Foster Dog Coughs After Drinking Water

[Guest LindsaySF]

My foster boy Sooner always coughs after drinking water. Sometimes it's just a small cough, like it went down the wrong pipe, and sometimes it's full out gagging. He always does it no matter the circumstances (bowl type, activity level, water temp, etc). On a few occasions he has spit up some water, but I attributed that to drinking too fast. Often his stomach will gurgle/rumble after drinking too, as the water settles in there. I'm trying to remember if he did this coughing when he first came here, I'm not sure but I know he's done it for several months.

 

Is this something I should have the vet check out, or am I just a worry wart? He seems otherwise healthy, and while he's still a little thinner than I'd like (picky eater with a crazy metabolism), he has gained almost 5 pounds since he came here. He has been dewormed several times (just in case) and we're finally on a food that agrees with him (Taste of the Wild). He's 2 years old and has been here since August.

 

He also has a little bald spot on his head (looks a little like mange starting actually ) so if that gets any bigger we might end up at the vet anyway for a skin scraping. Thoughts?

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[TheFullHouse]

Pistol does this to the point where he will spit up small amounts of water. He's perfectly healthy, I think it's just the way he drink.

[Guest mountain4greys]

My hounds do that to. Nothing to worry about.

[Guest Energy11]

Goldie GUZZLES her water, and yep, coughs almost everytime!

[racindog]

My Goldie used to do that too. Board certified vet said it was A-OK, nothing to worry about and called it "Drinkers Cough"

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

Don't waste money on a skin scrape, IMO. Ivermectin takes care of both kinds of mange, and is a cheap way to do HW prevention! If that doesn't cure it, then look into ringworm. Tough Actin' Tenactin is the cure for that.

 

I have had dogs that spit up water, but if they did it EVERYtime I'd probably ask the vet for thoughts

[greysmom]

I know it's a pretty ubiquitous question, but have you had his thyroid checked? Only reason I ask is that Dude came to us aready on thyroid - he was on the tail end of when it was common practice to put them on meds for bald thighs - and I had the devil of a time keeping weight on him, he was hyper all the time, and had spots of hairloss in weird places on and off. When I took him OFF the thyroid supplement all that resolved itself - well, he's still pretty hyper but not nearly as much! Anyway - he was getting too much thyroid not too little.

 

The water thing is pretty common. Two of mine do it and two don't, either from a bowl on a raised feeder or their outside bucket on the ground.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Haven't checked his thyroid, as he doesn't have any of the typical symptoms. I'll ask the vet about it.

 

My dogs cough after drinking every once in a while too, but since he does it every single time I was a little more concerned. Maybe he never learned to drink properly or something?

 

Thanks for the replies all. Keep them coming.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Well he still coughs after drinking, no change there. Something happened this morning that has me a bit concerned though.

 

He went into the corner and was coughing and leaning forward, I thought he was going to vomit. But he spit up a treat I had fed him last night. It was fully formed (not chewed) and not digested or anything. He had eaten these treats at least 12 hours beforehand, so if it had been in his stomach it would have been at least partially digested right? They are semi-hard liver treats but still. I think it was caught in his throat. He hadn't coughed or acted weird all night though. And once it hit the ground he ate it again.

 

He is going to get checked out by the vet.

 

 

 

~Lindsay~