My senior dog coughs, falls, and loses bladder control. What's wrong?

Yes, it could be possible he has a collapsing trachea but in a dog his age, this cough could also be due to heart disease. I'd have him seen by a vet for this problem this weekend. The vet can do blood work, a urinalysis, and chest x-rays. The vet can diagnose what is causing his cough and can treat him. If he does have heart disease, it cannot be cured but it can be managed medically. I hope this helps!

Your dog has severe heart enlargement. For this reason, it is pressing his windpipe (trachea) upward and causing a narrowing which is the likely cause of his cough. Unfortunately, there's no way to prevent this. Ideally, you would keep him as quiet as possible and minimize his activity/stress. Your vet is correct, it doesn't look like he has pulmonary edema. You may want to consider medication to keep him more relaxed to prevent excessive coughing.

I would be extremely concerned about her having a cardiac issue. Please take her to your vet so they can check to see if she has a heart murmur as that can lead to heart failure. Coughing is one of the first symptoms. She is the right age and breed for this to be happening. The other likely cause would be a collapsing trachea. So again, please take her to your vet for an exam. Best wishes.

Did they take any xrays of her chest an trachea? At her age, heart disease or a collapsing trachea is common. Bronchitis or a tumor can also be possible. An xray can see if there is tumor and see how wide the trachea is. Heart disease will be evident by an enlarged heart. Bronchitis can be from age or an allergy. Most of these treatments have medications that can control symptoms but none of these have cure. I would consult with your vet again to see what testing or medication can be given at home to help her.

I would take Ronnie into the vet first thing in the morning. There are a couple of things that could be going on with him, and he should receive veterinary care for them. Coughing when moving can be a sign of congestive heart failure or a respiratory infection. If he's having trouble moving and falls over, then he could have severe arthritis. He will likely need pain meds to help with his arthritis, and the only safe ones are available from the vet. Please do not give him any human pain meds, many are toxic to dogs and can be fatal if given.

Hello and welcome to Boop by Petco. Coughing and bringing up clear liquid could be coughing up stuff instead of vomiting. This is important to try to differentiate. Coughing up liquid is more consistent with heart disease. The x-rays are difficult to read as the image transfer through is of poor quality and to really assess the lungs you need good quality images, however the heart does look a bit enlarged and the lungs do look a bit 'white'. I cannot assess the liver on these radiographs as you cannot see them. An enlarged heart, white lungs (fluid in the lungs), and an enlarged liver is consistent with both right and left sided heart disease. I recommend you return either to your vet, or another vet, and get a specialist ultrasound of the heart (an 'echo') to determine if heart medications are required. Your vet can also listen to the heart to see if a murmur is present in the heart, or 'crackles' are heard on the lungs. Heart disease is very serious and needs medicati

I would always be concerned about the development of a cough in an older dog. Firstly it could be due to an infection, chest infections can be serious. It could be an inflammatory conditiion such as bronchitis or asthma. Of course it could be a heart issue like you say and there is the possibility of masses also. The best plan would be to go to the vet for sn examination, an xray may be needed to get a diagnosis.

It sounds like Ace might need medication at this point, but it can be really difficult sometimes to determine whether a cough is related to heart disease or respiratory problems like collapsing trachea or chronic bronchitis which can also be very common in senior small dogs. I would contact your vet and let them know that Ace is now coughing so much that he can't rest. They might recommend an echocardiogram to completely rule out heart disease and heart failure as a cause, or they might recommend trying some other medications for cough. If Ace has not had chest x-rays recently they would probably recommend x-rays as well.

The weight doesn't help, but that kind of coughing makes me worry about her developing congestive heart failure. Respiratory infection and pneumonia, among other things can cause coughing as well. I strongly suggest getting her in to see your vet as soon as possible. If she is having congestion due to a heart problem medication can make her much more comfortable. Your vet will do an exam, labwork and likely x-rays. Based on these results your vet will be better able to tell you what is going on and how best to treat it.

I would recommend bringing Chelsea back to the veterinarian and getting x-rays of her chest. This will tell you if she has something lung related. There are a lot of different things that can cause a cough. It can be anything from a tracheal collapse to a lung lesion. Without chest x-rays it is hard to say what is causing the cough. Thank you for using Boop by Petco.