Hello folks! Well this past week was a bit unnerving because I thought my dog had a serious ailment. Her sounds were making me cringe and I got a
bit scared. My dog is 6 and she has never had any allergies at all. We live in the same place too, and she has not been in any new environments
lately. Naturally, I did a little cyber research with the symptoms and ran across this 'reverse sneezing.' After watching a few vids, I realized
this was exactly what she was doing. The online vets said this could be caused my a few different things. Nasal mites, obstruction in the
windpipe(they said it was rare for an obstruction to remain lodged for more than a day), respiratory irritation/infection or allergies. They all
suggested lab work to include x-rays, blood work and treatment. Great , here comes a bill for a couple hundred dollars.
I called my long time vet who is greatly trusted and respected in our neck o the woods, and she knew exactly what it was, and what to do about it.
She currently had dozens of calls in a single week about the same thing. It correlates with field cutting. I told her I did not think it was
allergies because Zinn had never had any. She said it is still typical for a healthy dog to develop new allergies. She was over booked with
appointments that week, so she suggested using Benadryl, at the dose of one milligram per pound of dog weight. The pills are 25 mg each. She said if
the symptoms persist or worsen over the next 3 days, to schedule an appointment. Well, thank goodness the benadryl worked 100% and 3 days later she
is fine.
I just wanted to share my experience to others in the hope that they can either take comfort in knowing what may be happening, and/or saving a little
money too. FYI, I found this out too from the vet, never give your dog ibuprofen, it could kill them! I had already given my gal some for a
painful split nail, and when I told the vet, her eyes got big. So apparently it is a big deal, so heads up.
Here are a couple of vids for reverse sneezing. I guess it is not as bad as it sounds, but geez, it is still tough to watch your loved one with such
discomfort.
No, I followed the vet's instructions with the Benadryl, and 3 days later she is fine, 100%! Thanks though, and yea that was my first move. She said
it looks worse than it is, but yea, I was trippin at first!
Oh, and these are not my dogs, just examples.
edit on 9-7-2012 by speculativeoptimist because: (no reason given)
I spent 20+ years as a vet tech, this is nothing new and very very common. Your vet was spot on and I think it's great that it was handled without
an office call. If I had a dollar for every time I had someone bring the reverse sneeze subject up, I could buy my own island
25mg of benadryl works like a charm in most cases and yes, the first time you hear it it tends to freak you out. Usually, it's little more than a
slight spasm and stops fairly quickly. I'm glad your vet was able to help you without the un-necessary expense of bloodwork and x-rays.
I've fostered hundreds of dogs, and have a hound that does this all the time. If they do it alot in succession just gently pinch the end of their
nose and message the nasal passage, this has always worked for me. It helps to clear any buildup, then they'll usually normal sneeze and clear the
rest.