Bronchial Cough

[Mack's Grandmom]

Our 3-year-old has a raspy bronchial cough. The vet did the usual dog tests and they all came back negative. One round of antibiotics, cough better but then worse. He's on fluconazole 300MG twice a day. One week in and his cough is worse and he's just not himself. Nose is cold and wet but he seems to be feeling worse. I know his cough is causing him a lot of discomfort. I'll take him back to the vet but in the meantime, can dogs have Robitussin DM? Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Rocky1]

Try elderberry syrup ( Sambucol ), mix with Manuka Honey and vit. C/mix together x 3 times a day.
Antibiotics won't work if it's a virus !
Shame on your vet.
Make sure your dog stays hydrated.
Also, oregano oil,it will kill the virus.

[Dagodingo]

@mack-s-grandmom I wouldn’t give him anything without asking the vet, many human medications are fatal to dogs. Sounds like he might need a different antibiotic, ask your vet.

[Redial]

My experience is when I put one into a boarding kennel, and on exit they gave him a dose of cough medicine. Obviously kennel cough, but it seemed to work with mine. I would not live on it, but certainly one dose cleared his cough. But I would look for a vet that knows his stuff.

[kkellogg]

My 11-year-old basenji female, Daphne, developed a persistent cough about 6 months ago. Tests were all negative. She wasn't exposed to other dogs, boarding situations, etc.

My vet prescribed Temaril-P...the 'P' stands for prednisone, which of course you don't want to use unless necessary, and in the lowest effective dose. I don't remember what the other components are, but the predisone is a very small proportion of the drug. It's given for allergies.

It's been very effective for Daphne. You first give a good dose for a week or two (sorry, can't remember exactly), then decrease until symptoms return to find the lowest dose. Hope you get to the bottom of this.

[Zande]

I use Sambucol on ME - its wonderful stuff. Hadn't thought about trying it on a dog though - there is nothing in it (that I can see) that would harm an animal, if given in very small doses.

[DonC]

This may be one of those "better living through chemistry situations". We once had a situations where all the tests were negative and we had to treat for an extended period -- way longer than recommended -- with clavamox and some other antibiotic.

However, I'd be sure that the tests covered all the possibilities. What would the "usual" tests be? Do they cover fungus? Parasites? Lymphoma? Is there any imaging? (A baseline can be very helpful when charting whether things are getting better or worse).

If you are concerned and have a veterinary speciality hospital nearby with a good vet who specializes in respiratory diseases, I'd probably have your regular vet schedule a visit.

[eeeefarm]

Has anything at all in your household changed coincidental with his acquiring the cough? Sometimes something supposedly innocuous can actually be the source of the problem, and it's often something you wouldn't even think about, e.g. you are using a different shampoo on your hair, a new body lotion, you got your carpet cleaned, whatever....

[Mack's Grandmom]

@redial Thank you, Len. However, she wasn't in a kennel.

[Mack's Grandmom]

Thank you, All, so much for your time and helpful advice!

Okay, we did something yesterday that may have been foolish but at the time his cough had gotten bad and after spending so much on vet bills and prescriptions, we decided to invest in a bottle of infant cough medicine. We gave a small dosage to Mack and after coughing up a big glob his coughing has subsided and he appears to be feeling better.

We won't be repeating the dosage.

I do love the idea of elderberry and honey! However, our fear of negative results after trying the infant medicine had us so on edge that if Mack does start coughing again, we will call the vet.

Thank you all, again! I appreciate you!!