My 2 year old CKCS has always had to clear his throat after drinking water, but now  seems to do at other times as well. He had kennel cough at a very early age.  The clearing of his throat is similiar to when he had KC but he doesnt have the reaching that used to follow the coughing

I wouldf get him checked at the vets asap it might be a sign of heart problems better to be safe & have a quick check that to miss something & yes I do have cavliers & have an almost 10 year old with a grade three heart murmur who has just gone on to medication

I have a 15 month cav and she has the exact same thing usually after drinking or when she has had dry food, its sort of a one off hack of a cough in her case.  She had her heart checked 3months ago and all is normal.

Up until last year i had a 9 year old cav, she had severe heart problems (we inherited her off a friend who emigrated) she was already overweight by alot and had the heart problem, we did do everything possible to get her weight down and succeeded to a certain degree, but she had other problems aswell so it was a never ending circle really.  She used to do a different sort of cough, it was more of a snort and was sometimes up to a minute long of struggling to get air, painful to watch

i hope this helps but to set your mind at rest it wouldnt do any harm to get the vet to have a quick listen so you know once and for all what you are dealing with

good luck

julie x

Definitely check the heart -the numbers of cavaliers with heart murmurs are horrendous although 2 is a bit young -most start from age 4 onwards. It can come on very suddenly -my current one was clear for 7 years then from one month to another developed a grade 5. Having said that, it can also be a problem with the soft palate, common in the breed (just something they have to live with), which is also why so many Cavaliers "snort" or have "inverted sneezes".

Get your vet to check your dogs mouth and throat for ulcers.  I had two cavs that I unfortunatly lost age 7yrs and just 4yrs.  Vets do not look for the problem as its quite rare in dogs.  My first one was not diagnosed and the ulcers were only found in him when he was put under anesthetic to look down his throat and they found the ulceration deep down.  Various treatments were tried but he deterioated so much we had to let him go in the end.
Then 6 months later my girl went down with the same thing (hers could be seen in the mouth too) and samples were sent off and it was diagnosed as eosinophilic granuloma.  She was tried on many treatments but unfortunatly didn't respond.
Don't be alarmed as although not curable you can get them into remission.  It is an auto immune disease where the body attacks itself.  Ours we believe was caused by vaccination.
I think many cases go undiagnosed as its just not looked for in dogs.
Hopefully with yours though it is just to do with the soft palette and nothing to worry about.  I have not put this to alarm you as its probaly not this, just to alert you if you are worried as something to get ruled out.

Bev