Why is my dog puffing cheeks, coughing, drinking, and vomiting water?

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. Coughing can be a symptom caused by many different things. Heart failure, respiratory infections, collapsing trachea, allergies, etc. Can cause coughing. It best to have a veterinarian examine Aurora to rule out different causes. I would consider having chest x-rays done to assess the chest for disease. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns that you may have.

Poor Lola! Yes, I definitely think this warrants a vet visit. It certainly isn't normal behavior at all, and it could be that she may have heart disease causing the coughing and wheezing. It could also be due to the heat if it's hot where you are, or a respiratory infection. Because it's becoming more frequent, you should definitely take her into the vet. Try to video an episode to show the vet, and make an appointment for this week. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Coughing and bringing up clear liquid could be coughing up stuff instead of vomiting. This is important to try to differentiate. Coughing up liquid is more consistent with heart disease. The x-rays are difficult to read as the image transfer through is of poor quality and to really assess the lungs you need good quality images, however the heart does look a bit enlarged and the lungs do look a bit 'white'. I cannot assess the liver on these radiographs as you cannot see them. An enlarged heart, white lungs (fluid in the lungs), and an enlarged liver is consistent with both right and left sided heart disease. I recommend you return either to your vet, or another vet, and get a specialist ultrasound of the heart (an 'echo') to determine if heart medications are required. Your vet can also listen to the heart to see if a murmur is present in the heart, or 'crackles' are heard on the lungs. Heart disease is very serious and needs medications to manage. Without these Lily unfortunately will essentially drown in her own lungs, if heart disease is the problem. I suggest a recheck as soon as possible to get this figured out. Best of luck with Lily, I hope she feels better soon.

Lola is very cute! Her symptoms could be a sign of heart disease, which can be common in older dogs. They could also be caused by allergies or a respiratory disease. The only way to know for sure what is causing her symptoms is to have her seen by a vet. The vet can diagnose what is causing them, and what treatment options are available to her. I recommend calling the vet today to make an appointment for her next week. Best of luck.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If heart and lung issues have been ruled out with Chole's veterinarian, the coughing may be due to a collapsing trachea which can cause a goose honking cough and can cause syncope or fainting due to lack oxygen. This can be diagnosed with an exam and chest x-rays. Hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone) is not uncommon in dogs and can cause increased water consumption as well weight gain. I would recommend running a full Thyroid panel (Total T4, Free T4, and Thyroid stimulating hormone ) to confirm the presence of a thyroid problem. If Chloe is hypothyroid, thyroid hormone replacement medication is typically given. I hope this helps and thanks again for posting!

Coughing can be caused by heart failure. If this is a new symptom after starting meds, or is worsening, it would be best to let the vet treating Lola know so that they can either re-examine her or adjust meds as needed. If she is coughing a lot and is in distress, or is having trouble breathing, seeking emergency care is best.

I am concerned that she is having such trouble breathing. This could be another pneumonia, an upper respiratory infection, a fungal infection, a congenital heart problem and much more. If your vet has already done X-rays and they were normal, you may want to talk to them about having an ultrasound of the heart done. Also, I would have her blood work checked to see how her liver and kidney values are and see what her white blood count looks like. Finally, I would talk to your vet about whether see needs some antibiotics and medicine to help her breathing. I hope this helps and she starts to feel better soon.