A 16-year-old Chihuahua keeps coughing
Channel: Dr David Sing
Date: 2015-02-05

Feb 5, 2015. For the past 3 years, the Chihuahua will cough when the owner does not give heart medication in sufficient dosage. The filial son will bring the dog in for relief of the non-stop coughing.  

After injections by me, the dog will recover and not cough while on heart drug medication for a few weeks. This is the 3rd episode when the owner comes for treatment of the continouus coughing. .

Blood tests show bacteraemia and chest X-rays show enlarged left heart. There are no heart murmurs.

After injections, the dog is OK again. No coughing. Heart medication and prescription heart diet must be fed and the effects closely monitored. 

"How long will my dog live?" the young man asked me. 
"She is very old," I replied. "With effective heart failure medication and diet, some old chihuahuas do live a long time."

Stabilise the dog for over 4 hours before blood collection as the dog will be painful and not co-operate. The blood was collected from the jugular vein and showed leucocytosis and neutrophilia - bacterial infections. Antibiotics were prescribed.