Zippy has collaping trachea..

[Desiree]

I asked them about that yesterday. She couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary. I was thinking maybe it was something perhaps that was sprayed on their grass. They have all hardwood floors so its not carpet cleaner stuff, but it could be what they use to clean the floor. I have stopped using my automatic spray air freshener for a few days. Other than that I don't use alot of spray cleaners. I don't like the smell of most of them so I use the moistened wipes for cleaning quite a bit at home. I am trying to eliminate as much as I can here at home to see if it makes any difference. I hope these antibiotics help. I have been trying to keep him pretty calm, so I havent been doing as much work as I would like with him. I had been working on getting him used to staying in the car by himself for a min or two and learning that he can not jump out the second I open the door, so while I am traveling, I can go in to use the restroom or get gas. But he starts freaking out a bit so I haven't been doing that too much. Still doing the other training like sit stay, the stuff that he does calmly.
Mattie- I hope your trip went ok and that you are doing alright.

[Mattie]

White vinegar is one of the best cleaners you can use, makes windows and mirrors gleam, this will give a lot more than I can http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7

All I use for dusting is either a damp cloth or a feather duster that I wash regularly,

My floors I use a little washing-up liquid in the water to wash them.

If I try and use anything else my breathing is terrible, Joe was the same, he would react to many of the things I did.

[Desiree]

Thanks for that link Mattie. I had no idea you could use vinegar for so many things. But then don't you have the vinegar smell hanging around??
About the only 2 rooms I use many cleaners in is the kitchen and the bathroom. Mostly bleach, and then the Mr.clean for the floor. I do love the Mr.Clean magic eraser thingys. I have an almost all white kitchen (not my idea!!) and having cats and dogs makes it impossible to keep looking clean. I mop the floor and an hour later it looks dirty again.

I am sensitive to alot of that stuff too so I figure if it makes me sneeze the dogs won't like it either. I have also invested in a couple of those air filter things. Before we brought Darla home after she got her trach, I was so worried about dust and hair and everything getting in her trach that I got those filters, hepa filters for the air and heating unit, and stopped using quite a few things in the house that I thought might bother her. I have just went back to all those rules again for the time being. I figure if I use what worked for Darla it should work for Zippy. Guess alot of the things I got for her may be useful again.

[Mattie]

You dilute the vinegar depending on what you are using it for, windows I use 24% vinegar, 75% water, for counters and cleaning up after dogs as well as other things, I will use 50/50. Even if I don't dilute the vinegar the smell doesn't last long, it soon goes. I find it much better cleaning windows especially if I use a microfibre cloth as well.

The smell of bleach can bring on an asthma attack, I usually wash my floors with washing up liquid with some vinegar added as well, the floors in this house are black but in my previous house the kitchen floor was white, it brought them up a treat. Muddy floors, let the mud dry and use a brush, very little if anything is left. You are lucky your clean floor lasts an hour, I think I am lucky if they last 5 minutes

If my counter is stained I use Milton, don't know if you have it in the USA but it is for sterilizing baby bottles.

How is Zippy?

[Wicket]

If you don't like the smell of vinegar, I've added a squeeze of lemon juice (more or less depending on the dilution) to a white vinegar solution OR I've used apple cider vinegar which to me doesn't smell as strong as white vinegar. I've used non-chlorine bleach, which uses hydrogen peroxide as a whitening agent, that doesn't have the foul smell of regular bleach.

Although I'm not a vet, I've seen some dogs have a reverse sneeze which is where air gets caught in the tracheae, creating a coughing sound. I don't know if dogs with tracheae problems suffer from this, but I know my toy dogs will get it sometimes, usually from pulling or too much excitement. Usually gently massaging the trachea helps alleviate the coughing sound.

I hope lil' Z is doing all right!

[Duffy Jones]

How are they doing on the antibiotics. Hopefully much improved. If not then I would be concerned this is more allergic then infectious.

Just interested.

duf

[Desiree]

First let me say I have become additcted to this site! My internet has been down all week and it was driving me crazy!

I think Zippy is doing a bit better. I have only had to give him the cough suppressant in the morning instead of 3x a day. And his coughing spells aren't lasting as long. He's mad at me right now since he had to have a bath, but he smells better. Today is day 5 of the first antibiotic, then tomorrow starts 5 days of something else. I also have a cat on antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. Its great fun giving a cat liquid meds I don't know why she keeps getting them. The vets want me to put the cats on the science diet c/d food for that, but its soooo expensive and I think there is prob something better I could feed them.

I was being pretty generous saying my floors stay clean for an hour Usually right after I mop there will be a hairball attack or something.

Mattie, I have good news!! I finally got around to video taping Zippy while I was gone. The first day I only got about 20 mins. He barked for about 15 of those after I left. The second day I got around 3 hours before the battery died. He barked and jumped at the cage door for about 10 mins after I left, then ate his kong, and layed down and napped on and off for the rest of the time. He did sit up and bark a couple more times as a cat walked by or at a noise outside but over all he was calm!!! I am so happy about that! He curled up with the stuffed animal in there and just seemed pretty relaxed. I had been worried that he was still going crazy in there all day, but he isn't. Big step in the right direction. Also I had to go to the store after work and I didnt want to put him back in there so I left him in the living room with the other dogs while I was gone. He barked for a couple mins after I locked the door and then all was quiet. I was gone about 30 mins. Came home and no destruction! No carpet torn up, nothing! yay!!! Even bigger step! Now if he would just get a little better at the potty training, we could ditch the cage all together.

[Desiree]

Just an update on Zippy. He is still coughing quite a bit. He has had 5 days of Delta Abaplex (sp) and is on day 3 of Doxycycline. Still has 7 days left of that. He seems to do better for a couple of days and then worse again. Maybe he has sesonal allergies like me, who knows. He had a pretty bad fit earlier and ran across the room coughing and then fell over. I ran and picked him up thinking maybe he wasn't getting enough oxygen but his gums were still pretty pink. Scared me tho. Then he was back to running around. I am so confused by all of this. I will be glad when he gets the xrays done and I know for sure if its his trachea or not. Nov 8th is supposed to be the day for that.

[Mattie]

That is a long time to wait for him to have his xrays Desiree, can they be done earlier especially now he has collapsed.

[Desiree]

I am going to call in the morning and see if he can get in then. It scared me but then I saw he was still pink... I def don't like the fact that he is coughing to the point where that happens.

[bmbutler]

Let us know when you hear about Zippy. It can be very upsetting when our babies are sick.

[Desiree]

When I called the vet she wanted to wait a few more days for this 2nd antibiotic to have time to work before doing xrays. She said she wanted to elimate some possiblities before doing xrays so we would not get things confused I guess. She did say since his gums weren't turning blue there is a possiblity it could be something with his heart So I think Saturday will be when we go in.

[Mattie]

Is this the same vet Desiree or have you changed vets?

[Desiree]

Its a new vet. Does any of this sound like it could be heartworm to you guys? The lady who comes in to help with training the Puppies for Parole dogs told me it sounded like heartworm. I don't know if he was ever checked for this.

[Wicket]

Its a new vet. Does any of this sound like it could be heartworm to you guys? The lady who comes in to help with training the Puppies for Parole dogs told me it sounded like heartworm. I don't know if he was ever checked for this.

The heart worm test is really easy. All they need to do draw some blood and then someone in back will put a couple of drops on a tester and within 5 minutes, you should find out if positive or negative. Has Zippy been on any monthly heart worm preventatives like Interceptor since he's been with you?