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Springtime Allergies: Miss Chloe’s Sneezing and
Nasal Discharge!
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As you well know, Miss Chloe is still Queen at Down
South Westies! However, our special Westies do get
sick and a few days ago she began showing signs of
sneezing. She has never had signs of allergy
problems, so we assumed it was because of springtime
pollen and would be temporary. But it soon became
more than just sneezing. She awakened in the night a
couple times with a strong burst of seemingly
sucking in breaths (the vet called it reversed
sneezing).Then came the nasal discharge. She seemed
to have all the symptoms of a sinus infection so we
immediately began to ask questions: Do we need to
take her on to the vet or will this pass? Will she
need antibiotics?
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Can this be more serious than it appears? So, off to the
vet we went. Below is the result of our visit:
The vet says, although normal dogs may occasionally sneeze or have
nasal discharge (similar to human beings) severe, chronic or
recurrent bouts of sneezing or nasal discharge can suggest a more
serious problem. Sneezing and nasal discharge often occur together
and may be accompanied by post-nasal drip, gagging, and/or reversed
sneezing (an explosive, almost sucking noise).
Of course, Chloe had all of these symptoms:
The vet says these symptoms can suggest
a number of problems:
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Respiratory infections - Some cases are brief and self-limiting such
as acute viral infections. However, he started her on a round of
antibiotics to hopefully bring this to an end sooner.
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Recurrent
problems such as seasonal allergies are just like those bouts of
allergy problems you and I have, so it is not too serious.
However, he said that once started, she may have other bouts of
sinus/allergy problems.
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For older
dogs, like Chloe, there can be tumors or chronic dental disease.
Thankfully, she has no tumors and she recently had her teeth
cleaned, so no problems there.
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Lodged nasal
foreign bodies such as in working/hunting outdoor dogs can mimic
this type of problem, but she passed that test as well.
The Diagnosis was that she had inflamed respiratory infection and he
prescribed a round of antibiotics (Cephalexin). He also prescribed a
round of Temaril-p that has a little steroid in it. As a result, she
has increased appetite and thirst.
She has been on meds for 10 days now and is better, but not clear.
She obviously feels bad, a little draggy from the decongestant, but
we hope she will be well soon.
The vet did not remind us,
but we remembered to give her a probiotic along with the antibiotic
to keep her from getting a yeast infection.
UPDATE: Chloe continues to have the
same symptoms and after several weeks, she is no better. We
consulted a natural remedies vet and are trying Respo-K. The link is
below:
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