Lola, our little French girl, suddenly started coughing on Thursday and spent the day at the vet being not diagnosed. Yeah, you read that right. A million tests, and all they know is she's coughing.
Some of the ideas are bronchitis, liver disease, heart disease, or trachea collapse. She just had a full annual exam a few weeks ago, and her lungs, heart, liver values, et al. were all fine. She had minor signs in her bloodwork pointing to an infection. She gets frequent UTIs so was eventually put on Clavomox.
Then a couple weeks later, she was given a previously scheduled DHPP vaccine. Now I'm all for vaccines as needed, but a 14-year-old dog who is never boarded and doesn't go to dog parks anymore, who is on antibiotics for an infection likely doesn't need a vaccine right away. She started coughing a couple days after the vaccine. She's not lethargic. She's eating fine. She's perfectly calm and happy except when she's coughing.
So now she has a cough. She could have bronchitis, but she could also have any number of other respiratory infections. The signs of trachea deterioration could be because of the cough or the cough could be because of the trachea collapsing. They don't know. The slightly enlarged heart could be because of the cough or the cough could be because of heart failure. They don't know. That's all we got from the vets, they don't know.
We've been given no direction in treatment except to keep her calm. Now we begin the search to find a vet who maybe has a better idea, so we can actually figure out a real treatment plan. In the meantime, I've ordered some Manuka Honey, glucosamine, and throat drops to soothe and strengthen her throat as we ween her off the narcotics (because her cough is getting better) and find a vet who can help.
Lil Lola Mae Pansy Pants graces so many Pug Life products, so we hope you keep her in your thoughts as we navigate this chapter.
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