coughing with congestion/"snoring"

[melrohner]

Hi! I've only posted here a few times about my yorkie, Kayla, but I was hoping someone here may be able to help me with her latest problem. Kayla has had a very loud, hacking cough - almost sounding like she is trying to cough something up. Occasionally she dry heaves with it, like she is going to vomit, but usually doesn't. It started last Friday night, when she was coughing severely, especially when excited. I was planning on taking her to the vet, but actually I had to go to the ER and have unexpected surgery myself last Saturday. Her cough seemed to get much better, she's only coughed a little since last Friday. And then suddenly this morning she started doing it again. And to make things worse, now sometimes when she's not coughing she has a rattling congested sound. I don't know if I'm describing it properly, but if she were a human kid I would definitely call it congestion. When she would go to sleep this morning she would start the congested sound and start snoring loudly - she has never snored before. Right now she sounds normal, no coughing or snoring or congestion. She has a vet appointment for 1:30 this afternoon, but that feels like forever. I'm really worried about her, especially when I looked up her symptoms on the internet and everything I saw kept saying congestive heart failure. Other than this coughing, she is acting perfectly normal - normal appetite, energy level, personality - not like she feels badly at all. So please, if anyone has had a dog with the same/similar symptoms in the past, please let me know! I'll try to post after our vet appointment, to let everyone know what they say. Thanks!

[bchgirl]

It's more likely kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection. The vet will likely give you antibiotic to prevent it from becoming pneumonia and perhaps a decongestant.

To help with the congestion...you can take her into a steamed filled bathroom or use a warm mist vaporizer with vick's in it.

Hope she feels better soon!

[melrohner]

Thanks. The vet did say that it was a bacterial form of kennel cough, although from everything I've read kennel cough is viral. She also said that it probably wasn't contagious since she wasn't running any fever, when usually kennel cough is highly contagious. I think she may have just been using the term loosely because it's familiar. She listened to her chest and said that her lungs sounded clear. She gave us an antibiotic and sent us home.

Oh, she also confirmed that she does have slight vision problems, which I've thought since I got her. I can't remember the term she used, but she said it was a problem usually seen in much older dogs, although since Kayla is only two, she said it could be congenital.

Anyway, the diagnosis of kennel cough/bacterial infection is as good as I could have hoped. No fluid on the lungs makes me happy