I'm taking Rio to see her regular vet on Friday, but that seems forever from now, so I thought I'd post this question in hopes of getting some answers earlier than that…

We had lung x-rays done a few weeks back, and while they show some "webbing" in her lungs, there are no apparent lung mets. We didn't necessarily think we'd see lung mets in the x-rays, but she's been coughing on and off since Spring and we wanted to be certain. Some days are worse than others. The drs. (both regular vet and oncologist) weren't really able to pinpoint the cause of the "webbing," and normally would put her on Prednisone to clear it, but with her Cushings history, we can't go there.

So the point of all of this, today its been a LOT of coughing. All day. More than normal. Starting to worry a bit…. Can I give her cough medicine to keep her comfortable until the appt on Friday? If so, what kind and how much? Is there anything else I can do to help with the coughing long term? (Okay, that's more than one question….)

Here's what she's currently on daily:

Trilostane
Metacam
Pepcid
Benadryl

Dr. Pam,

Is there a test or something we can do to find out what's causing the inflammation in the lungs?

She's done several rounds of antibiotics this year due to bladder infections and prophyllactically during her chemo because her white count got pretty low a couple of times (amoxicillin and cephalexin), but they didn't seem to have any affect on the cough at the time….

Thanks,

Micki

She coughed hard enough to throw up a little bit this afternoon…. But overall, she's been coughing less frequently today than yesterday. Friday's appointment can't get here soon enough for my liking.

Micki and the Woo

Well, thanks MBBVP. That's awful sweet of you. Who knew there was a heart of gold underneath all that white fluff.

It doesn't sound too much like this… Thank dog. She still barks like crazy at the UPS guy, and doesn't have any trouble with coughing after she eats. The little barf thing she did yesterday was more than 8 hours after breakfast. And her breathing sounds perfectly normal when she's not coughing.

She is kind of back to normal with her cough these last couple of days. She just had that one day where she coughed a LOT — probably just did it to get me all freaked out and worried. Thanks Woo.

Rio,

We hope that the doc figures out what he can give you tommorrow. Take a nice medicinal nap and let us know whats going on.

Hey…I'm just practicing my "nice" cause I overheard mom talking to dad saying that we might take a ride to visit someone staying in a "forrest home" or something and that I was going too so we could meet them and I had to be nice. I think that means they are gonna take me out for a big fat steak dinner if I'm nice to whoever we are gonna meet. Whadda you think?

Let's us know right away what the vet says about her cough! Praying for our special rio girl!

Fiona