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Why is my dog coughing, belly swollen, and won't go down stairs?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Papillon | Female | spayed | 11 years and 10 months old | 10 lbs

My dog has been coughing and had a distended belly for at least 4 months now. Her cough is worse if she runs or gets excited. For the past 2 months she has refused to go down the stairs in our house, but she'll go up them. The vet I take her to heard a crackly sound in her lungs but said that her heart sounds fine. He still suspects heart failure and gave her a diuretic, but I'm not sure. It seems to help but only a little. I'm worried that we're missing something. Any thoughts?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

Published on April 2nd, 2018

I certainly agree with your veterinarian that the symptoms you are mentioning do sound consistent with heart failure. If your veterinarian has not yet taken an x-ray of her chest, that would be the next thing I would recommend doing. It will confirm if there is fluid in her lungs. There are a number of medications that can be used for heart failure. A diuretic is only one of them and diuretic doses do have to be adjusted to each patient. I am attaching a handout below with more information on heart failure and medications for you. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1968 Another option would be to have a consultation with a cardiologist who can do an ultrasound of Roxie's heart (an echocardiogram) and will be able to help decide on the best medications for her based on that information. You can find a cardiologist near you here. http://find.vetspecialists.com Good luck! I hope that was helfpul. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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