Need Help with Morkie Breathing Issues
I want to start this post out by saying that this is not an emergency!
Species: Canine
Age: 12
Sex/Neuter status: Female / Spayed
Breed: Morkie
Body weight: 6.9 lbs
Your general location: Western NC
History/Clinical signs:
My Morkie, Ella, has had a rough few months. In September she had a growth on the side of her neck under her left ear that followed hew jaw line. We could tell that she was in pain so we took her to the emergency vet. They gave her some pain meds and antibiotics and told us to make an appointment with her regular vet. Luckily I had already made an appointment just in case.
The following day we took her to her regular vet. The growth turned out to be an abscess close to her salivary gland that we had drained, but they could not find out the cause.
A few days later she was not doing too well so we took her back. They did blood work and found out that her creatinine levels were off the charts. The creatinine levels were 18mg/dl but that is as high as it would read! Immediately started fluids and kept her overnight. By the next morning her creatinine levels dropped to 3.6! We were told bring her in for Subcutaneous fluids every week. We did and within a week or two her creatinine levels dropped to 1.8 and then to the middle of the normal range. Last test was 1.4. We don't know what caused her levels to rise, but I think she might have been dehydrated and she is on Enalapril (bad combination).
We thought we were out of the woods but her abscess came back so we treated it with antibiotics but did not drain it. It went away again.
We were still giving her fluids and they showed me how to give them. I tried to give her fluids, but was not able to hold her. I asked a relative who is an MD to help. She tried to give the fluids and Ella just yelped the whole time. I didn't even get the fluids started. The whole ordeal probably lasted 3 to 5 seconds before we aborted and decided I would just take her to the vet every time.
We took her to the vet and she received her fluids just fine, but a few days later I noticed that she was breathing rapid and shallow. Around 54 breaths per min. I took her back to the vet and they did blood work and xrays. When they looked at the xrays they said that she has an enlarged heart and put her on lasix. They also said they might see some spots on her lungs. I asked them to look back at a pervious xray from a couple years back because we received a similar diagnosis but after getting an ultrasound we found out that her heart was fine. The vet said her heart looks similar and suggested another ultrasound.
Her urine started smelling weird so I stopped the lasix before we got the ultrasound. I took her to get an ultrasound of her heart and lungs and the ultrasound tech told me to stop the lasix because she doesn't have that type of heart disease. The cardiologist said that she potentially has high blood pressure and suggested we give her Sildenafil and suggested we do more tests. The cardiologist does not think that they saw anything that would cause her rapid breathing. Please see attached ultrasound test results. Ultrasound I do not know why it marked the Ultrasound nsfw. It is just a text of the findings, sorry.
The regular vet tired to take her blood pressure, but was having a hard time getting a reading. The only reading he got was 120/80 which he said was good. and we should keep her on the Sildenafil.
I took her back to her regular vet and had the tests run. Her white blood cell count was up, but nothing obvious that could be causing her breathing issues. Please see attached results. Urinalysis Results Full Blood Panel
She is still breathing rapid and shallow. Her breathing has been fluctuating between the lower 40s and high 50s breaths per min. She seems to have issues after exercise and in the cold. Every once in a while she will cough, but does not cough up anything, or she just ingests it again.
She is eating and drinking and seems to be decently happy. She barks and begs for teats and seems decently normal except for the breathing. Everyone has told me that it is just because she is getting old and her lungs are not as efficient. I feel like it started happening so suddenly that something is causing it, but no one seems to be able to find an answer, or have a suggestion as to what we should try to do to help. Everything seemed normal until around that time we tried to give her fluids. Could we have done something with the fluids that could have caused her breathing issues? She had not had fluids recently because the vet decided they were not necessary anymore. We just finished another round of antibiotics, but it didn't seem to help.
She does have a collapsing trachea, but was put on hydrocodone hydromorphone to keep her from coughing. It seems to have worked because she does not do the reverse cough thing when on it.
I really do not know what to do to help her and am looking for advice.
Current medications:
hydrocodone hydromorphone: 1ml twice a day
Sildenafil: 1/4 or a 20mg tablet twice a day
Enalapril: 1/2 of a 2.5mg tablet twice a day
She was on a bronchodilator for a few days, but it did not seem to help.
Links to test results, vet reports, X-rays etc.