Coughing and gagging in dog

[JenaS62]

We adopted a yorky/terriers mix over 1 year ago and shortly after we adopted him and he was all settled in to our home and other dogs - "Teddy" began coughing and/or gagging. We took him to the vet and they gave us some cough suppresant pills which worked great. A few months later, the coughing and gagging returned. We again took Teddy to the vet and he was once again given cough supressants. Again, they worked great. A few more months late - very recently - Teddy started coughing and gagging again. I got more medicine for him - however, this time the medicine did not work and Teddy sometimes coughs and gags constantly.

Back to the vet we went and the vet recommended an x-ray, heart worm test and a trachea wash. X-ray was fine and no heart worms. They sent a culture of his trachea away to a lab.

I went to pick Teddy up and he was still coughing and gags. The vet sent us home with antiobiotics and Teddy continues to cough and gag. We won't have the culture back until early next week. In the mean time - I am so afraid that he will not be able to breath.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

[Kimmiebear]

There are many things that can cause chronic coughing. I am impressed with your care for Teddy: X-rays and lab work can be very costly! I am also impressed with your vet to be so thorough.
If the chest x-rays are normal then it probably isn't heart failure. *phew*
Heartworm test negative would rule that out for you.
Lymphocytophilia can cause constriction of the airways, but it is usually rapid and then ceases.
Bordatella or kennel cough is possible and the culture will tell you more about that. Like humans dogs get many upper resp. tract infections that are bacterial and viral. Most are able the "throw" them off by themselves, but sometimes the weakened immunity will cause them to get a secondary infection. If this is the case and the infection is bacterial, then the antibiotics should help.
Because this is a repetative problem i would maybe think allergies- if it is always at the same time of year, but I don't really know.
Give your vet a call and ask if you are really worried. They should be able to tell you what they are thinking it might be, but the culture will hopefully give you your answers.

[JenaS62]

Thank you very much for your reply. The vet called us bright and early yesterday to tell us that Teddy has a micro-organism growing in his trachea. They changed his antibiotic and his initial treatment will be three weeks to see if that gets rid of them.

I am so relieved that it's not something more. I was reading on various websites about collapsing trachea and since Teddy is part yorkie, I thought maybe that could have been the problem. The prognosis for collapsing trachea does not seem very bright so I was really worried.

We'll see how he does on the anitbiotic and his cough medicine.

Thanks again for your reply!