"Upper Respiratory Infection" vet says

[21softballstar]

Since August 11 Willow has shown some "sickly" signs. Thurs morning she was sneezing a lot, but she always sneezes in the morning so I didn't think much of it. By evening she had snot clogging her nostrils. Over the weekend she lost her appetite and seemed kind of "out of it". She would just go downstairs and lay on the couch by herself instead of be with the family. One time I even caught her standing outside on the hot cement, in the hot sun, just panting there. I had to drag her back inside, and by that time, she was burning hot.

Took her to my new vet, and she said upper respiratory infection. Willow had a horrible snotty nose...green mucus flying everywhere. My walls are now painted with it . When she was sleeping, I could hear the mucus in her throat. One night I doubt she got any sleep because she kept sneezing all. The. Time.

So she's been on meds since the 15th, and tomorrow is her last day of it. She appeared to be getting better. Less sneezing, no mucus, etc, more energy, better appetite, but since Sunday she has been BLAH again. Sneezing, REALLY snotty runny nose, mucus in her throat, and now she does this weird "reverse sneezing" thing too. It appears the medicine worked for a while, but now it isn't.

I told my vet, and she said she said they could possibly take a mucus sample to send off to a lab, or this other thing I totally forget what it was....she said it is most likely not allergies since there is most often-than not itching involved, which she is not doing at all.

So thoughts? Idk what's up with her and what to do

[CarolB]

The sneezing makes me think allergies. You could try some Benadryl and see if it helps. It might make her sleepy.

[jrturk]

Are you sure it is a reverse sneeze, and not some kind of kennel cough?

[21softballstar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3L4v0W2_Sw This is pretty much what she does....and she has her Bordetella vaccine...

I almost just think it IS allergies and my vet is otherthinking it. I would like to try the Benadryl for a few days first to see if that helps, but I don't want to mask a real infection if it isn't allergies...

[SuzanneRM82]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3L4v0W2_Sw This is pretty much what she does....and she has her Bordetella vaccine...

I almost just think it IS allergies and my vet is otherthinking it. I would like to try the Benadryl for a few days first to see if that helps, but I don't want to mask a real infection if it isn't allergies...

Bordatella vx doesn't cover all strains. In fact, I think there are more that it does not cover than it actually covers.

[21softballstar]

I still don't think so....I'll mention it to my vet, though. She hasn't coughed at all....she mainly just has lots and lots of mucus, and the sneezing then gets the mucus flying. I've heard a kennel cough cough, because my brother's new shelter dog was recently recovering from it, and Willow hasn't shown any of those coughing signs.

[Sparrow]

What color is the snot? If its clear it could be allergies, if its green its probably an infection. Did she have a fever?

[21softballstar]

What color is the snot? If its clear it could be allergies, if its green its probably an infection. Did she have a fever?

The first few days it was green and snotty and gross....then with the medicine we got it back down to clear...now it is green and snotty and runny and gross again.

ETA: When I took her to the vet last Monday (the 14th?) she had no fever.

[oshagcj914]

Don't know about your area, but there is some kind of respiratory thing going around Ft. Wayne. Finn had it and his vet said he's seen a ton of dogs with it and the shelter is full of sick dogs. Finn got better on the antibiotics. I think my ex said he was on amoxicillin for 2 weeks.

I'd personally get a culture. Being fine, then hacking and being super snotty, improving on antibiotics, then getting worse again doesn't really sound like allergies. If you culture it and know what it is, you'll know what antibiotics to use. Have you taken her temp yourself to see if she's running a fever?

[21softballstar]

Don't know about your area, but there is some kind of respiratory thing going around Ft. Wayne. Finn had it and his vet said he's seen a ton of dogs with it and the shelter is full of sick dogs. Finn got better on the antibiotics. I think my ex said he was on amoxicillin for 2 weeks.

I'd personally get a culture. Being fine, then hacking and being super snotty, improving on antibiotics, then getting worse again doesn't really sound like allergies. If you culture it and know what it is, you'll know what antibiotics to use. Have you taken her temp yourself to see if she's running a fever?

My vet also told me on the 14th that there is some sort of respiratory thing going around. I've heard of 3 cats so far who also have developed respiratory infections.

Willow was on pain and inflammation meds and has one more day of enrofloxicin. I haven't taken her temp because I don't own a thermometer (really need to get me one of those...). I'll talk to my vet tomorrow. She said she'd call this one place and ask them for prices for some tests.

[Shamu]

have something similar with my girl years ago. Also vet's diagnose was upper-respiratory infection. Took 3 weeks / 2 different antibiotics, and finally 'washing it out' to clear it.

Very unlikely what you're explaining, is allergy; usually in dogs, allergy symptoms are not sneezing/runny noise. It's usually skin, itching or licking.

I would do a culture (as your vet is suggesting) to make sure you know which antibiotic will work for it. Make sure vet includes antibiotics susceptibility test request too; it makes no sense to do culture without antibiotics susceptibility, but some vets do it! (and it takes a week to get culture result, so you might change antibiotic while waiting for test results, because sounds like current one is not working anymore anyway)

it also can be that something got stuck in her nose. Feather, fox tail grass, something little, that is causing irritation and infection. That can be checked by the vet too but it will require anesthesia (this is what we did after trying different abx for over 3 weeks; they didn't find anything in her nose but they washed out all 'gross staff' that were there and IMO it helped a lot)

and watch her temperature!

[mnmouse]

Keep a close eye on her. These things can develop into pneumonia quickly with deep chested breeds like danes. Get a thermometer!!

[21softballstar]

Ok, well, I got a thermometer and her temp is 101.3 F. Normal. She is eating and drinking fine, and playing a ton.

I talked to my vet, and she said there are some options. She said we could wait a wk after the antibiotics to just wait and see, because some dogs do get better after the medicine is gone, and Willow finished hers yesterday. She also said we could take some blood work and a chest x-ray to make sure she doesn't have pneumonia, and if that comes up clear, we could send for a culture.

Willow seems better in some ways. Eating, drinking, playing, temp good. I can tell the mucus in her throat is slowing down. I barely heard it at all in her throat last night while she was sleeping. She doesn't really drip green mucus snot anymore, either. It mainly just appears whenever she sneezes, which is now becoming rare as well. As far as I know, she's sneezed maybe 5 times today so far and that's it, mainly in the morning when she woke up.

Soooo...? I would prefer to just wait and see. I mean, she's eating and drinking, temp good, playing, and appears to be better from 2 wks ago and then from Sun and Mon. And I would almost prefer to do the culture over the chest x-ray and blood work, since I think a culture would give me more info.