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My dog sounds like she's choking on air but isn't coughing. What is it?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Alaskan Malamute | Female | spayed | 7 months and 15 days old | 92 lbs

She’s been having some episodes of something that seems like she’s “choking on air”, just out of the blue. It lasts about 5-10 sec and it stops by itself. Sometimes she has hiccups right afterwards. The last episode was about 5 min ago, while she was asleep! She just woke up making this wierd sound like choking but no actual cough. It’s not like a cough at all. It’s started 2weeks ago and it’s not an everyday thing. Sometimes it happens while she eats too fast.Other than that she’s healthy

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Megan, DVM, CVA

Veterinarian

Published on February 7th, 2018

Poor Maui. This sounds a lot like an upper respiratory infection. It usually sounds more like they are choking than a true cough. You can try some Benadryl to see if there is an allergy component to it. See link below. Since it has been going on for 2 weeks and she is only 7 months old, I would have your vet take a look at her. She may need some antibiotics. I this is a URI and it's left untreated, it could turn into pneumonia which is much more difficult to treat. I hope this helps. https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/#!

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    Answered By Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH

    Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

    Published on

    If Maui is inhaling during the episodes and her breathing is normal between episodes, then she may be having something we call reverse sneezing. I am attaching a link to a handout about it below. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2335 Reverse sneezing sounds very scary, but is actually quite benign. There are a number of videos on You Tube that demonstrate it including this one. https://youtu.be/U3L4v0W2_Sw Reverse sneezing does not require any treatment, but there is further information in the handout about stopping the episodes. Good luck! I hope that was helpful! Thanks for using PetCoach.

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