My dog coughs, vet says heart. What causes it & what's the treatment?

Hello His cough previously could've been due to something else and now it's due to his heart disease. Unfortunately without x-rays done at the time of his previous coughing episodes we won't know for sure. However it is very unusual for dogs to go a long period of time in congestive heart failure without treatment and do well. So it's doubtful his heart failure was causing his coughing before now.

Hello and thank you for using Pet Coach! Based on the radiograph you attached, the vertebral heart score (VHS) is on the larger measurement and overall the heart does have increased contact with the sternum. There does not appear to be evidence of heart failure, but I am limited with one x-ray view and no ability to adjust the contrast. I don't know what medication your veterinarian started Bono on but in this case, I would recommend starting omega 3 fish oil, Pimobendan (prescription medication that helps delay on the onset of heart failure and helps the heart pump more efficiently). I would also look into heart supplements such as Standard Process Whole Body Support and Cardiac support (if available in your country). Here is an article from my hospital on heart disease and what to look out for. Mitral valve disease is one of the most common heart conditions we see in dogs. I hope this helps and provides you with more information. If you have any concerns, I would reach out to the veterinarian who has been seeing Bono. https://www.neighborhoodvetclinic.com/degenerative-valve-disease-myxomatous-mitral-valve-disease/

Unfortunately, there are no OTC medications you can give your dog for her cough. The cough will be related to her heart disease, and is likely caused by a build up of fluid in her lungs. There are medications you can get from your vet that can help with that help with called diuretics. An example of a diuretic would be furosimide. I would speak to your vet today about possibly putting her on a diuretic to help with her cough.

Poor baby. With heart disease, their heart will sometime get larger and push up on their trachea and that will make them cough. You unfortunately cannot fix this. I would recommend to have your vet do some chest X-rays to see if this could be the cause of her coughing. Your vet will also be able to look at her lungs to see if she has any fluid in her lungs. If so, then she may need to be put on a diuretic to help with her coughing. I hope this helps!

It sounds like Ace might need medication at this point, but it can be really difficult sometimes to determine whether a cough is related to heart disease or respiratory problems like collapsing trachea or chronic bronchitis which can also be very common in senior small dogs. I would contact your vet and let them know that Ace is now coughing so much that he can't rest. They might recommend an echocardiogram to completely rule out heart disease and heart failure as a cause, or they might recommend trying some other medications for cough. If Ace has not had chest x-rays recently they would probably recommend x-rays as well.

First, it may take longer than just 5 days of medicine to improve. I would give the medicine a little longer to work. Second, the cough and wheezing may never go away completely. If the heart is enlarged, it could be pushing on the trachea which could be part of the reason for the cough. Also, a collapsing trachea will get worse the more excitable she becomes. If she isn't improving, I would have your vet reassess her 10-14 days after the medicine has been started. If she is getting worse, I would have your vet recheck her immediately. Your vet may want to take x-rays to see if there is any improvement in the lungs to see if the meds are helping some. They may decide to adjust the meds or add in something to help keep her calm and help with the collapsed trachea. Again, you cannot cure the enlarged heart. You also cannot cure the collapse trachea without surgery which doesn't have a great success rate. Keep a close eye on her. I hope this helps!

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. in Tray's case it sounds a lot like a heart problem, i recommend taking him to the vet ASAP in order to get it checked and treated, an xray will be require to confirm this and several medications will be prescribed.