Making sure that your dog is healthy is one of your main jobs when you have a dog. Catching a cough at an early stage could mean the difference in whether your dog lives or dies. It could be just a simple cough or maybe a deep rough sounding cough.
Knowing the differences in the cough is essential to your dog’s health. A soft cough could mean that there is just a hair or other foreign object in your dog’s throat. A hard, dry rasping cough could be something as serious as heartworms or even congested heart failure.
Both of these symptoms can be a life threaten disease in your dog. Knowing the difference will be very important when talking to your vet.
Looking for signs
To be a good animal owner you should learn everything about your pet, if your dog starts coughing and gagging for no apparent reason to you. First look into your dogs throat and see if you can spot a foreign object. If you see something, you need to get it removed immediately.
If you cannot do it yourself then you need to get them to a vet quickly. If you do not see, anything keeps a watch on your dog and sees if it gets worse or if it goes away. It could just be something like dust or some dirt that has gotten in there that you cannot spot.
If it goes away then your dog should be fine. If it does not go away, it could be something more serious.
Serious coughs and gagging
Once your dog has had a cough for more than a few days you may want to think that it is something more serious. This is when you will need to take your pet to your vet. It still may not be something very serious.
The cough and gagging could be cause by kennel cough. If this is the case with your dog then your vet will have some medicine for your dog. It could take up to two weeks for your dog to get over kennel cough.
There is a vaccination that your vet can give your dog that will keep it from getting kennel cough. If your vet determines that it is not kennel cough they will probably check their heart for heartworms or even heart disease.
In summary, the best for your pet is you knowing what is going on with them. Just as with humans, prevention is the best cure for dog diseases also. Keeping your dog up to date on their shots could keep them from getting some of the diseases that cause dog coughing and gagging.
Do not allow your dog to keep a cough for an extended period of time because that could lead to a very serious condition. Be prepared to help your dog if they need you and make sure that they stay healthy.