My Dog Has Episodes: She Licks, Snorts/swallows, Coughs/gags, And Spits Up White Mucus. Here Are Links To Videos Of What She Does: Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jung-mxlogic Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFrzUzJ10YQ Can You Help?

Unfortunately we haven't been able to link these episodes to any time of day or event. Sometimes it starts when she's excited, sometimes when she's relaxing. Sometimes she'll wake up and start. She sounds very congested like there's some kind of drainage. On a normal day she does not do much licking at all. There's no obsession with the carpet or couch, etc. I have spoken to a behaviorist in the past and she didn't seem to think it was an OCD thing, but a medical problem. We have also tried anti-nausea medicine in liquid form, and have also had the vet give her an anti-nausea shot in the middle of one of her episodes. Neither seemed to help her. I've been tossing around the idea of a possible allergy attack? She always sounds snorty but during these episodes it escalates. It's like she's clogged up or has some kind of drainage that she's trying to swallow down. And when she can't she coughs up white foamy mucus. She also occasionally has a short problem immediately after drinking water, but it's brief. We had her throat scoped thinking maybe she had a soft palate problem, but found nothing.
 
She actually had an episode yesterday that lasted solid for about 4 hrs, then off and on all night long. We gave her a double dose of valium (suggested by the vet) and it knocked her out for about an hour. But after that she went right back. And even while she was sleeping she would occasionally wake up, cough and hack, lick a little, then fall back to sleep.
 
Thank you all so much for taking the time to watch the videos and give me your input! Any other suggestions would be wonderful! :)

My dog does the same thing and after he was x-rayed for inspiration pneumonia, it was discovered that he is suffering from a condition called mega esophagus. The esophagus is enlarged and food doesn't go all the way down into his stomach. This causes him to regurgitate whatever is in his stomach at the time. Ask your vet about this condition. I hope this helps.

I have found that several small meals a day given from an elevated bowl and elevating his head when he sleeps helps quite a bit.

My dog, who is about 11 years old, did the same thing.  It
happened when he started to eat; he would gag, cough, want to run
outside and eat grass and then spit up.  The vet told us his gums
and teeth were sore and to feed him soft food or put water on his hard
food.  We did, and guess what?  No more gagging, coughing,
eating grass or spitting up.  In fact, if I don't put water on his
hard food now, he just stands and looks at it, then at me and then
growls until I put the water on it.  Go figure...

Eycolvin,

Sounds like the veterinarians you have seen have done a very
thorough workup.  Common things happen
commonly—and general practitioners are good at diagnosing and treating common
things.  The specialists at Auburn are the experts at
the uncommon—which your beagle falls into.  

My two cents are—watching her lick and lick in the video
seems to be a compulsive behavior.  Can
you link the behavior to a time of day, event that has happened, any changes or
stresses in the environment?  If you can
find the source that triggers the OCD behavior it will help treat the problem.  A veterinary behaviorist or in house trainer
may help identify the problem.

Another possibility is that the smacking of the lips is a
sign of nausea.  Have you tried placing
the Beagle on Pepcid to reduce nausea?  The
dose is 0.5mg (milligram) per kilogram of body weight and can be given orally
twice daily.

Lastly is there anything you clean with or put on the carpet
or floor that the Beagle likes the taste of?  This could lead to the licking and then nausea
from ingested carpet fibers or dirt.

Good Luck!

Ann Falk, DVM