cough of a different sort....
Dayzee (2 yr old) has been fighting a cough she's had for about 2 months now...At first I thought it was kennel cough and was told by good friends that I should just let her get over it and use her own immune system (a thought process I am not against).... After about a week of coughing I made an appt for her .....by the time I got her to the vet it escalated to 'pneumonia' like cough/symptoms.
Chest x-rays showed fluid in her lungs and she had a fever - Vet put her on two very strong antibiotics for 2 weeks - baytril and doxycycline - and neither of those helped - She was very very sick for two weeks after taking her to the vet and the meds did not help at all - she got better with lots of care from me and her own immune system, as far as I am concerned (she got worse for about 3 days after being on the antibiotics - literally was giving her fluid with a syringe)...
I nursed her for those two weeks and she appeared to be getting better. Eating, drinking, attitude continued to improve daily - less mucous when she coughed..I let the cough go for about 3 weeks before making an appt for her at a closer vet again (it's a 2 hr drive one way to the nearest vet). During these 3 weeks I took her grouse hunting and training and she was always fine except for the 'hack'. By all accounts I felt that maybe she just was getting rid of extra gunk, as I know I have had colds like that (cough for about 3 weeks after having fever etc) ..
The vet took x-rays, listened to her heart/lungs, etc...Chest x-rays did not show much if any fluid in her lungs - but rather way down low in her throat/upper chest area...And her heart appeared to maybe have some fluid around it as well - though I don't really think the xrays were that great...Also the vet felt her heart was a little bigger than it should be... it was on the high end of the 'acceptable' range...When I looked at the film, it looked big to me..esp the one taken when she was placed on her back....Overall, the vet could not really pin point the cause of her continued coughing, but he did not feel she had pneumonia or kennel cough (neither of my other dogs ever got sick)
So now she is on furosemide which is not doing much of anything except to make her pee a lot...She still has a very spunky and happy attitude (if you saw her, you'd not think there was a problem if you did not hear her cough). She is eating like a horse (as always) and other bodily functions are fine..except for this dang cough/hack - It seems to be worse in the morning or after she has been resting for a long time.....
Since we live in AK, have pretty much ruled out a fungal infection....Vet did look down into her throat and nasal passage for foxtail or other foreign body and did not see anything....
Wondered if anyone might have an idea as to what might be causing her continued cough...
Juli
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Originally Posted by sky_view
