Tracheal collapse

[1] Tracheal collapse is most commonly found in small dog breeds, including the Chihuahua, Pomeranian, Toy Poodle, Shih Tzu, Lhasa Apso, Maltese, Pug, and Yorkshire Terrier.

Other symptoms include exercise intolerance, respiratory distress, and gagging while eating or drinking.

[4] Severe cases can be treated with surgical implantation of a tracheal stent (inside or outside of the trachea) or prosthetic rings.

Extraluminal (outside the trachea) stenting is generally used only for tracheal collapse in the neck region.

Intraluminal stenting has shown more promise for success with intrathoracic cases, especially using nitinol, a type of shape memory alloy composed of nickel and titanium.