ugh...poor ruby

[FoxyWench]

so at 6 am this morning i was awoken to the sound of couging (a wet trying to cough up a hairball kind of cough) and gagging (no vomit) she seemed to be having real trouble so i called the vet when they opend and got an imediate apointment.

by the time we got there shed stopped coughing and was her nomal happy self. the vet checked her over couldnt reproduce the cough, listend to her chest, CLEAR, listend to her throat ect couldnt hear anythign out of the normal, her temperature is fine ect...

so he seems to think when the other vet treated for worms he didnt treat broard spectrum (i cant even remmeber what brand he used) so hes given her a full spectrum dewormer, aparently coughing is normal with roundworm? 1 to take today, 1 in 10 days...hes hoping that will take care of the cough, if not or if she develops a fever itll be time ofr antibiotics...
(oh and her very reacent heartworm test has come back negative)

so anyway, she was FINE all day, no coughing, no gagging, nothing...then about 6pm she starts again, same as this morning, now its more of a dry hollow cough that leads to a weth gag at the end...again nothings comming it...it sounds like shes got something tickling her throat and shes trying to move it...but cant...but the vet saw nothing in her throat...wasnt red ect...
and hes certain its not a blockage.

i feel so bad, it seems to be only when shes quiet, she can run round like a loony and be fine but when she lays still for 10 mins she starts coughing...
i feel so bad for her, it sounds horrible.

i think if this continues ill give him a call back and see what he suggests...but i wonder if there is anything i can give her to help her tonight...i feel so bad and got a feeling neither of us will be sleeping well tonight.

i did ask him if the other dogs were at risk...but he said he doesnt think so, with no fever and no sound on the lungs...

poor little girl.
i dont know where she could have gotten worms (unless, like the vet thinks she wasnt fully cleared from the origional) shes been nowhere to pick up a cough, she doesnt come into contact with unvacinated dogs, it seems so sudden...and random....

ive been fretting all day, and whats worse is money is realy tight, otherwise i would have demanded a chest xray there and then, but he doesnt seem to think she needs one...

*sigh*

 

[jess2416]

Poor Ruby I hope she feels better soon, and that its nothing serious..
keep us updated.

 

[FoxyWench]

i gave the evet a call cause of the coughing (she cant settle) and they said 1/2 teaspoon of robutussin should help the cough (they could hear it over the phone) they seem to think its either roundworm hack or kennel cough too so *fingers crossed on the deworming working and the robutussin helping...*

gave her the tussin and now shes giving me the MOMMY THAT TASTED ICKY look lol, she keeps pawing at her mouth trying to get the taste out...its realy cute...

yay for me having an entire dog friendly pharmacy in my medicine cupboard lol!

 

[bubbatd]

Have you tried a vapor treatment ??? I never had to with the dogs , but it helped with the kids .... vicks in steaming water to breath in under a towel .

 

[Baxter'smybaby]

oh--I hope she feels better soon!

 

[FoxyWench]

i dont have any kind of nebulizer, the tussin seems to have helped shes not coughing as much as she was. infact shes actually sleeping right now YAY!

 

[bubbatd]

I used a pan of water or the sink .

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Hope she feels better soon!

 

[FoxyWench]

i never even would have thought of that...lol, the things mothers know!

its so insane...shes fine for a few hours then will have a bout of coughing that lasts what feels like forever...and its soooo random, shell be sleeping and wake up to coughing its as if shes trying to cough something up.
i feel so useless!
my poor baby, i feel like such a bad mommy, i keep wondering if there were any symptoms before this or something, but nothing, it literally was a case of shes been fine, whent to bed last night and woke up this morning with this nasty cough...

i got a feeling i wont be sleeping well tonight...

i worry so much...lots of what ifs...a cough is such a vauge ailment its like, could it be kennel cough, could it be a sever heatworm infestation (surely not if a heartworm test only a few months ago came back clear right?!) could it be worms, is it something or nothing?! ugh. i swear, i could never have kids, i freek out when my dog has the sniffles, imagine how id be with a kid...

poor girl...

 

[Sweet72947]

Benji does what the vet calls a "reverse sneeze" that sounds like coughing. It happens when dust gets in his lungs or something, and he'll sit there wheezing. Also common in small breeds is a collapsing trachea, although if tussin helped then the trachea is probably not collapsing, just inflamed for some reason. If you don't already do so, I suggest walking Ruby on a body harness instead of a collar so that her throat won't be bothered by the pressure of the collar. We walk Benji on a harness because his throat is sensitive. Throat sensitivity seems to be common in small breeds.

 

[FoxyWench]

ALL my dogs are harness walked, chihuahuas are highly prone to treachea collapse so it wasnt even a question with the chis...and ruby walks so nicely when harnessed that i just never even considered collar walking her...(i alsways suggest any dog under 10-15lbs on a harness, but they should be trained to walk PROPERLY when walking on a harness just liek they should on a collar)

the chis also have the reverse sneezing (or goose with a cold syndrome as its become known in our family) rubies is definatly not reverse sneezing...it reminds me of a Wet kennel cough truth be told, but the vet didnt seem to think it was.

lucky for me ive always been around the small breeds lol.

good suggestions though, they would all be the first things i would have mentioned to anyone with a small breed

 

[Sweet72947]

Yeah I thought you might already know those things since you own chis...

I hope Ruby feels better soon. Respiratory problems can be a biotch.

 

[FoxyWench]

what freeks me out most is during the day she seems to be fine, the odd cough here and there but not the fits she was having yesterday morning/over night last night...
so of course my mind always jumps to heart problems, heart worms or a murmer or something (i have heart issues, and coughing that gets worse at night is a common symptom) but when i got her i had her throughtly checked, no sighns of heart problems, and at her visit yesterday the dr said her heart sounded strong and healthy, no grumbling, murmering nothing...

least shes sleeping comfortably right now. thank you! ive got my figers crossed.
if the cough is still persisting or getting worse on monday il take her back to the vet.

 

[FoxyWench]

UPDATE:

rubies cough seems to have gone! *fingers crossed* shes been fine all weekend but is a little horse when she tries to bark...
shes definatly acting more like herself again