Please can vets and others who have been in a similar situation please weigh in on my new puppy’s random cough
I recently got a new pure bred shih tzu puppy from a show breeder. He is 12.5 weeks old and we picked him up at 9.5 weeks.
After brining him home we noticed he would cough once or twice a day. A quick hack and then he’s done until the next day. I’ve noticed this happens around supper time and have not noticed any correlation with him being excited or active. It also doesn’t seem like kennel cough because he only coughs once a day and hasn’t gotten better or worse.
I brought him to the vet. They pressed on his trachea and he coughed over and over. She started talking about collapsed trachea and I nearly passed out. I had a yorkie who had this condition and it ultimately led to his death at age 11. Interestingly a vet misdiagnosed my previous dog has having collapsed trachea and after reviewing the x ray with a more experienced vet they called me back and told me they made a mistake and it was kennel cough. But ultimately he did develop collapsed trachea when he was around 10 so that must not be a coincidence.
The vet wanted to do x rays and blood work. I asked her to hold off for now so that I could think about things. I will pay what I need to, but I don’t want to pathologize things unnecessarily. I plan to have her check his throat again at his next vaccine appt and will proceed with the x ray if she can get him to cough again.
I’m just wondering what the likelihood is that this is legitimately collapsed trachea. Wouldn’t that be awful weird for a 12 week old puppy who started showing signs at 10 weeks? I’m just worried to death and would appreciate any vet feedback. Thanks so much to those who take the time to answer.