Why is my senior Pom coughing, fainting, gaining weight, and drinking more?

It sounds like Sophie may have a collapsing trachea. This is a common condition in toy breed dogs, and it occurs when dogs are exercising, drinking water, get excited, or in hot weather among other causes. I would take Sophie to the vet for an exam to confirm if she does have a collapsing trachea, as there is medical treatment that can be done for her, such as cough suppressant, bronchiodilators, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory medications. If medical treatment doesn't help, surgery is recommended. You can help relieve by making sure Sophie isn't overweight, having her wear a harness instead of collar, and avoid respiratory irritants like cigarette smoke.

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern. With the symptoms you are describing, I would have a veterinarian examine her to be on the safe side. I would want to make sure her heart is functioning normally and that there is not a heart murmur or fluid in the lungs. I would also suggest having her blood tested to make sure there are no concerning changes with Lola's systemic functions. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any additional questions. I am also available via consult if needed.

I am sorry to hear that your fur baby is having some coughing that seems to get worse with excitement or exercise. It sounds like your fur baby may have an issue with her trachea (i.e. tracheal collapse) that affects small breed dogs more often and causes coughing during excessive play. This can be easily diagnosed with an x-ray and treated if the condition gets worse or impedes your pets daily activity. It can be helped with medications prescribed by your vet in most cases, so its best to schedule an appt soon. Here is more information on the condition I believe your pet Baby girl has --> https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951968 Other possible causes for this are an underlying lung condition, or an airway infection. Best wishes with your fur baby and I hope that she feels better soon! Take care.

Thanks for using PetCoach! In general, what you describe does fit with a collapsing trachea but I would also check out this video to make sure it’s not reverse sneezing you’re seeing. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U3L4v0W2_Sw If that is what you’re seeing, great news- it’s rarely anything to worry about. I’ve attached some links to more information about collapsing trachea but other, causes of coughing/wheezing include: kennel cough, allergic bronchitis (consider if anyone smokes anything in the home, incense, etc). And very unlikely but possible would be heart failure, fungal infection, and cancer. If it persists, worsens, or you’re concerned, it’s time to see the vet. Often x-rays are recommended to help narrow things down. https://www.petcoach.co/article/collapsed-trachea-in-dogs/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/coughing-in-dogs-and-cats-causes-diagnosis-and-treatment/ Hope this helps. Best of luck to you and Sophie!

The most likely causes for what you have described in this breed would be: 1. collapsing trachea 2. reverse sneezing 3. heart disease/failure 4. kennel cough 5. asthma 6. heartworm disease Of course I cannot know what is going on without examining him myself. I suggest you try to find a way to get him seen by a vet. This may be nothing to worry about (like reverse sneezing) or it may be serious like heart disease.

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.

I would recommend bringing Chelsea back to the veterinarian and getting x-rays of her chest. This will tell you if she has something lung related. There are a lot of different things that can cause a cough. It can be anything from a tracheal collapse to a lung lesion. Without chest x-rays it is hard to say what is causing the cough. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.