Long Reverse Sneezing Episodes

[Guest june]

Hi All,

Rona was place on an antibiotic that she had an allergic reaction to. She was off the antibiotic for three days and things were looking better and she had started eating again. Suddenly, she has been experiencing some problems with extremely long reverse sneezing episodes. The first one started the Monday as I was getting ready to leave for work and at 10 minutes of non stop reverse sneezing I threw her in the car and we went to the vet. First thing they did was a benedryl injection which finally helped some at about 30 minutes into the attack. When they didn't stop totally the next step was a bronchial dilatator a couple drops into the nose and the rest oral. This finally stopped the reverse sneezing. She was prescribed the bronchial dilator 2x daily and 50 mg of benedry 3x daily and permission for up to one more if needed. The episodes have significantly decreased in frequency and duration. She has had a CBC and everything is great. She has had a chest x-ray (3 views) and those are clear; in fact her lungs look really good for a 10 year old girl. We also did x-rays of her head, nose and neck and everything looks good.

 

I live in a rural area and the farmers have started harvesting and I know the havoc that can wreck with breathing since I have asthma although we really don't know that that is what is causing this. I'm keeping her in the house with only short potty breaks outside and the air conditioning is on and I have allergen reducing filters.

 

Anyone have any experience with anything like this? Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

Thanks,

june

 

 

[greyhead]

Good grief! Wish I had something to offer you besides good wishes! I hope someone comes along that has some more useful thoughts, but I'm happy to hear that the treatment seems to be handling it.

 

Just didn't want you to feel entirely alone with this!

[Guest june]

Thanks so much Greyhead. This has been a tough time. I love and trust my vet but I also know that she is treating symptoms and we don't really know the cause.

[greysmom]

I don't think anybody really knows what causes reverse sneezing in the first place, so it is kind of a treat-the-symptoms sort of thing. I've never heard of them going on for such an extended period of time. My one grey that did have very brief "attacks" I used to give a fews drops of Rescue Remedy, and this helped calm him down and stopped the reverse sneezing.

 

Good thoughts for Rona!

[galgrey]

No experience, but I'm sending good thoughts. Keep us posted, ok?

[Sambuca]

I had a foster dog that reversed sneezed a ton one week. He had a check up a week or 2 later. I mentioned the reverse sneezing week and she wasn't concerned. 2 days later I got a call that his fecal was positive for nasal worms!!! She now thinks the reverse sneezing was a symptom of the worms. Do a fecal and mention it to your vet.

[Guest june]

I had a foster dog that reversed sneezed a ton one week. He had a check up a week or 2 later. I mentioned the reverse sneezing week and she wasn't concerned. 2 days later I got a call that his fecal was positive for nasal worms!!! She now thinks the reverse sneezing was a symptom of the worms. Do a fecal and mention it to your vet.

We have been battling worms all summer. Rona has tested positive for whip worms starting this spring and I'll be taking a 5th sample in to be checked next week. I've never heard of nasal worms, and I will absolutely mention it. Thanks so much!

[Guest beetle_slayer]

Our boy came to us on antibiotics and also with "seasonal allergies" in June. I would do the sneezing and reverse sneezing bit off and on but no long episodes. This went on for a few days. The group supplied him with Benedryl to fight these allergies with no result. My wife, an RN, put 2 and 2 together and realized the antibotics were causing the episodes. As he got off them, the episodes took a week or so to end.

 

As for worms, I don't see how they could cause it ( which it seems to), but then again I am a mechanic and not a vet. Hopefully it clears up soon and NO WORMS! We have had that battle before too.

 

Best wishes.

[Sambuca]

Our boy came to us on antibiotics and also with "seasonal allergies" in June. I would do the sneezing and reverse sneezing bit off and on but no long episodes. This went on for a few days. The group supplied him with Benedryl to fight these allergies with no result. My wife, an RN, put 2 and 2 together and realized the antibotics were causing the episodes. As he got off them, the episodes took a week or so to end.

 

As for worms, I don't see how they could cause it ( which it seems to), but then again I am a mechanic and not a vet. Hopefully it clears up soon and NO WORMS! We have had that battle before too.

 

Best wishes.

They were nasal worms, not digestive worms. They live in the nasal cavity.

 

I hadn't heard of them until he was diagnosed either. The vet said she'd never seen them before, only learned about them in school. It showed up in his normal fecal. I'm not sure of the cycle and how often they show up in the poop. They get the worms by sniffing poop that has the eggs in it. Fox are the biggest carrier. They do not sneeze out the worms or eggs! The treatment was 3 weeks of Panacur.

[Guest june]

They were nasal worms, not digestive worms. They live in the nasal cavity.

 

I hadn't heard of them until he was diagnosed either. The vet said she'd never seen them before, only learned about them in school. It showed up in his normal fecal. I'm not sure of the cycle and how often they show up in the poop. They get the worms by sniffing poop that has the eggs in it. Fox are the biggest carrier. They do not sneeze out the worms or eggs! The treatment was 3 weeks of Panacur.

Three weeks of Panacur? LIke in every day or three days and then three days again the following week? I have a call in to our adoption group vet to see if he will consult as he has worked with literally hundreds of greyhounds. I contacted my vet and had them send her records from the first of the year. I also just read (great internet!) about fox being carriers. Also, earlier this week a neighbor told me we have a young fox in the neighborhood that has taken up residence under my neighbors porch.

[Sambuca]

3 solid weeks. Apparently it's a tough one to kill. I'm not sure if it's because maybe not as much Panacur gets to that location as it does the digestive tract or because the worms are more immune. There may have been a follow up dose as well, but I can't remember. If it's the worms then a greyhound savvy vet doesn't really matter since the one we used was greyhound savvy and had never seen it and no one from our group had heard of it either and most had been around greyhounds and active in adoption for years. I spoke to my vet about it and he'd only seen it once before in a different breed.

[greyhead]

Even non-nasal worms cause a similar kind of coughing/rapid swallowing series that looks very similar to reverse sneezing. Hookworms (and maybe whips too) migrate to the lungs, are coughed up and swallowed, and end up in the intestines. I'm told whips can be even harder to get rid of than hooks. A retired greyhound trainer gave me a treatment schedule of treat, retreat in 10 days, and retreat a third time at 28 days (counting from Day 1); but that was with a one-time wormer called Canopar. With Panacur, I wouldn't hesitate to treat for three solid weeks if the dog would eat the food that long! One relevant detail is that worming itself can cause dormant, encysted worms to decide to hatch, so the timetable envisioning one wriggling population of worms that will die en masse doesn't really address that.

 

Good luck!

[3greytjoys]

I'll toss in two more possibilities.

One of our Greyhounds arrived into retirement (from racing in central U.S.) with "nasal mites" (found in many areas of the world). Our local vets were not familiar with nasal mites. After multiple vet visits over 4-6 months, I was finally able to diagnose our girl's reverse sneezing problems through Merck Veterinary Manual. Besides suffering from severe bouts of reverse sneezing, her sense of smell and taste were almost non-existent, which contributed to her extreme lack of interest in eating meals. Merck's recommended treatment worked perfectly, and she's been free of nasal mites for seven years.

Nasal Mites:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/respiratory_system/respiratory_diseases_of_small_animals/canine_nasal_mites.html?qt=canine%20nasal%20mites&alt=sh

Dangerous foxtail grasses occupy much of the western half of the U.S. region (often deadly to dogs). If you are not in this region, I wonder if your area may have other small plant seeds that could be inhaled and lodge into the nasal passages(?).

Foxtails:

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/foxtail-grass-and-your-dog

Edited September 28, 2014 by 3greytjoys

[Guest june]

Thanks 3greytjoys! I'm very careful to keep my dogs away from foxtails because I know how dangerous they are. I'll mention the mites to my vet. I really appreciate all the ideas and suggestions.

 

She hasn't had an episode of reverse sneezing now for just over 24 hours. Very encouraging.

[galgrey]

Thanks 3greytjoys! I'm very careful to keep my dogs away from foxtails because I know how dangerous they are. I'll mention the mites to my vet. I really appreciate all the ideas and suggestions.

 

She hasn't had an episode of reverse sneezing now for just over 24 hours. Very encouraging.

Glad there haven't been any more episodes.

[Guest june]

Well, first I want to say thanks to everyone who chipped in with suggestions. I really appreciate the help.

 

I contacted our adoption group vet and gave full history. We were finally able to talk on the phone yesterday. What a nice man! Anyway, the upshot is this is (no nose worms, yay!) probably a combination of continuing allergic reaction to the antibiotics we had taken her off of and all the pollen and dust from farmers harvesting in the fields.

 

Over the weekend she had NO episodes. I'm to keep her on the benedryl and after a week try weening her off that a bit at a time going back to full dose if she begins again. He also had never heard of reverse sneezing going on so long, but said if the irritation was bad enough it was possible.

 

I'm very grateful it is nothing serious. I'm ready for my girl to begin to feel good again.

[galgrey]

Well, first I want to say thanks to everyone who chipped in with suggestions. I really appreciate the help.

 

I contacted our adoption group vet and gave full history. We were finally able to talk on the phone yesterday. What a nice man! Anyway, the upshot is this is (no nose worms, yay!) probably a combination of continuing allergic reaction to the antibiotics we had taken her off of and all the pollen and dust from farmers harvesting in the fields.

 

Over the weekend she had NO episodes. I'm to keep her on the benedryl and after a week try weening her off that a bit at a time going back to full dose if she begins again. He also had never heard of reverse sneezing going on so long, but said if the irritation was bad enough it was possible.

 

I'm very grateful it is nothing serious. I'm ready for my girl to begin to feel good again.

Glad to hear there haven't been any further episodes. Hope she's feeling good very soon.