coughing boxer

Question
I have a dog that seems to be hacking a bit.  It seems as if her nose or throat is dry and she is coughing alot.  What can I do before I go to the vet?  Is there any meds I can give her?  I gave her some benadryl but not sure if that is ok!

Answer
Hi Andrea!First of all and most important, never give your pet ANY maedication without consulting your vet, even though benadryl is the choice of cough syrups for dogs.Make sure that the dosage however is correct in this case it is 1-3 milligrams of medication for every pound of dog.

Coughing may be caused by many different factors like smoke, dust dollen or even fumes from household cleaners.
Which can be corrected by removing the cause.

When pets start coughing its sometimes a warning sign that something is serious-like pneumonia,asthma, bronchitis, acollapsed windpipe or even a heart attack.

If your dog has been coughing more than 24 hours,something is wrong and the pet shuld be checked out by a vet.Coughing is the most frequent sign of heart disease. If your dog is coughing and is breathing rapidly or seems short of breath, or if he has a swollen abdomen, get to the vets immediately.

I hope this is helpful!Nicole.D.