My 9-week-old puppy is coughing and throwing up. Is it heartworms?

Poor Mila Mumu! The most common cause of coughing in a puppy this age would be a respiratory infection such as kennel cough - if this is the problem, it should be easily treatable with antibiotics. The good news is, it's really not possible for her to have heartworm disease at her age - this illness takes a very long time to develop after being infected, so we don't typically see symptoms of it in dogs less than 2-3 years old at minimum. It's good that you're planning to take your pup in to the vet today for an exam. He/she will listen to her heart and lungs, and may recommend chest x-rays or other testing if needed to help diagnose the problem. If she does have kennel cough (or something similar), your vet will probably send her home with antibiotics to treat the infection.

A 10 week old puppy is too young to have a heartworm infection. Your puppy could have heartworm larvae circulating in his blood but the adult heart worms take 4-6 months to develop in the heart. I usually start puppies on a monthly heartworm preventative when they are around 12 wks old. This will kill the larvae and prevent the adult heart worms from infecting the heart. If you haven’t already taken your puppy to see a veterinarian for his puppy vaccines and dewormer, you should do that as soon as you get a chance to prevent him from getting sick. Hope this has helped. Good luck with your new puppy. Thank you for using pet coach.

This cough could be due to heartworms, especially if your dog isn't up to date on his heartworm treatments, but it could also be due to cardiac disease, respiratory disease, or kennel cough. Given that he has been gagging and hacking for about a week, I would have him seen by a vet tomorrow. The vet can diagnose what is causing his symptoms, and can discuss treatment options with you.

Dogs cough just like we do. Sometimes it is productive and they swallow the mucus they cough up. In young dogs there are several intestinal parasites who complete their life cycle by migrating into the lungs, coughed up and swallowed. Any coughing dog should have a fecal exam and a broad spectrum dewormer. If she’s not on heartworm prevention then she should be tested for that as well, although she is pretty young to be able to have that be problematic at that age. Good luck ! Thanks for using Pet Coach.

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.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Besides being due to heartworms, coughing can be a sign of many conditions such as pneumonia, bronchitis, heart disease, among many other possibilities. I recommend that you have Scooby evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Likely diagnostics to be performed include thoracic radiographs and bloodwork. Treatment would be dependent on findings. Good luck and have a good night!

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.