My 12 year old American cocker has had a cough for 5 months.  He was initially treated with tablets which I presume were for an infectious illness and this course was repeated twice at my request. He still has the cough but eats n drinks normally walks one hour per day enjoying sniffing.  His gums look healthy and his heart seems good to the vet. He appears very normal.
Today he had diarrhoea. Very liquid. He has just enjoyed one hours walk. I am seeing the vet in 3 days time.  He looks normal and is not losing weight
Has anyone had a dog cough experience

No, but a cough can be heart failure so it might be worth checking again.

"He was initially treated with tablets" Could these tablets have been for lungworm? Lungworm causes coughing in dogs and can be treated with an appropriate anti parasitic drug.

I'd find a vet who specialises in heart problems.   When we switched vets some years ago now, and the first vet I saw in the new practice just happened to be one who did specialise in hearts, I was very concerned to be told, when he checked both mine, that Frankie had a heart murmur.   He'd had surgery involving general anaesthetic with my previous vet and nobody told me he had a heart issue!  Hum.

As for coughing - lung worm and heart worm can produce this, apart from a heart problem.   And I had one who started coughing, sounding like Kennel Cough, and he eventually had to have his tonsils removed!  That was a new one on me.

Chronic bronchitis can also cause a long term low level cough, and laryngeal paralysis can also cause a cough.  This tends to have a retch at the end too.

I also have one dog who coughs on and off with no active disease; it's a leftover from kennel cough.  I assume scar tissue somewhere but with it being so mild, and with her not being handleable by a vet, I haven't had it looked into.  Her grandma had the same thing.

if vet investigations find nothing wrong then try him on a harness rather then a collar. some dogs do lean on a collar and lead and aggravate throat.

Oh yes, good point weimed.  Make sure it's not a julius K9 type, I've seen a lot of dogs still coughing on those because the strap sits across the base of the throat.

My dog is not insured and I would imagine vets see a cough as a chance to do many tests and pictures x Rays. He has today walked 1 hour - a 3 mile walk and he has played with his toy and eaten well. Normal water intake.  He has had 3 small coughing sessions today.  He appears well.
He is 12 years 5 months . He is not losing weight.
Is it just his age. Surely the cough cannot be cured

>Is it just his age.

No. Dogs can start to lose their sight and their hearing in old age, but they shouldn't develop a cough.

>Surely the cough cannot be cured

Until tests have determined a cause it's impossible to say if it's curable. There are very many conditions it could be - some curable, some not.

Is bronchitis an infection of the parts leading from the trachea to the lungs or is it a deterioration of the parts and non infectious.  If it's the latter dogs have to live with chronic bronchitis.

The life span of an American cocker is 12 years.
My dog with the cough is 12 and 5 months
On Valentines day 5 months ago I had to lose an American cocker with abdominal cancer. He was 12 years 9 months.

> Is bronchitis an infection of the parts leading from the trachea to the lungs or is it a deterioration of the parts and non infectious.  If it's the latter dogs have to live with chronic bronchitis.

It's inflammation of the bronchial tubes.  It can be infectious or chronic (or both at once, I think).  The chronic form is something they have to live with, as my last oldie had to, but there are still things that can help, depending on how bad it is.  She ended up on a low dose of prednisolone daily which all but stopped her coughing (what remained was caused by another condition).

Please don't use average lifespan as a gauge for whether to investigate or not.  Dogs are individuals, and some will live much longer than that, or much shorter.

That oldie of mine was just shy of 15 when she died.  She was a dobermann, and their average lifespan is 9.

My dog developed a cough at 12yo and it turned out to be lung cancer- secondary from osteosarcoma. Sadly, in a dog that age with a cough and no other cause, it should be ruled out with an x-ray...

>The life span of an American cocker is 12 years.

That is an average; some will live several years longer if their health is looked after.

The average lifespan of a human is 79 years. By your way of thinking anyone older than that with a health problem shouldn't be treated but should just have to live (and die) with it.

Did your dog show other symptoms like loss of appetite or weight loss
Mine has no other symptoms

I really do value life and worship dogs but I have to be realistic.  My vet told me my 12yr 9 month dog had lived his full life

>My vet told me my 12yr 9 month dog had lived his full life

Many websites say that the American cocker spaniel can often live to 15 years if its health is looked after.

A psychic vet ? If I believed all the "vet expert knowledge" on dog's lifespans I wouldnt have my elderly BC as he is long past his veterinary sell by date, friend's Great Danes aged 14 & 15 would be long dead , plus 100s of other dogs who using the vet collected statistics average ages, should have gone over the bridge years ago.

The breeder of my American cocker kept the bitch pup
The bitch reached the age of 9

>The bitch reached the age of 9

Accidents and illness shorten lives.

The average lifespan of my breed is 12 years 6 months. I've had 2 die at 10 through misadventure, one live to 14 and three live to 15. The oldest was only 3 months short of his 16th birthday. You should never assume that 'average' means 'maximum'.

Agree with you there Jean. According to a KC document golden retrievers have an average of 12 years and 3 months, I’ve always thought 11-12 years personally.
My last two died at 14 and 14.5, the second one had been diagnosed with DCM when she was 11 yet with good meds she lived the next 3.5 years in apparent good health, her last few months was when she started to go downhill and into kidney failure.
Never assume age in years means a dog is elderly and not to be treated at the vets, many ‘elderly’ dogs are as lively and enjoying life like a much younger dog.

The Animal Welfare Act requires animals to be "protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease." This means that if they're ill it's a criminal offence not to seek veterinary treatment for them.

The Americans I lost 5 months ago was very agile and young at 12 yes 9 months.
The vet said the x ray ssod abdominal cancer and peritonitis from the cancer.
He was very impatient with me wanting to end his life.

If that is how I felt.tje vets attitude was and that it was unreasonable I would be going else where

Regardless of the age of a dog I feel I need to look at his quality of life. If it's good and he can be helped with any difficulty like this cough I would be looking further and not accepting it was his age.
My gsd had laryangeal paralysis which started as a sort of cough/ clearing of his.throat. it goes on often to have more far reaching symptoms and did for.him  but is often missed apparently or accepted as oh it's an old dog. 
I would.certainly mention it and see if u can get a diagnosis to make more realistic choices for him and know what u are dealing with .don't accept he is just old

My first BC was diagnosed with a suspected heart condition aged 9 & my then vet gave her 3 to 6 months to live. 8(yes eight)years later she had a massive CVA & died 2 months off her 18th birthday. Interestingly her parents both lived to over 17.

Mine had no other symptoms from the lung cancer but we already knew she had osteosarcoma from the lump on her face so when the coughing started we concluded it was secondary....

Today the vet examined my 12 year old American cocker and he stated there was some crackling on his lungs and he suspects chronic bronchitis.  I imagine this is a non infectious bronchitis and the cause is not known
Tomorrow the vet is applying an anaesthetic and taking an x ray. Whilst asleep the vet will force my dog to cough up some matter on the lungs. From this matter he should affirm bronchitis or maybe some thing else.
Have I done the right thing.  My dog just walked to the vets there and back 2 miles away.

Today the vet examined my 12 year old American cocker and he stated there was some crackling on his lungs and he suspects chronic bronchitis.  I imagine this is a non infectious bronchitis and the cause is not known
Tomorrow the vet is applying an anaesthetic and taking an x ray. Whilst asleep the vet will force my dog to cough up some matter on the lungs. From this matter he should affirm bronchitis or maybe some thing else.
Have I done the right thing.  My dog just walked to the vets there and back 2 miles away.

Definitely the right thing u need to be able to make informed choices

The vet said " is he still taking Leventa for thyroidism
I said ' yes"
He said the Leventa medicine may be a cause of the cough

Can anyone expand on this

It's notlisted on any websites as a side effect and having an underactive thyroid myself and am on levothyroxine which is basically the same drug I have never heard of a cough being a concern or expected.
Maybe someone else knows more

>He said the Leventa medicine may be a cause of the cough

The listed side-effects of Leventa " include weight loss, hyperactivity, tachycardia, polydipsia, polyuria, polyphagia, vomiting and diarrhoea. Transient, self-resolving skin reactions such as mild to moderate scale formation may occur." Copied from the datasheet.

The vet hinted at there being a correlation between leventa and chronic bronchitis

Absolutely the right thing.  If the vet really does suspect the Leventa, then a simple trial of an alternative thyroid medication would prove or disprove it.

However, as it's unlikely and he's not done the further tests yet, I'd hold off.

We had a whippet with a persistent cough. She also had a snotty nose. Turned out to be allergies (scented candles, perfumed disinfectant, wood smoke etc)
The cough was eventually  diagnosed as asthma.
We removed the allergens and both symptoms stopped.

>The vet hinted at there being a correlation between leventa and chronic bronchitis

It's more likely to be the opposite; that untreated hypothyroidism is more likely to be associated with respiratory disease. The medication would ease this.

A year ago they reduced the levanta dose

Does he need to have his thyroid levels checked again ? Did the cough coincide with changes in dose ?

My dog is at vets today for the following
1. Chest x ray
2. Chest fluid inducement
3. Haemetology tests.

He will examine his chest picture and the fluid
And examine his blood.
Why is he looking at the blood in relation to the cough.
The vet fee £400

The cough has come since he reduced the leventa dose from  0.5  to 0.3

The vet is also checking the thyroid levels today

Bloods can tell you loads about what's going on - there are many different markers to look for and ranges of various things to check and they should just be done as standard whenever there's a problem because they're relatively non-invasive and easy to do and reveal a lot.

It appears its non infectious chronic bronchitis from the x ray.  Blood has been sent off for assessment.
He has had epilepsy and thyroidism all his life and aggression is in his family.  His father bit the CRUFTS judge in 2008.
Am pleased it was not more serious

Every American cocker I have had has had epilepsy.
Is this the way it is

I am truly grateful for all the input on the causation of a dog cough as I am a big worrier. Blood test results will be known in 7 days.  They send the samples of blood presumably to a laboratory.  The x ray reveals bronchi inflammation denoting the disease " chronic bronchitis For 8 years he was taking 0.5 leventa daily and the last 2 years 0.3.  In the last 6 months he has coughed and gained weight. Maybe the thyroidism has caused the inflammation of the bronchi and respiratory system.
The blood is being examined via a vis the thyroid ailment.
You encouraged me to reseek help and I did.
Thank you all.