My Dog Has Been Coughing Like She Has A Fur Ball Stuck In Her Throat, What To Do?

It sounds like your dog might have either kennel cough or canine influenza. You can see if some Robitussin DM will help the dog breathe better and control the cough. Read here about cautions and dose info: www.petplace.com/drug-library/dextromethorphan-robitussin-dm

If you see a colored discharge from nose or eyes, if your dog coughs something up, seems lethargic or goes off eating, see your vet as your pet may have a secondary bacterial infection that will need antibiotics. If you see any real trouble with breathing, also see your vet as other medication may be needed to keep the airways open.

Hairballs are very uncommon in dogs. The oils should break the hairball up and let it pass through their system. You can try a second dose of the remedies you were using today but you might see some diarrhea. Usually if the hairball treatments work the mass breaks up and passes out of the stomach to the intestinal tract.

You can also see if a bit of antacid will help them feel better. Over the counter medication you can consider are Pepcid or Tagamet or Zantac.

Irritation in the air passage, lungs and throat causes cough in dogs. There are many reasons of these irritations like

1. Respiratory tract infections
   
2. Mouth and tooth infections
   
3. Internal parasites
   
4. Distemper
   
5. Heartworm
6. Heart diseases
   
7. TB
   
8. Smoke allergy

Most common type of cough in dogs is kennel cough. All types of coughs in dogs have root causes that are necessary to diagnose before start of any cough treatment because different causes of cough are treated with different drugs. Your vet can help to identify the root cause of cough, so, take your dog to vet.

There are 3 conditions in dogs which are closely related. These are cough, choking and hiccups.You should be very much sure that your dog is having cough. If so, you dog might be having kennel cough because dogs don't have hairball like cat. This cough can be due to bacteria or virus that can cause infection in upper respiratory tract. Following are symptoms of kennel cough in dogs.

1. Dry and hacking cough
2. Runny nose
3. Sneezing
4. Conjunctivitis
5. Fever
6. Lethargy
7. Depression
8. Loss of appetite

So, you should get advice from your vet.