Collapsed Trachea in Small Dogs

A collapsing or collapsed trachea in a small dog is caused by a weakening in the rings of cartilage that hold the trachea open so that your dog can breath.  Some dogs are born with this weakened condition, others develop the condition with age. While the condition is not limited to small dogs, it is most common in small dogs.

The trachea in dogs, humans and most other mammals is the "tube" that runs from the nose and throat that carries air to and from the lungs...it can also be called the windpipe.  When it is collapsing or collapsed, dogs make an unusual sound caused by what some call backwards coughing...a sound like a honk.

Many dogs have this condition occasionally or chronically and live normal healthy lives.  If your dog is "honking" often and over an extended period of time, please do see your veterinarian as he or she will teach you how to manage the condition and perhaps suggest medications that will open up the breathing.  Surgery is not often needed.

If the characteristic cough is just occasional, your dog should be fine, this is up to you to determine.

Here are a couple of things we do:

When I (Aspen) cough like this, my owner gently lifts my head and strokes under my neck...she didn't read about doing this anywhere, it's just something she did one day, and it helped.  Maybe it helped me relax, maybe it helped open the trachea, we don't know, it just worked...but it's just a gentle lift and very gentle stroking, nothing more.

DO NOT walk a dog using  a regular collar with this condition, use a harness.  In fact, do this anyway with a small dog as a collar could contribute to causing the problem.

Do more research on the condition online, there is quite a bit of information out there, and thank you for visiting, we hope we helped you learn a bit more about tracheal collapse and hope you find help with your dogs collapsed trachea.

Saving Favorite Animal and Pet Sites Online

I've discovered a new place to save all of my favorite pet and animal sites. The site is called Clipix and as the name would indicate, it is a "visual" way of saving places that you want to revisit in an organized way.

I joined clipix about a week ago, and have set up files on my favorite topics. To get started, you open an account which just takes a few minutes, then go to your "clipboard". On the clipboard you will find boxes with titles of some popular categories. You can change the titles to anything you like. You can also add more boxes to the clipboard as you discover sites that interest you on different subjects. And if things get really busy on your clipboard, you can set up "multiboards" and put similar clipboards within them to further organize things.

Since I am new, I've set up some basic boards on some of my favorite things, including animals, books I'd like to read, health and nutrition, recipes, gift ideas...and I'm sure I'll be adding many more.

When you go to your main page, you can click on the title of any one of your clipboards, which will open up a page so that you can see all files in that folder. As I said, I've just started, but here is a picture of the folder I started on animals and pets:



Here is how to save your information to a clipboard. When you join, you "drag" a little "clip" button up into your toolbar if you are using Firefox, or you save it to your toolbar as instructed if you are using Internet Explorer. Then when you are on a page that you like and want to save, you simply click on the clip button in the toolbar, a window will open, you choose a picture that will remind you of the site, label it if you like, and save it into a file that you choose from a drop-down menu. So simple!

I am "happynutritionist" on clipix, when you join, look for me, or tell us in a comment who you are so we can all find you...tell us how you are using Clipix.

 

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Fleas in the Winter?

In the northeast, we are having one of the warmest winters that we've had in a long time. It's nice to have such mild weather, but one thing that my owner didn't think about was the fact that the fleas and ticks are living longer than they usually do. In fact, we stopped doing my flea treatments, and now we are trying to get rid of fleas that are in the house.

This is not fun for any of us. But it's a good reminder that just because the calendar says it's winter in the northern states, it doesn't mean that the fleas are gone unless you have really had a good prolonged hard freeze which we have not. It's a lesson learned the hard way.

Wish us well in ridding ourselves of the fleas naturally. We will be back to let you know what works, and our progress.

How to Clean Eyes on a Small Dog

Cleaning a dogs eyes can be challenging depending upon the disposition of the dog and how used to having the eyes cleaned your dog is.  We liked the video below because it talked about small dogs and why their eyes are more prone to discharge and getting "crusty" dry material around them.

One thing that my owner has not done is to give me a little treat after she is done with my eye cleanings..something that was suggested in the video.  I get nervous during the eye cleaning...and squirm a lot, so she has to hold me gently by the "scruff" of my neck...like a mother dog holds her puppy...to keep me in place while she cleans my eyes.

It is important to keep your dogs eyes clean, and if there is any hair around the eye long enough to get in the eye to cause irritation, it is wise to carefully cut that hair away....or better yet, have a groomer do that for you if you aren't sure you can do it without harming your dogs eyes.

As for solution to use in the eyes, our vet suggested using a simple saline solution for sensitives eyes that people use for their contacts, so we have been using Bausch & Lomb Sensitive Eyes Plus Saline Solution, a 12 oz. bottle of this lasts for a long time. In fact, the whole family uses it as eye drops for dry eyes, so much less expensive than buying those tiny bottles of eye drops.

Here's the video on how to clean a dogs eyes:

Dog Walkers in New York City

When considering dog ownership in New York City, one of the things you have to ask yourself is "how do I walk my dog in the City"? I am a "rural" dog, so don't really know what city life is like. My owner just opens the door and I'm off to run, sniff about, and "take care of business" on my own, but it's a more complicated thing when you live in a City. Most live in apartments, and some do not want to be running out with their dog whenever the dog wants to go out. Plus we do need our exercise. Perhaps you are unable to walk your dog due to illness, or not wanting to miss part of a game that you are watching on television.

11/7/13 update: Please note that this blog was written as if Aspen, our Yorkie wrote it in first person until August 2013 when we had to say a tearful goodbye to our beloved dog.  We miss her still, but will continue to maintain this blog in her memory.

If you are in New York and dog walking is a challenge for you for any reason, it's nice to know that there's a service like Swifto Dog Walking to come to your rescue. In fact, they promise to be at your door within an hour of your call. This is true no matter where you live in New York City and no matter what time you need a dog walker.

We were happy to see that Swifto is a member of, and insured, by Pet Sitters Associates. It's nice to know that their dog walking service comes with a money back guarantee and all dog walkers are pre-screened. It's good to know that there is such a nice dog walking service for the NYC dweller for those times when you need one.


This post contains both personal and sponsored information written by me on behalf of Swifto. 
All opinions are 100% mine.