[wsadams]

Hello All,
I'm new to this forum and have a strange situation with my almost 3 year old female Jack Russell Terrier!! For months, she's been coughing and it's driving me crazy. I've had two vets check her and did exactly what they BOTH told me to do. One put her on Doxycycline for 10 days and had me give her Benedryl for post nasal drip. DIdn't work... The other Vet said her cough is creating a bronchial irritation and to give her Robitussin DM to calm the cough and help her heal...which I did. She's STILL coughing!! She has also been wormed several times as well.

She has not been around any other dogs and has not been kenneled for any reason. She'll cough up a flroth from time to time w/ no muscus in it. She eats great, she drinks water as usual, she runs around and plays. She's not down and out on the couch and sick at ALL. It's very strange.....

Anyone out there with any idea on what the heck this might be! It's been at least 4 months of vets and trying to fix this problem.

Thanks so much,
Wendy and Atty Louise ( the coughing Jack!)

[wsadams]

EXACTLY what I was thinking!! She does it bad first thing in the morning and then whenever thru the day. After playing as well. She can't be sick as she does not show any lethargy and eats perfect like always. Not to sound harsh, but it's really driving me crazy. What do they do for dogs w/ asthma??

Wendy

[shelley023]

Hi, my name is shelley and I'm new here. Reading about your dog. I also have a fox terrier. The things I'm thinking about is either heartworm, did the vet do a blood test for this? Or tracheal collapse? But either way, I think the advice about getting her lungs x-rayed is the route I would start with.If your dog is around donkeys, it could also have lungworm.

[wsadams]

They have not done Xrays at all. I read about lungworm as well.... hmmm....when we lived in Michigan we had a potbellied pig and chickens?? The heartworm was negative...

I'll find a vet in Illinois and see what they think... But putting Robitussin DM down her all the time is getting very old. She HATES it and I can't say as if I can blame her at all. It's horrible stuff.

The post nasal drip was a "guess" in my opinion. She wasn't displaying ANY nasal discharge.

Arg, this is gettting frustrating for me and poor ole Atty!!

[wsadams]

Yes, they have looked in her throat and done a complete exam of her heart and lungs. I don't think it's an infestation of any sort. She also has a nervous reverse sneeze as a lot of little dogs have. I've often wondered if she's doing this cough to get what she wants and for attention. She will ALWAYS cough when people stop over...always. So, she might be coughing for psychological reasons which is irritating her bronchial tubes and making the cough worse physically. Now, if I tell her to stop coughing, she will. I did that yesteday and it worked. Maybe it's a "look at me, I'm sick and need more attention" even tho the little girl goes EVERYWHERE with my 14 year old and even sits at the computer on her lap!! There's no unlove when it comes to that dog... whats so ever...

Opinions on psychologial coughing... haha

[beks]

My dog was doing this wierd cough thing alot too, i thought it was just like he would get to excited but i think it was from one of his toys witch he shreded to peice and would eat the string, i think he was coughing cause he had bits of rope in his throat. We threw out the toy after he shredded it and since its been gone he hardly coughs at all anymore.