The most common mistakes in the diagnosis and differentiation of tracheal pathologies for dogs and cats

The aim of the study is to discover the most common mistakes in the diagnosis and differentiation of tracheal pathologies for dogs and cats. The data was collected in “X” and “Y” veterinary clinics specializing in small animal treatment between 1st of January, 2016 and 1st of January, 2018. The material from 119 dogs and 15 cats suspected of tracheal pathology was analyzed. The analysis of the case-history of the disease focused on the age of the patient, the length of cough as well as the type of cough. After a physical examination, attention was drawn to the sounds heard during auscultation, changes in regional lymph nodes, palpation of the trachea and body temperature. Then, when possible differential diagnoses are made, special tests should be selected depending on the condition of the animal and informativeness of the test. In “X” and “Y” small animal veterinary clinics upon suspicion of tracheal pathologies morphological blood tests, endoscopic and radiographic examinations were performed, the radiographs of which were evaluated. Tracheitis was found in 45% of the clinic “X” patients, while in the clinic “Y” tracheitis was found in 25% of the patients. At the clinic “Y” tracheal collapses were diagnosed the most at 44% whereas in the clinic “X” patients with tracheal collapse were at 25%. In the clinic “X” the largest percentage of animals that were suspected of having tracheal pathologies was 39% who on average were aged three. In the “Y” clinic most patients suspected of tracheal pathologies on average were aged eight years and consisted of 43% of the total patients for that clinic. When analyzing the length of cough most of the animals who were diagnosed with tracheitis had the shortest (up to 7 days) coughing of both productive and non-productive cough, whereas patients who have coughed with non-productive cough for more than 90 days most often were suspected tracheal collapse (p 0.05). In “X” and “Y” clinics, tracheal pathologies were most often diagnosed by radiographic examination. Due to wrong animal positioning a potential misdiagnosis was found in a quarter of patients which have been diagnosed by radiographic examination (p> 0.05). Similarly, misdiagnosis could occur when interpreting radiographs, due to the unknown breathing phase, caused by the loosening of the tracheal dorsal membrane