My senior dog coughs when excited. What can I do to help?

Poor Roxey. The changing of seasons can certainly cause these guys to get some congestion. Unfortunately since Roxey is older, I would take her to your vet for an exam. She could have a simple upper respiratory infection or something more serious like the canine flu, heart disease, or even pneumonia. Your vet will be able to listen to her heart and lungs. Your vet can also do blood work or chest X-rays if needed and provide the proper medicine to help make her feel better. Unfortunately there isn’t a good OTC medicine to help her feel better. You can try 75 mg (3 adult tablets) of Benadryl twice a day until you can get her to the vet. I hope this helps and she starts to feel better really soon.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can try using a humidifier for the home or in areas where she resides most frequently. Making sure the home's air filter is changed every year is also a good idea and can help decrease some of the irritating allergens in the air. Using a harness on her instead of a lead and collar around the neck can help lessen stress around airways. Lastly, making sure she is in cool moist air and limiting time spent in hotter weather can help as well. If Tia's symptoms worsen or do not improve, a veterinary visit really is best in order to obtain a diagnosis so Tia can receive the most appropriate care and treatment. Causes of breathing difficulties are many and include heart conditions, certain lung conditions such as asthma or bronchitis, as well as upper respiratory infection, collapsing tracheal disorders, or primary lung tumors. Typically chest x-rays are taken to rule out the above conditions. I hope this helps and I wish you and Tia the best!

One half to one teaspoon of honey 2-3 times daily may soothe his throat. Ideally, Tate should be physically examined by your veterinarian to diagnose the underlying cause. Potential causes include heart disease, infection, allergies or even cancer. Do not medicate him with any OTC products without the advice of your vet.

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.

I would be extremely concerned about her having a cardiac issue. Please take her to your vet so they can check to see if she has a heart murmur as that can lead to heart failure. Coughing is one of the first symptoms. She is the right age and breed for this to be happening. The other likely cause would be a collapsing trachea. So again, please take her to your vet for an exam. Best wishes.

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.

I recommend bringing him to a veterinarian and having them listen to his chest. This may be respiratory or heart related but having a veterinarian auscultate them is the first step. It may require x-rays to determine what it going on also. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.