Dry Coughing - Water in lungs?

[fwed]

My dog coughs really bad occassionally, maybe I notice it once every 2-3 months. (this is not exact as I didn't really have any concerns about it until now)

He will cough real bad for about a good 25 seconds, he looks to be struggling when he coughs and he's got his head down like he's focusing hard on something. No fluids coming out, nothing comes out at all.

After this episdoe though, he'll go back to running and jumping around like everything is normal.

I was thinking before he must just drank his water too fast but my gf said her old dog was doing the same thing an eventually died because it turned out he had water in his lungs. She said freddie's cough reminds her of this.

This coughing doesn't occure weekly or I wouldn't even say monthly, but should I be concerned about water in his lungs or something serious?

 

[CharlieDog]

Have you had your dog tested for heartworms?

Also water in the lungs is very vague. Water in the lungs could be fluid caused by pneumonia or inhaling actual water, etc.

 

[fwed]

Yes, Freddie has been tested negative since I got him 5 years ago and is on heartworm preventative.

I researched on youtube some dogs with similar coughing and read alot of comments that it sounded like "reverse sneezing" common in small dogs. Sounds harmless, I hope this is what it is. He exhibits the exact same behavior as the dogs i saw on the videos.

YouTube - Sparkey maltese reverse sneezing

About 1 minute and 2 seconds in is how he sounds.

 

[CharlieDog]

Oh. I was going to mention that, lol, but I completely forgot about it

Yes. Reverse sneezing is very very common. All of our dogs but our Boxer does it, and none of them is any the worse for wear

 

[Barb04]

I was going to say reverse sneezing also. My one dog has it occasionally. I have a friend whose dog has bad allergies and has to take Benedryl when the days are bad.

 

[SisMorphine]

One of my friends rushed her dog to the emergency room at 4am one night because her dog was coughing horribly . . . and after paying the $130 fee to just walk in the door she was sent out knowing what a reverse sneeze was. :rofl1:

My old Grey used to reverse sneeze a bit. It can happen for many reasons. I wouldn't worry unless it gets excessive. Then you might be looking at it being allergy based.

 

[fwed]

Thanks everyone, i feel alot better. I'll still monitor it and if it happens excessively i'll get him checked, he's due for a yearly visit in December anyways but as I said, the episodes happen very rarely.

 

[Barb04]

My vet said I could google reverse sneezing and look at all the videos online to see how different dogs react.