Some of you know that we had an almost 14 year old Chihuahua Ricky with a collapsed trachea who we just lost about 3 weeks ago. Here is the rest of the story.
7 weeks ago, we took him to our regular vet for a check up and also took our other 2 Chihuahuas with us. The vet put him on more medicine to help him breath and he was doing fine. At the same time, he checked our 12 year old Chihuahua Lucy Tu and found what he said was an abscess anal gland. He spent 20 mins squeezing and trying to stick medicine in that area. He had us bring her back every week for 4 weeks and then every 2 days. I kept asking him if it could be a tumor but he kept saying NO.
A few weeks before this, Ricky had an episode of hacking all night which happens with the collapsed trachea when he gets excited and can't seem to calm down. My vet was out of town so I called another vet near by and she said bring him in immediately. Even though it wasn't her patient, she rushed us in and gave him 3 shots to calm him down and help his breathing. She then put him in a oxygen box which was big enough for him to sit up, walk around, and lie down. When we took him home, he was doing a lot better.
So when Ricky had another episode 3 weeks ago, I took him into our vet and told him what the other vet had done to calm him down. He said he would take him to the back and put him on oxygen and for us to come back in a couple of hours. We came back and he said that Ricky had gone down hill and we needed to make a decision. We went to the back and Ricky was in an oxygen box the size of a shoe box. His head and neck were pushed up against the wall of the box. When he handed him to me, it was obvious in his eyes that our Ricky was no longer really with us. His mouth and tongue were turning purple and he was fighting to breath. We had to let him put Ricky out of his misery. I believe that being squashed in that box finished off his collapsed trachea.
As we were leaving the vet reminded us to bring Lucy Tu back in a couple of days so he could work on her abscess. Five weeks of him working on this "abscess" and nothing and she was on antibiotics the whole time.
Last week, Lucy Tu had surgery to remove that abscess which turned out to be a tumor. I just got a call from the Veterinary Surgeon and it is cancer. She believes due to blood work that it has spread.
So, I went by to see the vet that took care of Ricky when our vet was out of town and asked her if she would be our vet from now on. I just can't with any good conscience go to our vet after all this.
Please keep Lucy Tu in your prayers. I just don't want to lose another angel.
