Why does my dog cough and breathe heavily when he's excited?

It is concerning that Coco is breathing heavily when she is sleeping - I'd be concerned that the cough could be due to heart disease or a respiratory disease. I'd recommend having your vet examine Coco. They might recommend chest x-rays as the first step.

Hi. It sounds like he is having respiratory signs. This could be from many things such as....upper respiratory infection, cardiac disease, primary respiratory disease, cancers, or other infectious causes. With his age, he needs a full exam, labs, and chest x-rays. If he is in respiratory distress, you will want to go to the ER.

If he seems to be breathing heavier than normal then he should be examined by a vet to determine the cause. Your vet can take a chest x-ray to evaluate his heart and lungs. It is not normal for a dog to breath heavy for an hour after exercise so I think you should definitely have him evaluated by a vet.

From your description, my main suspicion is that Brownie is experiencing a reverse sneeze. This occurs when irritation occurs in the back of the nasal passages, causing her to dramatically inhale air. (Regular sneezes occur as a result of irritation at the front of the nasal passages, causing air to be pushed out.) During these episodes, you can try blowing directly into her nose (I realize that it sounds strange!), but this can help to change her air flow and stop the reverse sneezing. If these episodes worsen, she could also be experiencing the start of collapsing trachea (unusual in a larger dog), allergic airway conditions or kennel cough, which would require a visit to her vet. I hope that all goes well!

I hate to hear your pet is coughing so much. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know the underlying cause of the coughing without a physical exam and possible radiographs. Pets can cough due to allergies, parasites, collapsing trachea, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, infections or something stuck in the throat. Treatment is different for each of these conditions. I recommend to have your pet examined by again the veterinarian. if a treatment doesn't work, it usually means the true cause of the coughing has not been discovered. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

There are quite a few things that can cause a cough like this. Some common possibilities would include allergies, chronic bronchitis, a collapsing trachea, or heart disease. If the cough has been going on for a while, I would recommend discussing options for further work-up with your vet to help determine what is causing it. Diagnostic testing such as general blood work (a CBC and chemistry panel), chest x-rays, and heartworm testing would all be helpful, if these tests haven't been done already.

In a dog Miller's age, this cough and heavy breathing could be due to something serious like heart disease. Unfortunately, heart disease is common in old dogs, and while it cannot be cured, its symptoms can be managed with medication. I think it's really important that he sees a vet as soon as possible, so I would recommend taking him into see his vet this weekend. I hope this helps.