Pug Coughing *video*

So this is a video of Louie and his awful cough. Don't watch it if you're too sensitive. It's very heartbreaking to see that face. I'm posting it to ask if any of you have seen a pug cough like this. We know from the last CT-Scan that he's got some issues with one of his bronchia but it was minor and did not appear to be progressing. He's got an ear infection currently that we're treating but other than that, he's doing okay. This cough, however, has gotten much worse and he's waking up during the night to cough (and waking us up as well).

The last time he coughed this much was when he first started the coughing thing -- after his last operation just over a year ago. But he's been on meds and we've controlled it where it was just coughing sometimes. Now, it seems like he's coughing all the time. Any thoughts or advice or experiences? I'd be grateful to hear anything. Thanks ... again. :-D

I wish I had some advice or constructive comments, but I don't. However, I will say that Murphy made a very similar cough last night when he got into a little scuffle with my in-laws pug. I just attributed it to him being frazzled. He also, had made a similar cough the last time he got overly excited about 6 months ago.

I do hope Mr. Louie is feeling better....

Poor Louie. When my boy Donato was getting on and with his collapsing trachea, he coughed like that. I gave him human cough medicine at night which helped a little. I know you've checked his trachea, so it's not that. Maybe it's sort of a vicious circle. His throat is a little irritated so he coughs and then it becomes more irritated. Is there anything you can give him to soothe his throat? I hope you can find something that relieves it.

Poor guy, he looks so sad.

Pugsly had been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis even though his lungs did not look as bad as many dogs with that problem. However, in order to keep him from coughing, he basically lived on Clavamox (antibiotics), at least 5 mg of prednisone (sometimes more depending on his health) and one of the narcotic medicines that helped with cough such as hydrocodone or torbutol. Is Louie panting much or has his water intake increased? I believe that Pugsly also suffered from a paralyzed larynx that Taz ended up dying from. I think that is what caused a lot of his coughing in addition to the bronchitis. I sure hope you can find a combination of drugs that help. If you haven't tried the above meds, mention them to your vet and see what they will do. I pretty much had a prescription to refill the above meds as needed. They kept Pugsly alive for 4 years

leslyeb wrote:Pugsly had been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis even though his lungs did not look as bad as many dogs with that problem. However, in order to keep him from coughing, he basically lived on Clavamox (antibiotics), at least 5 mg of prednisone (sometimes more depending on his health) and one of the narcotic medicines that helped with cough such as hydrocodone or torbutol. Is Louie panting much or has his water intake increased? I believe that Pugsly also suffered from a paralyzed larynx that Taz ended up dying from. I think that is what caused a lot of his coughing in addition to the bronchitis. I sure hope you can find a combination of drugs that help. If you haven't tried the above meds, mention them to your vet and see what they will do. I pretty much had a prescription to refill the above meds as needed. They kept Pugsly alive for 4 years

This post (and the ones before it) are exactly why I posted this video. Louie is taking a cough med every day called Theophylline (we recently increased it from one tablet to two -- that's 200 mg a day). It makes him a bit jumpy but it's worked well since the cough began. We also give him hycodan syrup at night which has helped with the jumpiness and with getting him to sleep. But even with both of those, he hasn't been sleeping through the night. My poor husband who is very sensitive to noises at night, has been able to sleep the last couple of days and now he's as cranky as poor Louie. And if it wasn't for my MIL staying here for awhile (recovering from minor surgery), I'd tell him to go sleep in the guest room.

He's also taking Rimadyl for stiffness and pain in his back legs and has taken Prednisone in the past (I still have a bottle full of that) so I'm going to ask the vet if we can try it for his coughing situation. Unfortunately, she's not back until Wednesday so we're kind of stuck for a few days. As for Clavamox, he was on it very recently for his ear infection but it didn't seem to help the cough any. We'll just continue to try stuff and stay on it. Keep the ideas coming. Thank you!

puglouie wrote:

leslyeb wrote:Pugsly had been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis even though his lungs did not look as bad as many dogs with that problem. However, in order to keep him from coughing, he basically lived on Clavamox (antibiotics), at least 5 mg of prednisone (sometimes more depending on his health) and one of the narcotic medicines that helped with cough such as hydrocodone or torbutol. Is Louie panting much or has his water intake increased? I believe that Pugsly also suffered from a paralyzed larynx that Taz ended up dying from. I think that is what caused a lot of his coughing in addition to the bronchitis. I sure hope you can find a combination of drugs that help. If you haven't tried the above meds, mention them to your vet and see what they will do. I pretty much had a prescription to refill the above meds as needed. They kept Pugsly alive for 4 years

This post (and the ones before it) are exactly why I posted this video. Louie is taking a cough med every day called Theophylline (we recently increased it from one tablet to two -- that's 200 mg a day). It makes him a bit jumpy but it's worked well since the cough began. We also give him hycodan syrup at night which has helped with the jumpiness and with getting him to sleep. But even with both of those, he hasn't been sleeping through the night. My poor husband who is very sensitive to noises at night, has been able to sleep the last couple of days and now he's as cranky as poor Louie. And if it wasn't for my MIL staying here for awhile (recovering from minor surgery), I'd tell him to go sleep in the guest room.

He's also taking Rimadyl for stiffness and pain in his back legs and has taken Prednisone in the past (I still have a bottle full of that) so I'm going to ask the vet if we can try it for his coughing situation. Unfortunately, she's not back until Wednesday so we're kind of stuck for a few days. As for Clavamox, he was on it very recently for his ear infection but it didn't seem to help the cough any. We'll just continue to try stuff and stay on it. Keep the ideas coming. Thank you!

The Theophylline is more of a bronchio dialator verses a cough med. It is supposed to open up the airways. It did not help Pugsly at all and just made him jumpy and not able to relax. You would have to discontinue the Rimadyl before starting him on Prednisone or it could cause ulcers. The pred could help his stiffness in his legs plus help open up his airways. With Pugsly, it was constantly trying what combo of drugs kept him semi healthy and able to rest. If for some reason Louie does have paralyzed larynx, other then surgery the treatment is steroids and drugs such as valium and others that just help to keep the dog from getting too excited. If you are not doing so already, I would elevate his food dish and water dish to help him keep his neck more straight and make his food and water go down more easily. I feel bad for you because for the last year of Pugsly's life, I felt like I only got a few restful hours of sleep at night. I hated hearing him cough and watch him be restless where he was having difficulty.

I don't know what dosage of the hydrocodone meds you are giving, but you could slightly increase it plus give it twice a day until talking to your doctor. I was very lucky in that my doctor never hesitated to give whatever was needed to try and calm him.

I don't know if it is cold where you are and if you might be running heat, but a humidifier may be very helpful as well to keep the air moist plus possibly getting him in the bathroom, closing the door and getting it very hot and steamy for 10-15 minutes could help as well too.

leslyeb wrote:

puglouie wrote:

leslyeb wrote:Pugsly had been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis even though his lungs did not look as bad as many dogs with that problem. However, in order to keep him from coughing, he basically lived on Clavamox (antibiotics), at least 5 mg of prednisone (sometimes more depending on his health) and one of the narcotic medicines that helped with cough such as hydrocodone or torbutol. Is Louie panting much or has his water intake increased? I believe that Pugsly also suffered from a paralyzed larynx that Taz ended up dying from. I think that is what caused a lot of his coughing in addition to the bronchitis. I sure hope you can find a combination of drugs that help. If you haven't tried the above meds, mention them to your vet and see what they will do. I pretty much had a prescription to refill the above meds as needed. They kept Pugsly alive for 4 years

This post (and the ones before it) are exactly why I posted this video. Louie is taking a cough med every day called Theophylline (we recently increased it from one tablet to two -- that's 200 mg a day). It makes him a bit jumpy but it's worked well since the cough began. We also give him hycodan syrup at night which has helped with the jumpiness and with getting him to sleep. But even with both of those, he hasn't been sleeping through the night. My poor husband who is very sensitive to noises at night, has been able to sleep the last couple of days and now he's as cranky as poor Louie. And if it wasn't for my MIL staying here for awhile (recovering from minor surgery), I'd tell him to go sleep in the guest room.

He's also taking Rimadyl for stiffness and pain in his back legs and has taken Prednisone in the past (I still have a bottle full of that) so I'm going to ask the vet if we can try it for his coughing situation. Unfortunately, she's not back until Wednesday so we're kind of stuck for a few days. As for Clavamox, he was on it very recently for his ear infection but it didn't seem to help the cough any. We'll just continue to try stuff and stay on it. Keep the ideas coming. Thank you!

The Theophylline is more of a bronchio dialator verses a cough med. It is supposed to open up the airways. It did not help Pugsly at all and just made him jumpy and not able to relax. You would have to discontinue the Rimadyl before starting him on Prednisone or it could cause ulcers. The pred could help his stiffness in his legs plus help open up his airways. With Pugsly, it was constantly trying what combo of drugs kept him semi healthy and able to rest. If for some reason Louie does have paralyzed larynx, other then surgery the treatment is steroids and drugs such as valium and others that just help to keep the dog from getting too excited. If you are not doing so already, I would elevate his food dish and water dish to help him keep his neck more straight and make his food and water go down more easily. I feel bad for you because for the last year of Pugsly's life, I felt like I only got a few restful hours of sleep at night. I hated hearing him cough and watch him be restless where he was having difficulty.

I don't know what dosage of the hydrocodone meds you are giving, but you could slightly increase it plus give it twice a day until talking to your doctor. I was very lucky in that my doctor never hesitated to give whatever was needed to try and calm him.

I don't know if it is cold where you are and if you might be running heat, but a humidifier may be very helpful as well to keep the air moist plus possibly getting him in the bathroom, closing the door and getting it very hot and steamy for 10-15 minutes could help as well too.

Thank you. This is VERY helpful. I will talk to my vet ASAP about easing off the Theo as we call it. We're hoping to get a CT-Scan done this month so we'll have a lot more information. I'm sorry you had to go through this with Pugsly. Every time I hear a pug cough, I think how terrible it is they have such flat faces. It makes me feel guilty.

As for raising his bowl, that's such a great idea I never thought of. I'm going to do that starting tonight.