Vet Blog
03/18/09
 Why does my Yorkie sometimes make this goose like
sound, like he can’t catch his breath or has something
stuck up his nose?
Charmaine
Mendocino, CA
Dogs generally make goose-like noises when they cough. Since foreign objects lodged in the nose usually cause sneezing, it isn’t likely that your Yorkie has something stuck up his nose.
In young dogs, kennel cough (also known as infectious tracheobronchitis) is a common cause of goose-like honking. Kennel cough is a contagious disease that almost never is life-threatening. Most cases are self-limiting (which means that they resolve on their own without treatment).
In older small dogs such as Yorkshire Terriers, a syndrome called collapsing trachea frequently leads to a honking cough. Collapsing trachea occurs when the firm rings supporting the wind pipe begin to weaken. It leads to a chronic tickle in the throat.
Heart disease is another common cause of coughing in older small dogs. Yorkies sometimes develop leaky heart valves as they age. This causes fluid to build up in the lungs which leads to coughing.
Several less common causes of coughing also are possible. These include, among others, pneumonia, bronchitis and heartworm. Visit my website for more information, or, better yet, go to the vet for a proper diagnosis.
Photo: Minnie at the beach. No sign of coughing.
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12/11/08
 When people think of heartworm disease they generally picture dogs as the victims of infestation. However, heartworms, which live in the heart and are spread by mosquitoes, also can infest cats.
Cats with heartworm infestations may show symptoms of heart failure including coughing, inability to exercise, shortness of breath and sudden death. They may vomit chronically. Heartworm disease is fatal in a stunning proportion of cases.
Historically, treatment options for feline heartworm patients have been extremely limited. Cats generally do not tolerate the drugs that are used to treat canine heartworm patients. Veterinarians generally find it impossible to offer any real help to feline heartworm victims.
However, a paper in the November 1, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) discussed a technique that successfully treated two heartworm-infested cats in Texas.
The authors of the paper passed a special type of catheter into the heart through the jugular vein. They used the catheter to snare and remove worms from the heart. Both cats’ symptoms resolved within four weeks.
Sadly, this is not a treatment that will be available at your local vet any time soon. This sort of procedure requires specialists with very sophisticated equipment and skilled intensive care nursing. But I am very happy to know that a viable treatment option for feline heartworm patients may finally be out there.
The study cited in this post is Small, et al J Am Vet Med Assoc 2008;233: 1441-1445.
Click here for photo credit.
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11/24/08
 Can dogs catch a cold from a human?
We are looking after a 9-month-old Chihuahua who
ended up in a dog pound for 24 hours before her mom
rescued her back. She has started coughing and
sneezing for the last three days. The cough sounds like
something between a pig grunting and a goose honking.
Afraid it might be kennel cough or she caught a
cold from me.
Marley
Puyallup, WA
Although there are a few diseases (such as rabies, ringworm and intestinal worms) that can spread between pets and people, most of them don’t cause respiratory symptoms such as coughing or sneezing.
And, in particular, pets do not appear to be susceptible to human rhinoviruses (the germs that cause colds).
Most contagious diseases are species-specific. This means that, for the most part, dog germs spread only among dogs, cat germs spread only among cats, and human germs spread only among humans. It is very unlikely that the dog you’re looking after caught a cold from you.
However, a nine-month-old dog who recently got lost and spent a day in the pound is in the prime risk demographic for a number of canine respiratory diseases including kennel cough. The stress of being lost and ending up in the shelter no doubt weakened her immune system. Close confinement with large numbers of other dogs in the pound likely exposed her to a variety of canine pathogens. Dogs less than two years of age are especially susceptible to the sorts of germs that are common in shelters. And the symptoms you describe are very consistent with kennel cough.
In my opinion, the Chihuahua you’re looking after picked up her cough in the shelter. You are not to blame.
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10/20/08
 Hairballs (scientific term: trichobezoars) are quite common in cats. Sadly, they are the source of many misconceptions among the people who live with feline companions. In this post I attempt to set the record straight about these misunderstood and quite unsavory moist clumps of hair.
All cats groom. As they do this, they swallow hair. (Hairless cats such as Sphynxes, of course, are exceptions.) Most cats move swallowed hair through their digestive systems and pass it in their feces. Some cats, however, are not able to move the hair through their digestive systems in a normal fashion. This causes hair to clump together in the stomach or intestines–a hairball. Most hairballs are vomited onto the floor, where they are later stepped on by someone living in the house. Rarely, hairballs can cause intestinal obstructions and other problems.
Let’s move on to some hairball fallacies.
Fallacy: cats cough up hairballs. Coughing is a function of the respiratory system. Hairballs are located in the digestive system. Cats do not cough up hairballs. Hairballs are produced by vomiting. Vomiting and coughing can be hard to tell apart in cats. However, if your cat regularly seems to be unproductively trying to bring up hairballs, he is probably coughing. Feline asthma, respiratory infections, and heart conditions are common causes of coughing.
Fallacy: long-haired cats (or cats that groom excessively) are more likely to develop hairballs. All cats consume hair when they groom. It is the cat’s ability to pass the hair through the digestive system, not the amount of hair consumed, that determines whether a hairball forms.
Fallacy: hairballs are not serious medical problems. Evidence presented at the Wild West Veterinary Conference last Friday shows that 80% of hairballs develop because of stomach inflammation. In most instances, hairballs are a symptom of a serious underlying condition such as infiltrative bowel disease.
Any cat that produces hairballs (or that appears to be trying to produce hairballs) should go to the vet. The problem could be more serious than you think.
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09/11/08
 My 17-year-old Pomeranian has coughed for 2 days.
It sounds like something in the throat.
Is it kennel cough or allergies? My other 2-1/2-month
old Pomeranian is also coughing. What can I do to
help them feel better?
Mei
S.F., CA
A large number of syndromes can lead to coughing in older dogs. Most of them are not contagious.
If your younger dog were not also coughing, I would be worried about such problems as heart disease, pneumonia, collapsing trachea, cancer and bronchitis.
However, when two dogs in the same house simultaneously develop coughs a contagious syndrome such as canine influenza or infectious tracheobronchitis (a group of diseases known collectively as kennel cough) becomes a likely possibility.
Foreign objects lodged in the throat can cause coughing; however, this is extremely rare. And it is virtually inconceivable that two dogs in the same house would cough for this reason. Allergies cause coughing in dogs only rarely.
In your case, I feel that a veterinary checkup is in order for both dogs. 17-year-old dogs are elderly and fragile; two- or three-month-old puppies are no less fragile. There is a good chance that the cause of the coughing is not serious. However, it is best to be cautious with dogs like yours.
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Why does my Yorkie sometimes make this goose like
You have questions. 