My dog has a chronic cough from heartworm. What else can help?

HI, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Tator! The cephalexin is just to cover him for the kennel cough. You can call your Vet to discuss a cough suppressant. I worry he is coughing more from heart worm disease. He will need to be treated for heart worm. The best treatment is the 3 injection technique with adulticide. Treating heart worm in dogs is a big deal and comes with a lot of risks. I start doxycycline and heartgard. He would get his first injection and then 1 month later the 2nd and 3rd 24 hours apart. He would need to be strictly rested for 8-10 weeks. I recommend a good discussion with your Vet regarding Tator's treatment plan. I hope this helps and I wish Tator the very best!

If he is heartworm positive then the coughing is likely associated with it. Heartworms live in the pulmonary artery which is what takes the blood from the heart to the lungs to get oxygen. They can cause significant decrease in the amount of blood flow as well as they are really inflammatory. Their presence makes the lungs really angry and that causes cough. In later stages the heart can be so damaged that they can go into heart failure, which can also cause cough. I would highly encourage you to schedule a follow up appointment with your veterinarian to discuss this disease and how to treat it. I would also recommend an x-ray of the chest to see how much damage has already occurred. In the meantime I would encourage you to keep him on leash and not running around where he might cause more damage. Best of luck to you and Max! I hope he recovers well! Thank you for using Pet Coach.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor guy! is your pet a dog or a cat? What breed and how old? It is helpful to know a bit more. If he has been on TWO antibiotics and zyrtec since May and it has returned while on these medications I would have him rechecked by your Vet. I would want a chest X-ray and consider doing different medications based on the recheck exam and X-rays. There are many reason for a cough: genetic condition where the trachea collapses, larygneal disease, allergies, heart worm disease, other parasites, allergic disease that needs steroids, cancer, heart enlargement or heart failure. I wish you the best!

I'm so sorry that you are having problems with Mikhall. As far as the cough goes, if it is a viral infection causing the cough, then a medication to suppress the cough may be appropriate. Your vet may have given an antibiotic injection to help prevent or treat any secondary infections, but we can also add in a medication to decrease the cough itself. I would contact your veterinarian to discuss that option. As far as the scratching, it is common that dogs continue to scratch even once the fleas are treated because the skin is still irritated. If the itching is not getting better, then you can talk to your veterinarian about options for treating the itching. It may be a prescription medication or something as simple as Benadryl ( https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/ ), but be sure to talk to your veterinarian first. Finally, Advantage should still work even if it rained yesterday. Again, if you are still seeing fleas, then I would talk to your veterinarian, but if it is just itching, then I would suspect that the Advantage is working, but the skin is still irritated. I am attaching a hanadout below with more information about flea control if needed. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1575 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would assume if Danny has something infectious like a bacterial or viral pneumonia he would have improved with antibiotics or the virus would have ran it's course. The only advice in retrospect would have been to not stop the antibiotic until the cough had resolved for at least a week or 2. Some pneumonia's require 4-8 weeks of antibiotics. He definitely could have something else going on in his lungs like heart worm, heart disease, tracheal disease, a hernia, fungal pneumonia (they are very sick), cancer or allergic airway disease. If you are able try to get Danny to a vet for an exam, heart worm test and chest X-rays. I wish you the best!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would check in with your veterinarian at this time as coughing and wheezing are not expected to be due to the weather and there are certainly other diuretics and medications that can be added for heart disease which may help. I am concerned that her heart failure has worsened and should be evaluated by a veterinarian soon. Also, check in with your veterinarian about the use of prednisone as that can make heart failure worse. Mucinex would not help as that is used for a different purpose such as releasing mucus which is not what is causing the cough in a heart failure patient. Good luck and have a great day!

I am sorry to hear that your dog is coughing. There are so many reasons for chronic cough such as allergic bronchitis, pulmonary hypertension, heartworm disease, enlarged heart, fungal infection, parasites, and cancer. To answer your question heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes only and can not pass through people. Also, there is no answer to how long it takes for a cough to resolve. It completely depends on what is causing the cough. I would highly encourage you to consider a follow up appointment with your veterinarian soon. X-rays, bloodwork, and a fecal exam may be recommended to help determine the diagnosis and best treatment plan. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.