Reggie's cough

I am brand new to this forum, so Hello! I have two 4 1/2 month old cavalier puppies. Reggie is Tri and Laci is Blenheim. We bought both puppies at 12 weeks old. Both babies had a cough when we first got them and the breeder said this is normal for Cavaliers. (We have never owned a cavalier before.) Lacie's cough only lasted, maybe, a month or so after we got her. Reggie's got worse with time. My vet finally suggested to have Reggie go in and spend about 4 hours with her so she could observe him and also take Xrays. Well, lo and behold, his cough came to a screeching halt the day before I was to take him in. :rah: And, it wasn't there the morning of. So, of course, I canceled the appt. Unfortunately, now it is coming back; slowly but it is definitely there again.

Can anyone confirmtthat this is common in Cavalier pups?

No, coughing is not common in cavalier pups. I wonder why a person would say that. I would definitely let the vet observe him and try to get to the bottom of it.:flwr:

One of my cavaliers had a cough when he was a puppy, and it took ages to get it diagnosed. His cough was not like kennel cough, though. And sometimes it was worse than other times. He didn't cough all the time - he mainly coughed in the middle of the night and early in the morning, and it was a wretching sound. For awhile the vets thought Geordie might have worms traveling from trachea to esophagus and he was treated accordingly. We took our poor pup in time after time, saying he wasn't normal. He was put on antibiotics and Theophylline, etc. He had x-rays which showed very little, and he even had an ultrasound of his heart. The vet finally used a scope in Geordie's lungs to get a sample for a culture, and they tested antibiotics on the culture to find the right one. He was at last diagnosed with kennel cough, and antibiotics cured him.

NO it is NOT NORMAL at all for a puppy to have a cough, as a breeder myself I would not have let them go had they got a cough until it was totally cleared up in the first place!

I would book another appointment with the vet as you need to get to the bottom of this and quickly, if it is kennal cough it can be very contagious and Reggie may pass it back to Laci again. Get it checked out is my advice!

Keep us posted? :xfngr:

Thank you both for your advice! It is very much appreciated. I guess you know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning! My vet isn't in till Tuesday, but I'll be making an appointment to take him in bright and early that day! The info you gave us, Cathy, about Geordie is invaluable. I'll be sure to share that with my vet. I'll keep you posted! :xfngr:

I have nothing further to add, the gals above said it all. A cough in a puppy is not normal. Glad you're going to get a vet visit and find out what's wrong.

Post vet visit

Reggie went to the vet yesterday and stayed several hours and had multiple Xrays taken. His little lungs look clear and his trachea is consistent all the way down with no signs of collapse. A lot of Reggie's "cough" seems to be coming from his sinuses. Dr. Katie, our vet, also asked us to compare the opening to his nostrils with Laci's to see if it is comparably smaller. It's smaller, but I don't know if it's comparably smaller. To make a long story short, she has put him on Doxycycline for a week. Cathy Moon, do you remember what antibiotic your pup was on? Also, did it seem that some of his cough was localized in his throat?

Post vet visit

Reggie went to the vet yesterday and stayed several hours and had multiple Xrays taken. His little lungs look clear and his trachea is consistent all the way down with no signs of collapse. A lot of Reggie's "cough" seems to be coming from his sinuses. Dr. Katie, our vet, also asked us to compare the opening to his nostrils with Laci's to see if it is comparably smaller. It's smaller, but I don't know if it's comparably smaller. To make a long story short, she has put him on Doxycycline for a week. Cathy Moon, do you remember what antibiotic your pup was on? Also, did it seem that some of his cough was localized in his throat?

PseudoTwins said:

she has put him on Doxycycline for a week. Cathy Moon, do you remember what antibiotic your pup was on? Also, did it seem that some of his cough was localized in his throat?

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I can't remember what antibiotic did the trick, but I will look through our old vet records to see if I can find it. His cough sounded like he was wretching.

So.......Reggie has been on the medication for 2 full days now and his cough is much worse. My husband still thinks it's more in his sinuses and I have to agree it does sound that way to me as well. We're thinking about using some Children's Nosedrops to see if it's some sort of allergy. Has anyone every tried this type treatment? Is it safe?

Personnally speaking I would call your vet and tell them that the medication isn't working and that Reggie is much worse, I would NOT recommend trying to self medicate him even with childrens medicines as the dosage's are still difficult to work out for such a young dog.
Most vets would want to see him again and will refund you on medication returned that they could still use again when they have prescribed a different thing later on. I know more expense but surely better to err on the side of caution??

Hoping that Reggie is feeling MUCH better soon!! :lotsaluv:

Thank you Cathryn. I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt my little Reggie. I was a little worried about it. I'll share this info with hubby!