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Location: Norway
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 1
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Hi Jessica. I'm sorry for hijacking your topic a bit with my own problem, but I think our dogs might have the same condition. I can relate to almost everything you've been through, so let me tell you what has happened to my dog so far. Then maybe you and/or someone else reading this can offer some additional information to help us get through this.
I have a 9 year old Alaskan Malamute, he weighs 100 pounds/45KGs and the weight is steady. He has never had this kind of issue before. The coughing started about seven months ago and does not seem to be getting better. Like you there has been times when I thought he was getting better, he doesn't cough for one or two days, then he goes back to coughing. Sometimes occasionally, and sometimes as frequent as 30 sec to 1 min intervals. It seems to get better almost right away if we go for a walk, he almost never coughs or throws up when we are walking. I don't know if it could have something to do with him standing up and moving, or if it's being outside, or both. To rule out any specific environmental issues, I had my mom take him for two weeks. There he wandered in and out of the house almost as much as he pleased, but the coughing still came back after lying down for a while.
This post is going to be somewhat long, so I'm only going to mention the most relevant vet visits.
I first took him to see the vet after he had been coughing for three weeks, and the vet said that it was most likely kennel cough and that I was to come back if it didn't stop within three months. It did not stop, so we went back after three months to follow up. At this point my dog had started coughing up (throwing up as he was coughing) slime sometimes, which to this day can be in the amount of only a few drops or a full puddle.
This time she said that it was extremely unlikely that it was a kennel cough and that it was most likely an airway infection. We started treating him with antibiotics (Noroclav vet Tab) for three weeks.
After three weeks and showing no improvement I took him back to the vet. This time for several x-ray pictures and blood tests. One of the x-rays shows a shadow over the heart, and the lung tissue seemed fairly obstructed. The results of the blood test revealed a high WBC count. The main suspicion was that it was some kind of heart problem. So the next course of treatment was medication against heart disease (Furix Tab, Fortekor vet Tab, Doxylin Tab).
After about a month and still showing no improvement, we returned to the a different vet specialising in heart disease. I don't currently have the journal for this event, but I can obtain it later if it could help. During this visit she wants to start him on a different kind of antibiotics (can find name later) and medication against heart worms just to be sure, and follow up in about one month if there was no improvement.
This leads me to three days ago. There is no improvement so we go back. We take new x-rays to check for changes. On his left side he seems completely fine and some of the concerns from the previous x-rays are now gone. On his right side there is signs of small blockage somewhere in his chest area, but the picture was somewhat compromised because he was exhaling at the time. He also happened to cough up slime, which she took a sample of. The results show an extreme amount of bacteria, mostly bacillus, but also some coccus. The mucous had a PH value of 7 and was showing WBC and RBC on urinstix.
Seeing as there are so much bacteria in the mucous, it is very difficult for her to determine what is causing the cough. The sample has been sent to an external lab for further testing and I should be getting the results within a few days. I was informed that should the tests come back without any conclusive results, then the next logical step is to do a CT-scan and a bronchoscopy.
I am getting so incredibly frustrated and I just don't know what to do any more. I absolutely love him and want him to get better, but we are both having so many sleepless nights and it's starting to cost more and more money. So far upwards of 3000$, and the CT-scan and bronchoscopy alone is going to be around 2000$, and where will it go from there?
I just know that it sure as hell would be nice if someone could just tell me what's wrong with my dog..
If anyone can offer some insight concerning this problem, it would really be appreciated.
Kind regards,
John.