My dogs are coughing, vomiting foam, and lethargic. What's wrong?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your dogs. I worry they have something infectious if they are both displaying similar symptoms. An upper respiratory tract infection is usually indicated by coughing, sneezing, eye and/or nose discharge and bringing up white foamy material. The diarrhea may or may not be related. They will need to see their veterinarian if their symptoms persist. A lot of times an antibiotic will be prescribed. In the meantime, encourage them to continue drinking so that they do not become dehydrated. It is generally safe to hold a dog off of food for 18-24 hours to rest the GI tract. This may resolve the diarrhea. Again be sure to provide water. I hope this information helps!

Sounds like Mama is definitely in a pretty significant amount of pain, and probably experiencing some nausea as well. In order to determine the cause, a physical exam should be performed by a veterinarian. They will be able to tell you if further diagnostics are required to come up with a reason for Mama's current state. In the meantime just so you can be sure immediate attention isn't required, consider obtaining a temperature (normal is 99 - 102.5), checking the gums for pinkness / moisture, and checking the skin for normal elasticity. If Mama appears stables in these regards, there is no reason to think she needs to be rushed out tonight.

Hi, and thanks for your question. This sign could be compatible with a respiratory tract inflammation/infection or possibly to a tracheitis/bronchitis (inflammatory, allergic, infective). A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotics may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Cough can be caused by an infection, heart problem or lung condition, it is important to first know the cause before treating it as treatment is different from condition to another. The most common disease causing cough is a viral infection called Kennel cough, this disease usually resolves without treatment within a couple weeks but if the cough is too severe it is recommended to go to the vet in order to get cough medicine and antibiotics.

This sign could be compatible with an upper respiratory tract inflammation/infection or eventually to a chronic tracheitis (inflammatory, allergic, infective possibly kennel cough). A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotics may be needed. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Kennel cough, or Bordetella, is a common upper respiratory pathogen that is very contagious between dogs, and usually dogs have a loud goose-honk cough, sometimes ending in coughing up a bit of phlegm. This could be going on with your dogs. Don't worry, it isn't life-threatening, but I usually put these dogs on an antitussive to help alleviate the cough and sometimes an antibiotic. If you don't take them to a vet, the cough should go away in a week or two, but make sure you don't let them socialize with other dogs as they will spread it around.

These are alarming symptoms indeed. For an older dog with coughing and lethargy, my top suspicions would be: heart disease, heartworm disease (if he is not current on heartworm prevention) primary lung cancer, pneumonia or a heart based tumor. He is at risk for all of these based on his breed. I would highly recommend taking him in to your vet for bloodwork analysis and chest radiographs to properly diagnose him based on the many possible causes stated above. Poor guy. He sounds very unstable for now and the quicker you can get him in to a vet the better. I hope that this is something you can treat for, but the odds of it being something major are high in an older large breed dog. I send you all my best in getting Casper well again. Take care and best wishes.