Muddy is still coughing

[Emeraldgreen]

Hi guys, I think this is my first dog health post and I'm hoping that someone might have some ideas about what is going on with our older dog Muddy. He is about 11.5 years old and we adopted him from the SPCA when he was 5. He has been in good health the whole time but quite recently some things have been going on with him. He and our other dog Finnigan sleep together downstairs. One of them has been pooping on the floor. A few times it was diarrhea so we switched their food to the holistic crunchies made by Chicken Soup. The problem is that we didn't know who was going on the floor. When the pooping on the floor seemed to stop, we tried mixing in some wetfood again (a holistic canned food). But everytime we start with the wet food, one of them poops on the floor and we think it's Muddy. So a few mornings ago we walked them and took a poop sample from each dog. I asked my boss if I could show up a few hours late to work and bring these samples to the vet. I dropped them off and they were going to send them off to the lab via courier. At the end of the day I called the vet's office and they said they were very sorry but somehow they didn't make it with the courrier and could I please bring in another sample. I was very frustrated because I lost 2 hours of work and took a ferry just to bring the samples in the first place.
They did an in house fecal test and said that both showed negative for everything.
For the past 2 days Muddy has been coughing/retching. It's as if he has something stuck in his throat. He does it once every few hours or so. Otherwise, he is full of energy and playing and everything else. He still has a good appetite. Yesterday I tried massaging his throat area to see if I could help. Didn't work. Then I heated up some beef broth thinking that the warm liquid might help soften a crunchie that might be stuck. That didn't help. This morning one of them pooped on the floor again. Not diarrhea but I think the beef broth didn't help matters.
I have to go to work today and the vet's office was completely booked anyway being Monday so I'm bringing him in tomorrow at 3:20. They will do everything, bloodwork, xrays etc.. but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone had an idea of what might be going on. My worst fear is that it could be heart related with the coughing but if you listen to it, he really sounds like he is trying to dislodge something.
Please keep in mind when watching the video that he does this every few hours, not constantly and when he's done he races around and is normal. If it was constant, I would take off work again and drive him to the vet. Also, he doesn't chew on sticks or toys or anything.
The first sound you'll hear in the video is Finnigan doing his Basenji yodel thing. He is half Basenji and makes interesting sounds.

Muddy's video:

[lizbud]

That's too bad. I'm glad you are getting him in to the Vets tomorrow.

It could be caused by a lot of things, so it's better to get him seen by
a expert. Has Muddy been on a heart worm preventative since you've had
him?

[Emeraldgreen]

That's too bad. I'm glad you are getting him in to the Vets tomorrow.

It could be caused by a lot of things, so it's better to get him seen by
a expert. Has Muddy been on a heart worm preventative since you've had
him?

We don't have heartworm in this part of the province though it is further up north. He hasn't been on any heartworm meds.

I thought of one thing that he possibly could have ingested. The other night we had a bear wandering through our yard and Muddy was doing his job and completely freaking out. The next day we put a curtain up on the window in their room so they couldn't see the bear hoping it would help calm them down. We used some push pins to put the curtain up and each morning my husband was opening the window after he took the dogs outside to let some fresh air into the room. I'm wondering if he dropped one of the tacks on the ground and if Muddy might have eaten it. His vision isn't as good these days and he might have thought it was a stray kibble?!?

[Moesha]

Oh my! I sure hope that you're able to figure out what is bothering Muddy. Give him a hug for me. While I love his kitty siblings, I don't want him to feel neglected of Moe!Love either.

[Emeraldgreen]

Oh my! I sure hope that you're able to figure out what is bothering Muddy. Give him a hug for me. While I love his kitty siblings, I don't want him to feel neglected of Moe!Love either.

Thanks Moe! I hugged him for ya.

[lizbud]

Just checking in on Muddy. Waiting to hear what the Dr says. I hope
Muddy is not too uncomfortable.

[Karen]

I am so glad that Muddy is such a loved doggie, and that the community of Pet Talkers has been able to help you. Keep us updated, I am glad you are asking your vet about the gabapentin!

[Emeraldgreen]

I am so glad that Muddy is such a loved doggie, and that the community of Pet Talkers has been able to help you. Keep us updated, I am glad you are asking your vet about the gabapentin!

Oh yes, he is one loved guy! He is such a good boy and he adores his pawpie. He loves me too but he follows his pawpie's every move to see what's next, what's happening, where are we going etc.. I'm more of the snuggly friend that gives him yummy things and tucks him in at night. But that is an important role too!
I am very grateful for the information provided to me in this thread and in all threads that I've received support and information. It truly is invaluable. Where else can you go and find multiple contributions from people who have gone through the exact same situation? It is the best.


Thank you Critters for that link with regard to splints. I haven't checked it out yet but I will tonight!

Cinder & Smoke wrote:

Here's the PT thread that started in November of 2006 >>> Bowser needs Prayers ... Old Age is catching up ...
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=116267

The Prayer Pups will keep Muddy in their prayers!

I just finished reading the thread on Bowser. Once I got into a rhythem with the 'Bowser Speak' it WAZ NUFFIN'!
I was really interested in each of your posts and laughed quite a bit with regard to the lights and cowbells the dogs were all wearing and the 'deer hunt' followed by 'deer pharts'!

We are having a terrible day today. Four days ago Muddy was running around fairly normal but yesterday and today he is a different dog. The vet prescribed Benylin DM for him (50-60mg every 8 hours). The cough syrup thing was a disaster so I found some Benylin DM cough caps that the pharmacist told me only had DM in it and none of the ingredients that the vet told me to ask her about (their names escape me now but sound like Guaphanine, sudephedrine and something else...)
Each cap has 15mg in it so I gave him 4 caps every 8 hours. He turned into a zombie who could barely walk. The coughing stopped but he can hardly walk a straight line and collapses to the ground over and over.
We were particularily concerned about him last night because he hadn't eaten his breakfast (the new feeding time to try and avoid overnight accidents). We didn't like the idea of all these meds on board and no food in his tummy so we gave him crumbles mixed with some canned food around 7:00p.m. I knew I'd most likely have a pile to clean up in the a.m. but nothing could have prepared us for what we found this morning. In his drugged stupour, he wandered all over their room pooping everywhere and it was diarrhea. It was on both their beds, all over the floor and sprayed on the walls!! It was on all four of his legs too. My husband was very frustrated and for a brief moment thought this was no way to live for Muddy or for us but I reminded him that this would never have happened if we hadn't drugged him and fed him wet food and fed him at 7:00p.m. I cleaned up the room and plan to be the first on the scene from now on for any future clean ups and my husband has agreed to let me try everything to help Muddy without getting upset. I'm just so frustrated that this stupid cough is happening at the same time as the other ailment because we have to get rid of the cough, he's so uncomfortable, hacking throughout the day but the meds required to do it are literally knocking him on his rearend.
I'm bringing in a urine sample to the vet tomorrow morning and I will ask for the Torbutrol for the cough. The vet said it was ridiculously expensive for larger dogs and that is why she suggested the Benylin but I can't keep him in this state. It's not only affecting his balance but his eyes look like he's had a labotamy and he sits and stares at the wall as if he is hallucinating and he pants and pants, even when it's cold. We decided to stop altogether with the Benylin and he has now missed his 7:00p.m. dose and already started coughing a few hours ago.

And to make matters worse, our cat Jimmy, who we rushed to the vet 2 weeks ago was very unwell this morning. Of course it is Sunday! I called my vet and the answering machine said another vet hospital was on call. I called her and she was at a party I think. She was very short with me and basically said that if I were to bring him in she'd have to start from scratch and do every single thing that the previous vet did (xrays, blood work, urinalysis) and all at emerg vet fees. She was basically trying to talk me out of bringing him in. I was so mad when I got off the phone. This is the holistic vet that I had been planning to take Jimmy to in the near future but not anymore. He's doing a bit better now and has begun eating a bit of dry food.


Below are two videos. Before and after. The first one was taken on the evening of September 18th and Muddy is running around the yard feeling pretty good. The following video was taken about an hour ago and he is so different. Just out of it. He falls down in one part of it and it just broke my heart.

[lizbud]

I'm so sorry that Muddy is having these problems. I can see a real
difference in him with the two videos. Maybe the dosage is too much for
him. I sure hope that Muddy & Jimmy are doing much better very soon.

[katslady]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and Muddy, I hope he gets better soon.I hope the Torb. will help and he can function better on it. katslady

[Emeraldgreen]

We got Muddy off the Robitussin right away because the sedating effects were just too powerful. I picked up a prescription for Torbutrol 5mg and he gets a half tab in the morning and another at night. It worked so well for the first 3-4 days but he has started coughing again. It is not as much as when he is not on any meds but he is still coughing. I left a message with my vet but haven't heard back from her yet.
From what I understood, we were trying to get him to stop coughing for a long enough time so that the inflammation in his trachea/throat area would go down. Each time he coughs, it is supposed to be making the inflammtion worse and the inflammation is making him cough.
I don't know if the fact that he has started coughing again means that his dose needs to be increased or if he has something else causing the cough, like a foreign body that the xray didn't pick up.
The other thing is that my dog Finnigan coughed last night in exactly the same way Muddy has been. It was only the one time and he might have just had some food lodged the wrong way, he eats quickly. But now I'm wondering if it is something that is contagious.
They are never in contact with other dogs (because Muddy is not good with other dogs, he's a bit aggressive) and we walk them everyday but around our property, not in public where they might come across other dogs. We have some acreage so they have lots of room to run.
I do think the wolves come around at night and walk through our property and I don't know if there is something our dogs could catch from them?
There is one pack that frequents our area and I just found out they killed another dog about a block away from where we live. My neighbour says they travel through his property and ours on a regular basis at night but I have never seen them. Our dogs sleep inside with us so they haven't had direct contact with them.

But I don't think it is a contagious thing he's dealing with because the xrays showed a clear view of a collapsing trachea with inflammation of the tracheal sac. The vet said an irritant of somesort could have started it.
I'm waiting to hear back from the vet if I should increase his meds or change them.

I gave my vet the information about the Gabapentin that I received in this post (thank you guys for that!!) and she was really interested in it. She called in a prescription for a month's supply. I picked them up but don't want to start Muddy on them until I get him through this coughing/hacking problem. It makes him so uncomfortable.