My senior dog is coughing, not eating, losing weight. What's wrong?

Hello. At this age, Shortie needs a good workup by your veterinarian. A cough can be from many causes including inflammation, bronchitis, pneumonia, tumors & heart disease. No appetite can also result from the above, but also from oral infections, liver, kidney or other endocrine diseases. So in order to help him, you need to know what is or is not going on with him. With a proper diagnosis, the appropriate treatment can be started to help Shortie feel much better. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would discuss other treatment options with your vet. I understand that ultrasound can often be cost prohibitive, but your vet may be able to prescribe medications based on their best guess of the cause of the illness. Based on the labored breathing, weakness, and gagging, I would be worried about Donny's heart and lungs. I know heartworm disease is not terribly common, but it is still a possibility. Other possibilities include heart failure, pneumonia, hypertension, or cancer. You might discuss radiographs with your veterinarian to look inside Donny's chest. Increased potassium could indicate lab error, renal failure, gastrointestinal issues, or possibly Addison's Disease, or it could be normal. Elevated white blood cells can indicate bacterial or viral infection, inflammation, or cancer.

I would definitely recommend some blood work, if this hasn't been done recently. Older dogs are prone to a number of health issues that can cause decreased appetite along with being less active - chronic kidney disease and hypothyroidism are two possibilities that are both very common. In many cases, these issues are treatable (at least to some extent) once a diagnosis is made, so it's well worth checking for them if you can - hopefully, there are some things you can do to make him feel better for as long as possible, even though he's getting older.

I think that with the symptoms you have described, the best thing to do would be to have Angel examined by a vet. There are hundreds of things that could cause weight loss and/or a cough in a dog, including cancer, heartworm disease, infection, bad teeth, intestinal parasites, and so on. If you are upfront with the vet about your financial limitations, then often we can work in a step-wise fashion to limit the amount of money we use up in the diagnostic portion of the visit. Many things can be uncovered with a simple physical exam and thorough review of Angel's medical history. Trying random OTC or at-home treatments for dental disease or coughing may just waste money that could have been used for vet care. You may look for low-cost vet clinics in your area, contact shelters or rescue groups that may have grants available to help with vet care, or look into other financing options. https://www.petcoach.co/article/7-smart-solutions-for-pet-care-financing/

I am so sorry that your elderly pug is so ill. Her symptoms are highly suggestive of underlying heart disease or even pneumonia. I would highly recommend taking her to your vet for an exam and some diagnostic testing (i.e. bloodwork or x-rays) and to discuss quality of life. : ( Poor Luxy. I hope that she ultimately is able to pull through this and recover. Best wishes and take care.

These are alarming symptoms indeed. For an older dog with coughing and lethargy, my top suspicions would be: heart disease, heartworm disease (if he is not current on heartworm prevention) primary lung cancer, pneumonia or a heart based tumor. He is at risk for all of these based on his breed. I would highly recommend taking him in to your vet for bloodwork analysis and chest radiographs to properly diagnose him based on the many possible causes stated above. Poor guy. He sounds very unstable for now and the quicker you can get him in to a vet the better. I hope that this is something you can treat for, but the odds of it being something major are high in an older large breed dog. I send you all my best in getting Casper well again. Take care and best wishes.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear about Booda, she sounds very sick. Since she is vomiting, acting lethargic, not eating and having neurological signs, I would have her seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible. Especially in an older Golden, cancer is a top differential for the cause of her clinical signs. Your veterinarian will want to do a complete physical exam, along with bloodwork and/or x-rays to look for evidence of disease. Because she is coughing, I'm afraid she may have cancer in her lungs, or less likely something like pneumonia. Unfortunately, you may have to consider thinking about her quality of life. Vomiting, coughing, not eating and being unresponsive to stimuli are not indicative of a good quality of life. I hope this is helpful, and I'm very sorry to hear about Booda.