Health
A goose-honk cough a week after kennels, a night-time cough in an old dog, bursts of sneezing after a field walk. Three sounds, three directions, one first step: film it.
Caution. Laboured breathing or over 40 breaths a minute asleep, bluish gums, choking and unable to breathe, coughing blood, an unvaccinated puppy with a cough, or a cough with fever and listlessness: see your vet the same day; bluish gums, now.
Do not look for the answer in a Facebook group, on TikTok or on a forum. Look for someone trained for this: your dog's own veterinarian, the only person who can examine, investigate and treat them.
Use this page to know what to observe, what to note and what to ask at the appointment, not to treat at home. If you still have doubts after a consultation, ask another vet or a specialist (dermatologist, internist) for a second opinion, not a group. And if you do not have a regular vet yet, find one now, while your dog is healthy: how to choose a veterinary clinic.
You took your dog to a group class or left him at kennels for three days. A week later he starts a dry cough like a goose honking, and at the end of each fit he seems to choke and brings up white froth. Another house, another cough: an eleven-year-old bichon who coughs at night when he settles in his bed, and in the morning when he gets excited at the door. Or a dog who comes back from a run through long grass sneezing in bursts and rubbing his nose on the carpet. Three different sounds, and they point you to three different places: the windpipe, the heart and a grass seed. Below you will find what you can tell apart at home, what cannot wait until tomorrow and what your own vet will look for. What you will not find is which syrup to give him: some human cough syrups contain ingredients that are toxic to dogs.
Most coughs in dogs are like our colds. Annoying, catching, and they pass. A few do not pass on their own, and with those the day matters:
There is also something that looks frightening but is not an emergency: the reverse sneeze. The dog stops dead, stretches his neck and snorts air in through his nose noisily, in bursts, for 10 to 30 seconds, as if he cannot get a breath in. Then he is completely back to normal. It is a spasm at the back of the throat, common in small and short-nosed breeds. Film it and show your vet at the next check-up. If the episodes become frequent or long, do not wait for the check-up; book sooner.
A cough is one of the few signs you can take to the vet exactly as it is: on video. The sound tells your vet more than any description.
Start filming at the first fit and keep going until it is over, including what he does afterwards: swallowing, gagging, bringing up froth. Get three or four episodes at different times of day. Your vet will hear in ten seconds what would take you five minutes to describe.
A dry, loud cough like a goose or a car horn usually comes from the windpipe and the larger airways. A moist, rattly cough that sounds as if there is fluid in it points to the lungs or the heart. A short, repeated cough followed by swallowing comes from the throat. The white froth at the end is not vomit and has nothing to do with the stomach. It is simply how a coughing fit usually ends.
When he coughs matters too. At night and when he lies down, think heart or lungs. When he gets excited, pulls on the collar, drinks fast or is hot, think windpipe. After exercise, heart, lungs or windpipe. After eating or drinking, the throat, sometimes the gullet. First thing in the morning, the bronchi.
Where he has been in the last two weeks: kennels, training school, a group session, a show, a busy park, a new dog in the family or next door. Kennel cough appears 2 to 10 days after contact. Then his vaccinations: when the last one was and what it covered. The kennel cough vaccine is separate from the core vaccines, and many kennels require it.
Look around the house too. Cigarette smoke, scented candles, cleaning sprays, very dry air, dust from building work and mould can all keep a cough going. Weight and collar count as well: an overweight dog with a soft windpipe coughs more, and a dog who pulls on his collar coughs on every walk.
| Problem | Who, usually | Sound and timing |
|---|---|---|
| Kennel cough (infectious tracheobronchitis) | Any dog, 2–10 days after contact with other dogs | Dry, loud, in fits, foam at the end; dog otherwise bright; clears in 1–3 weeks |
| Other respiratory infections, including pneumonia | Puppies, old dogs, dogs with weak immunity | Cough plus fever, listlessness, runny nose, fast breathing |
| Collapsing trachea | Small and toy breeds, middle-aged, often overweight | Goose honk with excitement, collar pressure, heat; goes on for years |
| Chronic bronchitis | Adult and senior dogs, any breed | Daily cough for months, especially mornings and after exercise |
| Heart (heart failure) | Seniors, often small breeds with a known murmur | At night, when lying down; fast breathing in sleep; tires quickly |
| Heartworm (dirofilariasis) | Dogs from mosquito areas without prevention; present in Romania | Cough on exercise, tiredness, weight loss; shows on a blood test |
| Foreign body in the nose (grass awn, seed) | After fields or long grass | Sudden violent sneezing, rubbing the nose, blood from one nostril |
| Allergy or irritant | Seasonal or linked to the home | Sneezing, watery discharge from both nostrils, runny eyes, no fever |
| Larynx that no longer opens properly (laryngeal paralysis) | Old large-breed dogs | Noisy breathing in, changed bark, cannot cope with heat |
| Reverse sneezing | Small and short-nosed breeds | Bursts of noisy inhaling, 10–30 seconds, then nothing |
The table gives you directions; your vet confirms them. An old dog can have a soft windpipe and a weak heart at the same time, and each is treated differently.
You need two or three weeks of patience. His bowl stays separate from the other dogs' in the house. They will most likely catch it anyway, but there is no need to hurry things along. Harness, short walks and soaked food if the kibble irritates his throat when he swallows. Keep a diary of the fits each day so you can see them dropping off. Ring the vet if a fever appears, if he refuses food, if his breathing speeds up or if in the third week he is coughing as much as at the start.
The kennel cough vaccine does not cover every bug and does not stop every cough, but it shortens the illness and makes it milder. Talk to your vet about whether it is worth it for your dog, especially if he goes to group classes or kennels.
At training, you hear the cough before you see the dog. One fit in the car park and you know you are working without him that week. We ask the same of everyone else. If you do not have a regular vet yet, our page on related services helps you choose a practice.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer. The answers are a guide only: the decision belongs to your dog's own vet, after an examination.
Practically, no. The usual kennel cough bugs are dog bugs. One of the bacteria can, very rarely, make people with severely weakened immunity ill. For the rest of the family the risk is negligible, but wash your hands and do not let him lick a baby's or a sick person's face while he is coughing. Other dogs in the house, on the other hand, will almost certainly catch it.
It shows 2 to 10 days after contact and usually clears in one to three weeks, with the fits getting rarer. He stays contagious for a few days after the coughing stops, which is why you keep him away from other dogs for another two weeks. If he is coughing just as much in the third week, runs a fever or goes off his food, back to your own vet.
Open his mouth in good light and look, without reaching deep. If you can see something that comes out easily, take it out; otherwise go to the vet. If he is struggling, cannot breathe or his tongue is bluish, it is an emergency, now. If he breathes normally between fits, film it and ring. A cough that sounds like something is stuck, ending in white froth, is most often kennel cough or an irritated windpipe.
Nothing from your own medicine cabinet. Human cough syrups and tablets contain ingredients toxic to dogs, and leftover antibiotics do nothing for a viral infection. Until you see the vet: harness instead of collar, short walks, humid air, no smoke and no exertion. Your own vet decides whether the cough needs calming and with what, after listening to the lungs and ruling out the heart.
A cough that comes at night and when he lies down, especially in an older small-breed dog, points towards the heart or the lungs. Count his breaths while he sleeps: under 30 a minute is normal, over 40 needs a same-day visit. Other causes include a soft windpipe, chronic bronchitis and air dried out by the radiators. Film a fit and book an appointment for an X-ray and a listen to the heart.
The information on this page is educational and does not replace an examination. For full details and a diagnosis, consult your dog's own veterinarian.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
He sniffed the bowl and walked off, twice running, yet he's drinking and wagging. With a bright adult you can wait a day. With a puppy or an old dog, you can't.
A red eye, watering, brown gunk in the morning, one eye held shut. Conjunctivitis is the word that springs to mind; often it is something else, and eyes do not wait.
He shakes at fireworks, in the cold, with excitement before a walk. Or he shakes, drools, goes floppy and found the chocolate. A thirty-second video tells them apart.
Head shaking, scratching until he yelps, a yeasty smell. The ear is where it shows, the cause is usually elsewhere, and last time's drops will not find it.
We work with your dog's behaviour, not its health. For any sign described here, book an appointment with your own vet; the related services page explains how to choose a clinic.