if I can dig up the article I read on the topic, and the only animals that should regularly be vaccinated are those who are found to be frequent carriers. Which in itself seems like it would be tough as they probably aren't displaying any symptoms.

 

[John Popp]

While it's been a while since I've updated this, Dooley still has some minor symptoms with sneezing and an occasional cough. They are both still on Doxycycline twice a day and they wanted Dino to be treated 4 weeks and Dooley for 3.

Dino still seems a bit run down, but back to 80-90% which still can be a load to handle with his persistence. A recent bout with paper towels, moving them, hiding them, locking them in cabinets and Dino not giving up on hunting them down and killing them was pretty much his regular self.

Still have the house closed up so we aren't making things worse with any possible mild asthma issues. Not sure what else I can do in the interim, just a bit of a challenge pilling them twice a day with butter, and the vet wants me to wash it down with 5ml worth of water. The water bit is hit and miss, sometimes they seem to like it and others you would think you were armed with a syringe filled with battery acid.

Anyway, 10 days and I'm done with all of this which can't come fast enough.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Yes, the syringe of water will help make sure the pills do not stick in the throat... it's often very difficult to do though! I feel for you...