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Why does my dog cough dryly and gag when excited and playing?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 1 year and 2 months old | 60 lbs

When Penny gets excited and plays, she starts to cough. It’s a dry cough and gags at the end occasionally. My other dog has had kennel cough and the vet has ruled that out. it sounds kind of like she has a hairball stuck... but she’s short haired. She’s otherwise acting completely normal. What could the cough be from?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on February 28th, 2018

There are quite a few things that can cause a cough like this. Some common possibilities would include allergies, chronic bronchitis, a collapsing trachea, or heart disease. If the cough has been going on for a while, I would recommend discussing options for further work-up with your vet to help determine what is causing it. Diagnostic testing such as general blood work (a CBC and chemistry panel), chest x-rays, and heartworm testing would all be helpful, if these tests haven't been done already.

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