9 week old Rocky has a cronic gag-like cough..collapsing trachea?

[Rocky-Baby]

I bought my pup from a place in Brooklyn where, over the phone, I was told the pups were all priced at about $500.00 - which is INCREDIBLY cheap, as everywhere else I looked/called gave me prices from $1800.00 to 3k . Well, when I got there (almost a 2 hour drive) - they told me I was talking to one of the "breeders" and he doesn't actually work there - then told me their cheapest pup was $950.00 :wtf: So I went off ranting - told them I confirmed 6 times with this guy on the phone (found through this website: Puppy Petite Puppies For Sale) - pretty much told this guy my life story and that car rides that long are really hard for me (I'm in an active stage of Behcet's disease - diagnosed just after my wedding along with a brain tumor + endometriosis - all in one foul swoop within a month after my wedding in October, age 23 ) - so this pup was to sort of bring us a little bit of much needed happiness, and we were to treat it as our "baby", as most doctors tell me pregnancy, if we can get me to produce eggs again, could be life threatening with the BD. Long story short (and after an hour of me half in tears/half infuriated in a dripping hot flash) - they said they had only 1 male for $500.00 - my Rocky - and brought out a much bigger girl and said she was $550.00. I asked why - and they danced around the subject. He seemed slow and scared - just licked me and took to me immediately. He looked so sad when he looked me in the eyes - I knew he was meant for me... even if he was 3-legged I would've taken him.

So back to the cough. He does this thing *constantly* - in his sleep, during play time, while eating - it makes me nervous. When he first did it (the day I brought him home - only had him a week), having had dogs before, it looked and sounded like a gag and he even leaned foward as if to vomit - but now I know it's the style of this constant gag-type-cough - but he's very happy - seems not to mind it even! And has yet to actually produce vomit.

I have to find a vet - but I've read tons of material... are we looking at something congenital?





-K

[Wylie's Mom]

Check out these videos and see if they help at all: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...d-trachea.html

[jeanm1963]

My puppy did this too when I got her home, it was kennel cough, bring her to the vet they give you an anti biotic, most petsmarts have banfield hospital.. but get thim to the vet ASAP, the meds work pretty quickly to make them feel better.

[bchgirl]

I see WM posted a video...but from what you describe it sounds like kennel cough.

[Rocky-Baby]

kennel cough. And they knew it. They gave me a bottle of antibiotic on ice - which I have in my fridge. They were very weird about it - saying "use it if you feel necessary for 5 days - or save it for whenever" - so now we'll use it. Thanks guys

[blueskies]

Originally Posted by Rocky-Baby

kennel cough. And they knew it. They gave me a bottle of antibiotic on ice - which I have in my fridge. They were very weird about it - saying "use it if you feel necessary for 5 days - or save it for whenever" - so now we'll use it. Thanks guys

I wouldnt use anything they gave you. antibiotics have to stay refrigerated to be effective, and you have no idea if they kept it that way at all times, even if they did hand it to you on ice. With them mentioning to save it, that is scary because it could be very old and out of date, antibiotics do expire. You also have no idea if it's even the right antibiotic to treat what he has, there are many different ones that are the best for certain infections. If they were that sketchy they couldve just as easily handed you a mixture of sugar and water and told you it was his medicine. Kennel cough is one of those things that they have to 'work through' on their own, like the flu in humans, but the problem is that they often develop secondary bacterial infections due to the illness that need to be treated with antibiotics. Kennel cough, a cold, anything respiratory in these small babies can lead to pneumonia, and then suddenly he is at a high risk for death. I would still take him to your own vet and have him checked out and prescribed the correct antibiotics.

[nanahas3]

If he is only 9 weeks old he really needs to be vet checked anyway. He may not really be up to date on shots either. Take all the records the breeder gave you to the vet with you. We got Laddy at this age and vet said they gave his shots to young so we had to start them all over again. He also had the gag cough at night really bad but the vet said it might be the food (kibble) since he was so young and probably not fully transitioned. We started soaking his kibble first and the cough quit. I would not risk it though. He will also need heartworm check.