coughing dog

15 years ago

hi, we have a vet apt. tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone else saw similar symptoms in their dog.

We have a 5 yr old corgi and he has been coughing. He has always done it since we adopted him (maybe a cough here and there, nothing often. Maybe once a week at most) but now it is more frequent. When we first adopted him it seemed to be associated w/ him munching on grass so i always thought it was a piece stuck in his throat, tickling it.

He has been doing it at least 2 times a day now for the last couple of days which is why we are going to the vet. It is usually a series of maybe 4-5 coughs where it sounds like he is trying to cough up sputum or something. Then he stops. He seems very normal besides that. He eats and plays like normal and hasn't been near other dogs. Our other dog is not coughing at all. They both take heartworm meds year round.

He doesn't always cough after running around. It seems to happen at different times. Sometimes he is walking around or sometimes he is running. He ran around and Frapped in the yard yesterday for a while and this did not induce a coughing fit.

I did notice about two weeks ago he had a runny nose. We have had a very bad allergy season. Does anyone think his cough could be allergy related? I am not exactly sure how the vet will diagnose this because he doesn't cough that often so I don't think he will cough when he is in the office with the vet.

Will the vet listen to his heart and lungs and maybe do a blood test?? Is there anything else that I can watch for today that would be useful for the vet to know??

I read in my Dog book it could me lung worms. I don't think it would be kennel cough because he hasn't been near any other dogs. I have never heard of lung worms. Is this common? We had him in for his yearly checkup about 3 months ago and the vet said his heart was very healthy sounding and his lungs were fine.

thanks!

-rj

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Comments (5)

todancewithwolves
15 years ago
I really wouldn't worry yourself. It most likely is allergies. Very common this time of year. Some of my dogs get allergies this time of year. They show symptoms differently. My Cocker coughs and itches his paws. My Saint get reoccurring ear infections this time of year. I usually give them a benadryl (recommend by the vet of course)

If it was the heart there would be wheezing and chronic coughing.

Sounds like your dog has someone who really loves him. I'm sure he'll get a clean bill of health tomorrow. Keep us posted.

Edna
cindyxeus
15 years ago
Below is some reading to do on some of the reasons as to why dogs cough.. which may help prepare you some for tomorrows visit.

Here is a link that might be useful: different coughing reasons in dogs
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scryn
Original Author
15 years ago
thanks!
If it is allergies how do they determine that? Will they just rule everything else out first?
Our other boy gets the itchy paw allergy thing and his chin gets a little bumpy so he gets benadryl sometimes. My husband did give it to our other dog (The one that is coughing now) about 1-2 weeks ago because his nose was all runny.

yesterday of course he didn't cough once. Of course he may have coughed when we were not around. I think it could be allergies also but my husband was noticing he was doing it more often so we decided to get him checked out just in case.

-rj
Meghane
15 years ago
If there is a heart murmur, then the cough may be due to heart failure. If there is wheezing, crackling, or other harsh lung noises, the cough may be due to pneumonia or other lung serious disease. If the cough is easily produced by palpating the trachea, then the cough may be due to tracheal collapse. If there is a fever, he may have a systemic infection. If there are areas of the chest which seem overly quiet then there may be a lung mass or abscess. If there are other signs of allergies- eye discharge, nasal discharge, conjunctivitis, red ears, etc.- then the cough may be due to allergies. A dry hacking cough is often associated with kennel cough (a group of contagious bronchial diseases).

A physical exam will direct any additional testing if necessary. Usually those are radiographs, as bloodwork doesn't show much in the way of lung disease. You don't always have to get a specific diagnosis to treat an otherwise asymptomatic cough, but it is necessary for the vet to do a PE to make sure the cough is indeed asymptomatic.

Please let us know how he does today.
oceanna
15 years ago
Hi RJ,

What did your vet say? I hope the news was that it's easily treatable.

coughing dog

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