My dog is coughing blood, breathing heavy, and lethargic. Emergency?

Question

My dog is an eight-year-old mix-breed, we think he's Chow Chow, (90 lbs). Last week we took him to the vet for coughing a small amount of blood--we thought maybe he had gotten rawhide lodged in his throat. His cough slowed down and no more blood, but today it started again and he's hacking, breathing heavily, and he is moving extremely slow. He wouldn't even lift his leg to pee. Is this an emergency? I need to let my husband know because he's at work and we have one car. Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Male | neutered | 8 years and 4 months old | 90 lbs

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

Oh, poor Buddha! Yes, I'm afraid that I would consider this an emergency - he really needs to see a vet tonight, so I would definitely call your husband and make arrangements to take him as soon as possible. Heavy or labored breathing along with acting very lethargic is very worrying - he may have severe heart disease, fluid in his chest cavity, a severe respiratory infection such as pneumonia, lung cancer, or even internal bleeding into his lungs or chest. This is likely to be a life-threatening problem, so he needs to be seen by a vet as soon as possible. The emergency vet can do chest x-rays or other testing if needed to help determine what's wrong and see what can be done to help him.

My dog is coughing blood, breathing heavy, and lethargic. Emergency?

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