my 5 year old girl has  a cough and has had it for at least 2 years. She has been seen by the vets numerous times. She has had xrays, swabs and a lung wash. None of the cultures showed any thing. She has been treated several times for  lung worm. It is not laryngeal paralysis. Her heart is fine. My vet has run out of ideas so am just wonderuing  if anyone hear has experienced anything like this?

She seem to cough most when moving  after rest. She doesn't often cough when exercising . presure on the wind pipe such as leaning in to her  collar can make her worse. most of the  time it is not productive but sometimes she brings up some greyish froth or phlegm.
We have moved house  and the cough  didn't stop so presumably not something environmental. We now have vinyl flooring not carpets.
Any ideas greatfully received

My 12 yr old Sheltie has exactly the same symptoms, started 2 yrs ago.  X rays and tests all ok. no problem with heart. The vet said it`s to do with his age and is probably chronic bronchitis.  Lately the cough is getting more frequent, so am off to vet on Wednesday, but I don`t suppose he will have any different ideas as to the cause.  I`m not convinced about old age theory.  Apart from cough he is in good health. Will let you know if vet says anything different.

Thnaks.  My vet hasn't suggested old age. probably because she was only about 2 1/2 when  it started. It doesn't reallly seem to bother her, but I  do worry when we go to shows as she coughs when  getting out of the car and I  keep expecting someone to ask me  either to leave bacause they think it is kennel cough, but vet says it is not that as it would have gone by now.

have you got freash air plug in thing or any air freash,
a cat.
my brie had the same 3 years ago,all the test under the sun no result all clear.
but we did have a cat which died two years ago plus throw out all the smelly things no problen since,

canine herpers can be a undrline problem with coughing as kennelcough/canines herpes are linking togther.

My bitch is 12 years old and has a slight cough but she has been diagnosed with Bronchitis too.  Xray showed small calcified lumps in her airways last year.  She does not cough all the time though.

Some days its like an irritant cough, other days it sounds more catarrah like so depending what she is doing, I give her Benylin dry/chesty cough mixture to help soothe it.  It normally goes again then.

She has recently been put on Corvental D tablets too, 1 a day and these help to open up the airways, which seem to be helping too.

no I haven't got a  cat, or any other pets apart from dogs. I don 't like plug in  air fresheners so don't have any of those either. In fact  I don't really use air freshener at all. Since I got rid of the carpets I find the house smells a lot less doggy.
I don't really use many chemicals round the house for cleaning  etc, mainly biological washing liquid as I find this really good for getting mud off most surfaces, and I probably don't wash my floors anything like as often  as I should although I sweep them regularly to keep the furballs down.
How would she get canine herpes? she has not been  mated? would the vaccine help?

yes my girls xray showed calcified lumps too. the vet told me this is  seen if an  animal has a  persistant cough but  doesn't  really show  what  is causing it.
some days it is worse than others, I have tried using benylin but she hates  it so much and it is a real fight to get it in to her, so don't give it her very often now.

Do dogs develop asthma if so has it been checked for?

Our collie had a persistant cough and the vet couldn't find the cause. It turned out that we had a slow water leak under the bath and the damp was causing his cough. As soon as the leak was found and sorted, his cough disappeared.

my 8yr old rough has  had bronchitis since she was a year old.  gets worse in the winter when its cold and damp......treated with steroids we can contain it. We do have an african grey and i have wondered whether he contirbutes to the problem.

My vet now wants to start my 12 yr old Sheltie on steroids for chronic bronchitis. I have read about side effects so am not very happy to go ahead
     Just wondering what other people with dogs on steroids think, and what, if any adverse reactions have occurred.

jolypolly my bitch has been on them long term and has had no side effects. 

you might consider one of these,

http://www.breatheazy.co.uk/respiratory-disease-in-dogs.htm.  you will need to get a prescription from your vet for the inhaler.

Jolly Polly you could ask your vet about these Corvental tablets, that my dog is on instead of steriods. 

There's a datasheet here about them for anybody that may be interested.

http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/Novartis_Animal_Health_UK_Ltd/documents/S3458.html#N28431

Thank you Justine and Sal.   Will  discuss the 2 options you mention with vet.   They both sound better than steroids.

thanks justine, i'll mention them to the vet next month when we go.  i've never been happy that she has to take steroids for so long.

Does your dog like honey?  If so, it might make the medicine more palatable to her and it would also help soothe any soreness.  (I did hear  that honey should not be given to dogs under 12 months of age).

My 9 year old has had a cough for a year now and was diagnosed with psudemonas. Get your vet to check for it. It is in all environments but can cause a problem in the airways if the dog has a low immune system for any reason.

Apart from Kennel Cough the most common reason for a dog coughing is a heart condition and I think it always best to check the heart unless the reason for the cough is evident. Have known straw mould to cause the resistant cough so if you use that for bedding that should be checked as well.

Hi,

thanks for your reply. She lives in the house so I dont use straw for bedding. :)  Vet has listened to her heart  and looked at it on xrays. A heart scan was considered but after speaking to the practice  cardiologist, vet said she but didn't think there was any point doing any more investigation on her heart as there were no other signs of heart problems.