Veterinarians are sounding the alarm over a growing number of coughing dogs.
Wendy Brown’s TWO golden retrievers – Bridge and Dooley – are among the dogs that began showing symptoms in early November.
“Dooley started doing this sort of coughing thing and also seemed pretty lethargic,” Brown recalled to Good Morning America. “Not too long after that, Bridge started showing the symptoms. But his were louder, more boisterous. I thought it was his stomach because he made a kind of gagging sound.”
At first, Brown thought her pets had a typical kennel cough, but when the symptoms didn’t go away, she knew it was something more serious.
“The vet started him on a 10-day cycle of doxycycline. Today was day 10 and he is not much better,” Brown said.
Brown, who lives in Idaho, said she’s still not sure what could have caused her dogs’ illness in the first place.
While research is underway, veterinarians say the mystery illness is highly contagious and can be fatal. The symptoms reported so far are also typical of kennel cough and include coughing, sneezing, nasal and/or eye discharge, and lethargy.
“Instead of the dry cough that made the dog feel good, it was this wet cough that made the dog feel sick,” Amanda Cavanagh, the director of emergency services at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, told GMA.
Experts like Cavanagh said any dog showing signs of a persistent cough should be taken to a veterinarian for evaluation.
“We can ultrasound the lungs to see if there is a problem related to pneumonia or the contagious pneumonia that seems to be going around,” Cavanagh said.
Cavanagh also recommends keeping any coughing dog away from other dogs for two weeks after the cough goes away.
