Difficulty in breathing (random coughing/choking)

Male dog,1 year old feeding on dried nuts and pedigree wet foods (chicken and rice).This has happened three times in the last 3 months.He starts choking and is fighting for breath,his back legs start to buckle.It sounds as if something is stuck in his throat,but he hasnt swallowed anything that would casue this at the time.Nothing is coughed up either.
He seems to be trying to force air or something else up from around the diaphragm area.Any help would be much appreciated.Thanks.

This could be a cavalier reverse sneeze, which is typical of the breed, combined with greedy feeding, but best top check with your vet.

The weakness in the back legs would have me concerned. When either of mine reverse sneeze there is no buckling of the back legs. I would definitely get this checked out by a vet.

When TedBear does this reverse sneezing, he tends to sit and not want to stand - not sure if this is what you mean by buckling?

It is worth getting the vet to check him over, TedBear tends to do this when he's very excited about something. I have to lift him into a stand, then hold him under the chest, put my hand over his nose and gently lower his head towards the ground. This enables the flap of skin that causes the noise to flop back into place, although sometimes you have to repeat it a few times. Some dogs have very long soft palates, and this causes the problem.

It is best to keep the dog quiet for a few mimutes afterwards, even if you have to gently restrain them, otherwise they can have another episode

Would tend to agree with the others on this, sounds like a "backsnort" to me, possibly caused by bolting his feed too fast, a couple of my girls sometimes do this due to the "competition" factor!

Sounds like reverse sneeze to me too~ and the first few times it happened I was very unsettled. If in doubt check it out but I really do think thats what it is.

You know my answer - check with your vet. The collapsing bothers me. Could be something different than the old reverse sneeze. Rather to be safe than sorry.

ChrisM said:

feeding on dried nuts and pedigree wet foods (chicken and rice).

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Can you elaborate on the feeding of dried nuts. What are they, what kind of nuts, how is it prepared? I've not heard the expression "dired nuts" and am wondering if there is something here contributing to what is going on.

I'd certainly be taking him to the vet to try to sort this out.

Caraline - dried nuts is a term used to describe dried kibble. The only reason I know this is because once before some one used this term and a lot of us were wondering what kind of nuts....macadamias, pistachios?! icon_nwunsure

I think what concerns me is the back legs buckling but sounds like several others have dogs that do this in conjunction with the snort.

Thanks for clearing that mystery up for me Cathy Yeah, I don't like the sound of the back legs buckling either. That would worry me.

Some cavaliers have more problems with having a shortened nose than others, and can have a variety of more serious problems then the basic cavalier 'snort' -- so it would definitely be worth checking this out further.

Dogs that have additional problems can gag and retch, for example, or may truly struggle for breath. A dog could have more signs of trouble when its mouth is full and it is trying to eat, or drink.

You can read more here: http://cavalierhealth.org/brachycephalic.htm

I'd want to investigate the possibility that he has more of an airway obstruction than would be typical and that this may be causing some distress when he is also trying to eat.