Daedalus (my lemon beagle) does this thing where he will extend his neck and begin doing some sort of weird coughing, where it sounds like he is either choking or trying to hack up mucus. Usually the episode ends with him opening his mouth wide while not breathing and then producing a loud hack or snort. We have taken him to the vet for this and the vet said he looked healthy but put Daedal on a round of antibiotics since he thought maybe it was kennel cough. Unfortunately, it appears our vet doesn’t know much about hunting dogs.
While at the dog park yesterday, Donna and I ran across a guy with two beagles. One of them began doing the exact same thing Daedalus does, which used to cause us much alarm. He said it was normal for beagles and that his vet called it reverse coughing. I researched it online for a bit and found that it’s actually called reverse sneezing and that many dogs experience it. The cause of the condition is unknown, but various theories state it is the result of an allergy to some scent picked up in puppyhood, an attempt to remove mucus, or some other nasal/pharyngeal problem. It is also called inspiratory paroxysmal respiration.
I think I fall on the side of the mucus cause. Daedalus does seem to hack up something which he then swallows (sorry if this grosses you out). This isn’t any different than humans who as children are usually taught to spit that out when they are sick. Also, we began giving Daedalus Benadryl after the visit to the vet in case it was an allergy thing. He reverse sneezes very irregularly, so it was hard to tell if it was working. Then, while on Benadryl, he did it twice in a 24-hour stretch. At that point, I pretty much gave up on it being an allergy-related thing, though he does seem to have some allergies (eye-discharge is reduced on Benadryl). I’m not ready to make a decision either way, though, since there are many free variables. The extra mucus could be produced by allergies anyway, it would seem.
In any case, the good news is that if your dog does this, it is perfectly normal — especially for beagles and other hunting dogs, but it’s not limited to hunting dogs or any particular breed. Small dogs seem to do it more often, but not by much. Even better news is that there does not appear to be any lasting harm to the dog — the dog is normal before and after the episode. Just some bizarre dog thing.
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2 January 2008 at 13:16:45
Rebecca
My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel does this. I know this may sound cruel, but I’ve found that covering his mouth and nose for a few seconds makes it stop (somethings after a few tries).
The reverse sneezing is harmless, but it disturbs people when he’s doing it. Somehow making it impossible for him to breathe for a few seconds is less disturbing. Go figure. :)
4 January 2008 at 03:28:56
anileklavya
Well, the dog at my parents’ house also does the same thing, even though he is not a hunting dog. I had often wondered about it, (to borrow Rebecca’s words, this may sound cruel) but in India we don’t have much of a tradition of taking dogs to vets unless there is something really and visibly serious, partly because vets are not that common in Indian cities and partly because we are used to see humans in very high levels of misery, so the misery of animals has even less chances of getting attention.