My old dog's collapsing trachea is worsening. Should I put her down?

Poor Luna sounds like she isn't doing well at the moment. I would take her into the vet first thing in the morning. Her quality of life does sound poor at the moment, and maybe putting her to sleep is the best option. But discuss it with your vet first, they may have additional ideas as to how to make her quality of life better. I would be prepared, however, that it may be time to let her go. I hope this helps.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor BooBoo! I would set up a consult with a specialist who performs the tracheal stenting for collapsing trachea. There are certain requirements that have to be met in order to be a good candidate for a stent. Even after a stent is placed most dogs are still maintained on medications. A lot of dogs with tracheal collapse also have lower airway disease. I personally do not think age is a disease. That if BooBoo is otherwise healthy and her quality of life is affected by her severe tracheal collapse it is worth the consult at a minimum. Chronic medical treatment consists of cough suppressants, anti-anxiety medications, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics if warranted. I hope this helps and I wish you and BooBoo the best!

Hello and thank you for your question. I hate it that the medications are not providing cough relief for your dog. In my experience, if these two medications are not stopping the cost of a tracheal collapse patient, then surgery should be considered. there are so many great surgical methods and treatments now for collapsing trachea. One of them being a mesh wire coil that can be placed in the trachea to keep it dilated without the possibility of collapse. These are usually performed by surgical specialists and your general veterinarian may have to refer you to one of them. I urge you to make an appointment with your local veterinarian to discuss possible surgical options for your dogs condition. I hope I have helped.

Poor Xica! I'm so sorry that she's sick, and that you're in the position of having to consider what is best for her right now. This is always a difficult situation. Her x-rays do appear to show very severe pleural effusion. As I'm sure your veterinarian has probably discussed with you, pleural effusion of the type that you have described (bloody fluid) is almost always caused by one of two things: congestive heart failure, or cancer. The amount of fluid in her chest makes it hard to get a good look at the size and shape of her heart, or to determine if there are any obvious tumors in her chest, so it's hard to say which of these possibilities is more likely without additional testing. But unfortunately, even with aggressive treatment, neither of them have a good long-term prognosis. Knowing this, if I were in your position, I believe I would probably decide to let her go rather than pursuing hospitalization, chest tube placement, etc. - these are invasive, uncomfortable procedures that are unlikely to make a significant difference in the outcome for her, because of the severity of her underlying disease. That being said, the decision of when to consider euthanasia is a very personal choice, and one that is different for every pet owner. If you feel that you need to do everything possible, and want to pursue advanced diagnostics to try and get a more specific answer as to what's wrong, there is nothing wrong with this at all - but if you were my client, I would try to gently caution you that her underlying condition will almost certainly be fatal regardless of what you do. I hope you're able to find peace in your decision, whatever it might be.

This is always a tough question to answer. I work for a home euthanasia service, so I face this question all the time with clients. I recommend making a list of five things Coco used to love to do, and if she is no longer doing at least two of them, her quality of life has declined to where euthanasia should be considered. Quality of life is very important in these cases. I would speak with her vet to see what they think about her quality of life. I hope this helps.

I would recommend a full physical exam by your vet and a basic urine dipstick - some casues such as diabetes can be well managed with regular medication. If no treatbale causes are found you can discuss palliative care and euthanasia options with your vet. Although this can be a difficult decision, your vets will support you wjere it is the best course of action for Diamond

First, it may take longer than just 5 days of medicine to improve. I would give the medicine a little longer to work. Second, the cough and wheezing may never go away completely. If the heart is enlarged, it could be pushing on the trachea which could be part of the reason for the cough. Also, a collapsing trachea will get worse the more excitable she becomes. If she isn't improving, I would have your vet reassess her 10-14 days after the medicine has been started. If she is getting worse, I would have your vet recheck her immediately. Your vet may want to take x-rays to see if there is any improvement in the lungs to see if the meds are helping some. They may decide to adjust the meds or add in something to help keep her calm and help with the collapsed trachea. Again, you cannot cure the enlarged heart. You also cannot cure the collapse trachea without surgery which doesn't have a great success rate. Keep a close eye on her. I hope this helps!