Tracheal Collapse in Chihuahuas: A Serious Chihuahua Respiratory Health Problem

chihuahua tracheal collapse
162 Comments

chi-tracheal-collapse

What Is A Collapsed Trachea?

Tracheal collapse in chihuahuas is a serious respiratory problem that can be chronic, progressive and unfortunately, is irreversible.

The trachea is the airway from the larnyx to the main bronchi in the lungs. It is a very sensitive area and looks somewhat similar to that of a vacuum hose and has many stiff rings with flexible tissue connecting them.

Sometimes these rings are not stiff enough and are unable to hold the trachea open against the air pressure that’s created during respiration. The portion of the trachea that is not stiff is then sucked into the airway causing partial obstruction making it difficult for your chihuahua to breath.

In addition, their abdominal muscles may become tense from the extra effort they make to breathe.

A collapsed trachea is a common chihuahua health concern that is characteristic of the chihuahua breed and is also commonly referred to as “reverse sneezing”.

Images Of A Normal Trachea Verses A Collapsed Trachea

chihuahua trachea collapse

X-ray Image

Looking down the trachea

Factors That Can Lead To Tracheal Collapse

  • Obesity,
  • Irritants,
  • Allergies,
  • Repeated heart conditions,
  • Bacterial infections,
  • Viruses
  • And second-hand cigarette smoke

Symptoms Presented With A Collapsed Trachea

  • Harsh and dry cough
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Exercise intolerance
  • A blue tinge on the gums
  • Fainting, wheezing and abnormal breathing
  • Rapid breathing

Tracheal collapse can also be brought on by damage done from leash pulling, especially if you use a collar to walk your chihuahua.

It is recommended that you switch to a trachea friendly chihuahua harness to prevent any pushing or pulling against the trachea.

Diagnosis of Tracheal Collapse

If any of the symptoms above develop, take your chihuahua to the vet right away. If they are not treated, damage can occur in the lungs, larynx, nasal passages and soft palate regions.

As mentioned, there is no cure for a collapsed trachea, but there are different ways in which you can help keep your chihuahua comfortable.

Your veterinarian will also provide you with the right medications and you will be able to further prevent symptoms.

Get Your Copy of our Chihuahua eBook Delivered to Your Inbox!

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Below is a sample page from the section of tracheal collapse!

 tracheal collapse in chihuahuas

trachea friendly chihuahua dog harnesses

reference: tracheal collapse in dogs vetinfo4dogs.com/dtrachea.html
photo references: egyvetonline.com/animaldisplay.aspx?c=2&info=16

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162 Comments.

  • […] is a common occurrence in chihuahuas and has nothing to do with a collapsed trachea.  it is attributed to their short muzzle and sometimes it is loud enough to wake the house up.  it […]

  • dawn kintgen
    March 2, 2015 9:46 am

    i also have a chi who has problems with non-productive coughing that usually sounds like huh-huh-huh-huh-huh- gack!! if she gets any loose hair from her body or one of the long hairs from either mine or my sons scalp in her throat she is in for quite a round of this annoying coughing. the extra long hairs from her human family are the worst so i try to vacuum as often as i can to avoid her ingesting Any hair at all. i figured out the long hair thing when she was doing her business and she had a portion of poo ‘magically’ hanging from her bum!! i realized that she had been coughing more than usual the previous day!! Like so many canines-she has to ‘taste’ everything including the floor & carpeting & anything else she thinks might taste good. despite the more frequent vacuuming she still manages to find a hair or two all the time. this is just an f.y.i. to anyone who has a precious lil dog that seems to develop a strange non-productive hacking cough that can not be medically diagnosed-i’ve had her to the vet twice for this cough and she has been tested for numerous possible afflictions yet all the tests come back negative. it is astounding how much lint and debris our tiny canine friends can find to lick and taste on a daily basis.this suggestion does not cost much in electricity. simply use a vacuum more often to at least eliminate that your dogs snuffling{that is what i call her tasting expeditions} as a cause for the dry funky cough thanks much

  • Thanks for the great tips here. It all helps.
    Katie, I have just read an article by a vet who has discussed the truth about the lucrative drive behind the fear mongering of pet insurances and extremely high costs of care. The article shows how pet insurance is the mechanism for driving up the costs of medication to an absurd level, being over and above human medication. It is a massive industry which does not have animals welfare at heart. For example, ex rays are taken when they are not needed for conditions of an animal being sick orhaving diaharrea etc. Instead, time should be allowed for it to cure iitself instead of rushing in with ex rays and blood tests and more (vets know when to ex ray as a necessity). Also, a new morality has been created to keep your pet alive when it has cancer or other illnesses which require the rest of their days to be hooked up on drips, suffer the effects of chemotherapy and/or drugged to till death. The author of the article argues that this is a massive cruelty designed only as a money earner. However, the main reason for my addressing you is this: a few honest and brave vets will stand up to argue that having a pet in a loving household whom cannot afford insurance is better than the animal being put behind bars whom can afford insurances and vetinary treatment. The reason is because they are animals designed to be free whom do not moralise and whom live each happy and loving moment at a time with their pa ko, human or otherwise!!
    It has been known and documented that Some Vets Google household addresses to discern how much money they can squeeze out of their future middle class areas for regular visits and on going unnecessary treatments.!!!! Further, they ones that back up insurance companies are the idiot brigade, such as yourself I presume, whom leave their pets at home for hours on end causing great trauma to their lives – heavy deppression in a lot of cases, and thereby a whole genre of odd behaviour there owners do not even see because they are out earning money to ever get to know their own pets!!!!!!!!

  • my chihuahua lOLA IS SIX AND WE HAVE TAKEN HER TO THE VET. SHE HAS A SOFT PALATE (NOT A collapsed TRACHEAL. WE HAVE HER X-RAYS. SHE HAS A COUGH WHEN SHE GETS EXCITED AND SOMETIMES FAINTS. BUT THEN QUICKLY REGAINS consciousness. tHE VET SAYS THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE BECAUSE OF HER SIZE ( SHE IS 5 LBS). SHOULD WE GET ANOTHER OPINION? WE LOVE HER SO MUCH AND WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN DO AS MUCH AS possible FOR HER.

  • My Chihuahua has a tracheal collapse. She has been on several different medications none of which have helped her even a little bit. She is now on antibiotics which has not helped her at all either. I’ve been to the specialist emergency twice, charged $700 and we are getting nowhere fast. Everything I have read has said that tracheal rings are a bad idea and stents are used more recently. However stents only last up to a couple of years and one veterinarian said he never saw a dog live past one year after having stents inserted. My dog is only nine years old but she has had this issue since she was a puppy because she had pneumonia and a collapsed lung chamber. I really believe that this is a congenital condition which is prevalent in smaller breeds because they are over bred with this weakness. When you take two small dogs with this problem and you breed them you are breeding more sick dogs. My dog has always had this honking which would happen every once in a while and then sometimes last four hours but it would always go away. Now that she is nine years old it is chronic and I think the best thing for me to do for her is to let her go. I don’t want her to suffer and I don’t want her to go through an unneeded surgery that will just put her through more pain and not last long enough for her to have a quality life. Reverse sneezing and tracheal collapse are two completely different things. Do you not get them confused.

  • my 3 lb.applehead has been panting for 5 days.he has water come out of his nose sometimes and he holds his front legs outward.his stomach looks like its full and hanging sort of.his appetite is good water intake as well i know the best thing is to take him to a vet but i cant afford one i care a great deal for my baby. i had him since he was 3 weeks old. bottle fed him and he sleeps with me 24/7. please help me what can i do at home for him. can i give him antibiotics or somethung here at home i might have? please give me some ideas.

  • i am an avid chihuahua lover my boy Jack passed away 3 years ago this April at 14. My girl jilly will be 16 in June. Im sorry but it really turns my stomach reading most of these posts. So many of you can’t afford to take your pet to the vet. If this is the case you have no right having one in the first place!!!!! Granted there are so many animals who need homes but if you are not capable to properly care for an animal then you have no business keeping one!! That is beyond selfish!!! Because they are “so cute” or “no one loves you like they do” that’s what all domestic animals give ~ unconditional love. THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO KEEP THIS HELPLESS CREATURE!!! Shame on you!!!!

  • it’s sad that people have dogs that cannot properly care for them. i have two chihuahua’s that are my world. one of them has many medical issues. i have been blessed with having the means to cover her $500 / month medication bills. if I could not provide her with a comfortable and good quality of life, I would out of love and compassion force myself to find someone that could take care of her and give her the life she deserves. maybe someone willing to foster her so i could still see her. it is sad to hear when a dog gets put down for financial reasons. out of love for your dog please try other means before resorting to this.

  • My dog frankie has a collapsed trachea. He just turned 10 years old but is in Amazing health for his age. he has so much personality. I’ve tried a lot of the meds and they drug him up but don’t stop him from coughing and having anxiety moments where he can’t breathe. He’s only had it like six months and i’m not sure what to do. reading online i’m seeing extreme things about getting the surgery vs meds and no one way sounds good. since i can tell it’s getting worse i almost thing it would be better to get the surgery now before he gets really sick. i can’t stand the idea of just putting my dog on painkillers and watching him die. however, many people say that this is no big deal and to pretty much do nothing. i’m so freaked out i can’t sleep. this dog means everything to me. i’m so unsure because i’m reading so many different things. for frank since he’s healthy might the surgery be right? his cough is bad but everything else with his body is healthy. thank you for any advice.

  • Lily my chihuahua/chinese crested turns three in two days. She doesn’t have this yet. Lily gets to excited she does that sound too. With two fingers I rub softly in a circle on her thoat and it stops it. She wears a collar but only for her tags.

  • Ed ferret be sure to yelp the vet that destroyed your dogs. You don’t need a lawyer just do it yourself, win or loose at least they get to hear about it and you can have at least that moment on court.

  • I wonder how many of these little friends have been nutered, spaded or operated on for a medical problem. i had four extremely healthy, loveable, playfull little chihuahuas. two were 6-years old and two were 3-years old. all four had no physical problems. the los angeles county dog haters passed a law, that if i wanted to keep them, i would have to have them sterilized. they gave me a lot of b/s that it would make them healthyer and live longer. i complied with their law and had it done. i took the two yonger to one vet and the two older ones to a differeny vet. i brought the two 3-year olds home first. several days later the little male jumped up on my lap and died. the little feamale became a paranoid and vicious little dog. she ues to like laying on my lap and be petted. now if i tried to pick her up, she would try to bite me and run off and hide. she started to poop on my carpet, she was afraid to go outside. i have a large fenced back yard and a doggie door that they normally use. when i brought the two older dogs home they were coughing (i though they pick up kennel cough). the vet said no, it was from when they were sterilized. their trachea was damaged by the hose stuck in their throat while being operated on. the little feamale is worse than the male because the feamale takes longer than the male to operate on. i was lucky with the feamale as i saw her stager over to her bed, she started to climb into it and fell over. i rushed over and picked her up she was dead, no pules. i started “cpr” and managed to bring her back to life again. if i had the money, i would hire an attorney and sue the county for forcing me to distroy four little lives.

  • Benjamins mommies.
    September 1, 2014 4:53 pm

    Hello I have a 2 yr. old short haired chihuahua that I love more than I love myself and just 10 min ago he was all fine and then all of a sudden he just started to cry and so I picked him up just took him to a pillow and just held him thought it was his leg until I noticed him trying to keep his hick held super straight so I began to feel around and he just started crying so loud and sad. I freaked out and just don’t know what to do I massaged him and he seems to feel a lot better but I can tell he is very uncomfortable and he hurts any idea what it is and what can I do to help my Benji baby.

  • I have a 10 year old chihuahua and he has been doing the trachea collapse sneeze since he was about 1 year old. If you pay attention they do it when they seem to be real excited. Like when I come home for the day, when he is about to get a treat, or when we are getting up to go for a walk in the morning. i have to be kinda mean to him when i get home and say stop it! or his trachea will collapse, or i have to startle him when giving him a treat so he doesn’t get excited. Doing these little things seems to stop the onset of the trachea collapsing. now if he does start it i plug his nose with my finger for about 7 seconds and message his neck and back so he will relax. plugging his nose forces them to breath through their mouth and this will stop the collapse or lessen the amount of time they deal with this. so i plug his nose for about 7 seconds then let him breath or hack for 7 seconds then plug it again and do this until he stops. if he still does it more then a minute i will try and put some water on my finger and make him drink it. drinking can also cause his trachea to open up and relax, while also masssaging his back and neck. thats what i have been doing for 10 years. when i am not home i don’t know what he goes through. but usually he sleeps all day when i am not around so he doesn’t have those attacks.

  • Oh, and to the user who said that codeine contains Tylenol, no it doesn’t. Make sure your vet gives you hycodan. It does not have Tylenol in it!!! Its the only thing that would help my chi. Oh, the vet also told me to give him 1/4 teaspoon of children’s robitussin in the beginning but that never worked for me.

  • Hi. My chihuahua Endo is now 14yrs old. He was diagnosed with having a collapsing trachea in 2011. He was prescribed hydrocodone cough syrup 2.5-5mg x2 daily. Works like a charm. Anything to keep him from coughing. Hope this helps. Btw, he is 10lbs.

  • Tina Leininger
    November 11, 2013 9:59 am

    My 3 year old Chihuahua is making gargle noises occasionally . He is twirling his tongue around a lot. I took him to vet . They said everything looks good. He said its a mystery.
    No its not. My dog is 11 lbs. A little over weight. (Not a toy chi)
    He hates other dogs..broke free from his leash and attacked a dog over twice his size. The owner of the other dog started kicking him.
    I’m scared she really hurt him. What the heck.who kicks a dog.especially a tiny dog.
    I’m concerned his leash/collar collapsed his trachea. Or that the women kicking him did.
    Of coarse when at vet.he showed no symptoms.
    Twirling of tongue like peanut butter in mouth,
    Occasional gagging,breathing hard tgtogh nose.
    Any body ……..help.what is this.
    I went and bought a harness today I am so mad at myself for not doing it sooner.

  • When my 3 yr old chihuahua starts having problems I only use essential oils to heal her. They are safe and work quickly.

  • There are a few things that can help your vet is always so quick to jump to its trachea collapse it’s normal and do offer any help if u call the company that makes robitussin they will tell you they are not FDA approved for pet use yet. For those who are giving advice to use codeine never use codeine products on pets my goodness it contains Tylenol a huge NoNo! You can insist on ur vet giving ur pet an anti inflammatory injection/med non steriods this will help with the irritation and most like inflammation causing the constant gagging n coughing and try some children benadryl liquid u can give up to 1ml but I thought that was alot these lil guys don’t like it and u don’t want to dry them out or make them sleep everyday I used 0.1ml not ( 1ml) daily for a wk after a dose of anti inflammatory med this was a life saver. Chihuahuas have allergies if they have all that drainage like us they will cough sneeze gag

  • Linda Starkey
    August 22, 2013 8:14 pm

    I have two male dEER CHIHUAHUA’S AND BOTH HAVE SHOWN SYMPTOMS OF TRACHEAL COLLAPSE. tHANKS FOR THE INFORMATION.

  • what about medical marijuana? I think if the trachea is relaxed and the dog stays relaxed it will prolong their life and not put so much stress on their heart from the coughing.

  • melanie giancaspro
    December 18, 2012 5:35 pm

    My 12 year old Chihuahua has been doing the coughing for years, he does it throughout the day but it gets worse at night. It usually happens about once a minute and it goes on all night until he falls asleep. Some nights it sounds like he’s trying to gag something up others it sounds like he’s gasping for air. It usually happens more in the winter, and here we are in the winter months. The very tells me it’s the collapsing trachea and that there’s nothing that we can do about it. Considering most chihuahua’s have this problem how do these little creatures live longer than most breeds? The vet doesn’t seem to feel like there’s anything that can be done, is there? I don’t have money but I would sell my soul if it meant keeping him well. Is he in pain when he has these spells? It seems like he is but more annoyed than anything. The vet once mentioned cough syrup with codeine, which I am very weary of due to knowing firsthand of the withdrawal from opioids, and codeine is an opioid. Please help me, I love him more than anything and can’t stand to think of him in pain. Thank you. Melanie

  • The more you love your pet…the more money the vet charges you….well that’s how it feels.
    Too bad vets are not like DR POL.

    vETS ARE OVER PRICING AND MANY TIMES THEY DO unnecessary TASKS: X-RAY $150…THIS & THAT $200….MORE THIS & THAT $400…IT ADDS UP .

    dR POL FIXES THE ANIMAL ON THE SPOT..IF THE ANIMAL NEEDS TO BE SPAYED/NEUT , biopsieD AND STITCHED dR POL DOES IT ALL IN ONE SITTING….NO RUN AROUNDS LIKE MOST VETS DO.
    vETS ARE THERE FOR THE MONEY THEN THE ANIMAL….ALMOST USELESS TO THEIR FIELD….SHAME

  • I HAVE A CHI THAT I RESCUED AFTER HE ALMOST GOT HIT BY A SEMITRUCK IN FRONT OF MY LAW OFFICE LAST WEEK. I HAVE NEVER HAD A LITTLE DOG BEFORE BUT FELL IN LOVE FAST. he is my constant sidekick, even goes to work with me. HE HAS LOTS OF WHEEZING problems and snores loud. i bought him a soft harness that is fairly loose and we walk slow so he does not get pulled. my question is this…how long does the wheezing usually last? should i be worried?

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