I have a 4 year old female heeler. Tonight, she started "coughing" almost like she was trying to cough up a hairball or something, but more like a whisper. I fed and watered her and she was able to get everything down just fine so I don't think there is an obstruction. She coughed off and on for about an hour but now I'm not noticing anything (then again she's in the other room right this moment). Any thoughts on what might cause this? If she's still doing it in the morning I'll take her to the vet.
has she eaten anything with small bones (like a pork chop)? She may have a bone caught in her throat. She may be reacting to something environmental or have an allergy to something. Has she been exposed to any new substances? (feed, chemicals, new carpet, etc.) Could be caused by any number of things... Hope you find out what the issue is...
It could be kennel cough. I would take her to the vet and have her checked out. It is treatable with antibotics. Good luck.
Thanks for the replies. We actually ate pork chops tonight but she doesn't get any bones, only the fat trimmings. I almost never feed her cooked bones. She does raid my nest boxes occasionally- I wonder if that could cause it. A friend of mine brought a dog when she came to visit a while back that may have had kennel cough, but that's been months ago. Could it still be from exposure to another dog back then? She almost never sees other dogs- it's been months.
Kennel cough is my guess. One of my Australian shepherds caught it a couple of years ago after being boarded while I was on vacation. If that other dog was around, even if it was awhile back, your dog might have just made contact with the germ. My dog had a terrible sounding hack cough. It will get worse if it's kc.
Ok, I'll take her in and have the vet look at her. I have a good vet that lives close to me. I'll see what he thinks.
Quote:My dog does this all of the time! She has terrible allergies and depending on the time of year, she "reverse sneezes" all of the time. Boy Jared! I hope you figure out what caused your dog to have issues last night and hopefully she won't have anymore.
Just a thought because I don't know if your dog does this or not but mine will hunt small things in the ground like moles and mice critters. She'll stick her nose in the ground digging for them and inhale dirt into her nose and will cough and gag for a day or so untill it either goes down or out or disolves. When it first started happening I was afraid she had gotten into small bones too but then realized she was inhaling dirt by accident in her excitement of the hunt.
