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Old June 30th, 2008, 01:30 AM
debkamaine debkamaine is offline
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Maine
Posts: 3
Sheltie with Chronic Cough

Hi. This is my first post. I adopted an older sheltie from a rescue 1 1/2 years ago. He was being starved, had been in an abandoned house with 3 others for two years that the rescuers know of. He was a very sick boy when they found him.

He is precious, has issues that we are working on...some separation anxiety and excitement when seeing other dogs.

Outside of that, he is a precious and gentle little spirit. He is wonderful.

Anyway, we have a problem. He has a chronic cough. My vet has tested everything and nothing shows up. He coughs in the evening around 9 p.m. and sometimes in the morning. He coughs with 6-10 hacks and then sounds like he is spitting out a hairball.

I am wondering something----> I found myself jerking his collar, as they used to do in the 70s with training, when he gets excited about other dogs. Could this be what is wrong? My vet said that it wouldn't because when he was on a strong steroid, his cough went away. I really am not certain that he quit coughing when he was on the steroid because he will go for periods without coughing.

I was mortified when I found myself jerking him and have stopped. But, could I have caused this? Does anybody know anything about chronic coughing? My vet said that sometimes dogs just have it and that it is not a serious condition. I would like to find an herb that would help.

Thank you. This little guy just does not need anymore pain in his life.

Debbie
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