Coughing up phlegm 2nd set of antibitics, worried!!!!

[brookeybab1]

Hi,
I am very concerned about my 3 yea rold chihuahua. She is sitting on my lap right now wheezing. She has been to the vet twice in the past 3 weeks for coughing up phlegm (white and some green) she coughs worse in the mornings, even just running down the hall or when she gets excited. Some days are worse than others sometimes she doesn't even need a reason to cough. She was put on 10 days of doxycyclin now she is one amoxocilin and has been for 3 days now. She doesn't appear to really be getting better, the doctor said it seems like kennel cough but he wasn't sure so we did an xray of her trachea and lungs. Her trachea looked good but near/on her lungs was something in the xray- he said he doesn't think a tumor but maybe an abcess or could be something that she injested that her body has tried to wall off and has caused an infection. Thoughts? How long does kennel cough take to heal, from what I read it can be months for a full recovery. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I need advice on what to do- should I take her to another vet? It's killing me on how I can tell she doens't feel well and I just want her to get better!

[Ghilly]

If repeated courses of antibiotics don't clear it up, your vet might want to perform a transtracheal wash to see exactly what kind of bacteria are in there.  That way, instead of just prescribing a general, broad-spectrum antibiotic, a more specific antibiotic can be prescribed to attack the bacteria because the "enemy" will be known instead of trying to use a drug that works on many different types of bacteria.

Some drugs, such as metronidazole (sold under the brand name "Flagyl") are excellent for intestinal bugs, such as giardia, that cause diarrhea, but for respiratory problems they're not too successful.  Broad spectrum antibiotics like amoxicillin are prescribed so often that it's not all that uncommon to run into bacteria that have become resistant to them, so a transtracheal wash is extremely useful in isolating the exact bacteria that needs to be dealt with so that one of the medications that has been most successful in wiping out that particular bacteria can be prescribed.

Kennel cough CAN hang on for what seems like an endless amount of time, but after a while it gets really difficult to deal with in terms of everyone losing sleep due to the constant hacking, so if it doesn't start to respond to the amoxi fairly soon, bring up the subject of the transtracheal wash to get to the bottom of it and see what the doctor thinks.

Ghilly

[ginger899]

Yellow or green phlegm does usually signify infection of some kind. And my first thought when you said that the antibiotics were not completely working was that she might have accidentally breathed something in and it set up an infection, like you said.. Sometimes the walls of an abscess are very tough and makes it harder for antibiotics to 'get through' If it is an abscess that's easily reached, then the usual treatment is to drain it first, and also give antibiotics. But with her abscess in this location, that's not as easy. Usually for a lung abscess, antibiotic treatment is used, and drainage only occasionally, but that does depend on what is stuck down there. A bronchoscopy might be the answer. Or continued antibiotic treatment, perhaps Metronidazole/Clindamycin? See what the vet says, but please do take her back, until a treatment is found that does the trick.
I do hope she is better soon. Please post back to let us know what happens.