my puppy keeps hacking...??

My 3 1/2 month old puppy has been hacking all morning. It's not like caughing, trying to throw up, it's more like when a person tries to hock-a-loogie (sp?) It's really weird and when she does it she tries to be as close to me as possible. She doesn't act like she is going to do it, all of the sudden she will be sleeping and jump up and start hacking. This morning I was sleeping it was 6am and she started doing it and jumped on my bed and crawled over my head, but she would stay over my head. I don't get it. I offered her a drink of water this morning and wouldn't even try to take a drink. I haven't given her any new medicines, except yesterday I put flea stuff on her back, but could that cause this?? For some reason parvo popped into my head because of all this, I am really paranoid about her getting parvo. Can anyone please help me and tell me what this might be... Any help is appreciated...

Ashley

 

I'm wondering about kennel cough and I am also wondering about a reaction to the flea stuff. Please call your vet right away and ask if this is a possible side effect.

Did you use over-the-counter flea stuff? Like Hartz or something? If so, you should definitely talk to a vet. Most of that stuff is incredibly dangerous for pets. Even the prescription stuff you can get from your vet can cause reactions, though.

 

Yeah it is the Hartz once-a-month advanced care stuff... I didn't know about that. I don't have a vet for her because she's never been to one we give shots ourselves and my mom's boyfriend has been in and out of the hospital alot latley. He has congestive heart failure and I actually had to go on vacation to see my grandma for 2 weeks cuz they moved him to a hospital about 3 hours away from where I live and my mom was staying with him. Anyways I was thinking about taking her in to a vet today but my mom is at work until 8:30pm and all vets are closed then. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have kennel cough, I have a dog that had it before and I don't remember it being like this at all, it might be though. Is there ANY chance of this being parvo, I hope not...

 

it may very well the the hartz meds, I know they are taking the cat meds off the market due to the horrible side effects,

there is also a website called www.hartzvictims.org you can check out

 

thanks for that site. I wrote them an e-mail and am hoping to get a respond pretty soon, thanks again and if anyone else has and possible reasons for this, please post

 

I am wondering if I should give her a bath and wash this stuff off as much as possible...

 

I would wash the stuff off. It couldn't hurt.

I would take her to the vet. She could have something stuck in her throat maybe. Or she could have a minor cold or a minor case of kennel cough. The dog I briefly adopted did the hacking thing and I think she had kennel cough, with her it was real obvious b/c she was actually hacking stuff up and her nose was runny.

Has she had her rabies shot? I'm pretty sure you have to do that at the vets so that could be a good reason to go.

 

I would be very concerned about the Hartz and wash it off! If you want to use a spot on flea product, please get one from the vet and not from the pet store.

 

I gave her a bath and the puppy shampoo I have happens to be Hartz so I used my own shampoo and I scrubbed her back where the flea stuff was applied really good, should I use the Hartz? Do u think Hartz shampoo is okay? My mom works all day and her work has been changing her schedule a lot and now she is working noon-8:30 and her next day off happens to be Sunday grr... but next monday-Friday is supposed to be a different time schedule so hopefully I can get her in for a check-up and her rabies shot. For some reason she has also been limping on one of her rear legs, and I know my friends dog almost lost a leg from parvo, I think the vet put the shot in her nerve by accident and she lost feeling for 6-8 months and almost had to have it amputated. I am SOOO paranoid about parvo. Are these ANY of the symptoms of parvo?? Please tell me no, I can't lose my dog because of parvo She hadn't hacked for a while but she did a second ago and it was just 1 and usually she stands up and hacks for about 5 seconds or so. I am trying to get to a vet asap. If I can get a ride to a vet sooner than my mom's next day off I will just take her myself. I don't know though. just tell me it isn't parvo... I hate the thought of it.

 

I don't think it sounds like parvo. Parvo is typically vomiting and diarrhea.

The Hartz shampoo should be fine. It is the flea medications sold in pet stores that are bad. A lot of things sold in pet stores is actually bad for your dog. You can't rely on the salespeople to help you, either, because they are usually misinformed.

Please call a vet and ask if there is anything else you should be doing. It's possible that it's kennel cough, in which case it is like a glorified cold and could go away without treatment at all, but most usually treat it with antibiotics and if it gets bad you would definitely need antibiotics.

A lot of vets have evening hours for people who work. There are emergency vets who are open 24/7. If your mom is working noon-8:30, can't she take you and the pup to the vet in the morning?

Try calling a vet and ask for advice. It could be they would be willing to let your mom pick up antibiotics, although most likely they would want to see the pup first since she has never been in before.

FYI, vets won't give rabies before 4 months and some like to wait until 6 months.

 

Well like I said my mom's boyfriend has been in and out of the hospital A LOT lately, so she likes to stay home to watch him as much as possible. Before he was in the hospital he was passing out cuz he has a ICD (pacemaker) in his heart and when it goes off it shocks him and he passes out with no time to sit down or anything and he falls. He can't really catch himself he is a really big guy. So she tries to be with him all the time to be there if he passes out and falls. Good thing you told me about the age for rabies cuz I was talking to my mom about taking her next week and she is only about 3 3/4 months We are going to get her a checkup though.

 

There are several common causes for a hacking cough in puppies. Worms and kennel cough are probably the most frequently seen. But tonsilitis and a collapsing trachea aren't unheard of. There are also some congenital heart conditions that cause fluid to back up in the lungs and can cause a hacking cough. So if she's still hacking, try to stress to your mom that she really needs to get a check-up.

 

I dewormed her, I am starting to wonder if the dewormer is also Hartz, I hope not, She hasn't had it for like 2 weeks and she didn't shown any signs when I did give it to her. She stopped hacking the 2nd day she does it once like every other day, which should be normal it seems like just like everytime we cough we don't always have something wrong with us. For some reason lately I haven't been able to get on here by typing in www.auspet.com/forum/index.php like I always used to. I had to go to the old forum and click on proceed to new forum and I finally got it and the URL is different it is the same but without the index.php part. weird...

 

As far as I know, it's not the Hartz company that is the problem - it is any of the over-the-counter flea medications. I don't recall hearing that the Hartz dewormer is bad, although I would always get that stuff from my vet if I needed it.

I have just been told that pumpkin seed is good for getting rid of worms as well. I haven't discovered a dose, yet.