Coughing dog with a murmur: Now what? (Proceedings)

Recent research, both at other institutions and the University of Illinois, indicates that the pre-conceived notion of pulmonary edema causing a cough is somewhat misguided. Previous research has demonstrated mixed interpretations to the correlation between a large left atrium and large airway collapse. The most likely manifestation of pulmonary edema is increase respiratory rate and weakness. In those dogs with mitral valve degenerative disease, those same patients are at very high risk for the generation of their larger airway walls (=tracheal collapse syndrome, =chondromalacia, =broncomalacia). In this lecture we will go through a series of case examples demonstrating interdependency of left atrial enlargement, large airway collapse, and the likelihood of concurrent pulmonary edema.