Dog esophagitis: How long for meds to work or get a second opinion?

Thank you for taking such good care of Milo. Generally speaking, when a veterinarian starts the combination of medications that you are currently giving, it does sometimes take two or three days for the medications to start decreasing the clinical symptoms. If Milo is eating, drinking, urinating, defecating, and playing normally but just has the bad cough, I would wait another 48 hours before contacting my veterinarian. If, however, your dog is starting to feel lethargic or anorexic, I would contact the veterinarian as soon as possible to either be seen again or possibly get a change of medications to treat the worsening cough. I hope I have given you some help. Thank you for reaching out to our service.

It can take several days for kennel cough to start to improve even with medication. Once the active infection is cleared it can still take weeks to months sometimes for the cough to completely go away. But if Tobi seems worse at all, or starts acting sick otherwise, doesn't want to eat, lethargic etc. then please take her back to be rechecked. In some cases kennel cough can develop into a worse infection or pneumonia. Many times antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication may be prescribed. If it has only been a day or two I would consider giving it a little more time, but if otherwise concerns please contact Tobi's veterinarian to see what else could be done I hope she feels better soon thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi. A cough can be caused by A lot potential things. For an older pet, I would think about infection, heart disease, fungal disease, asthma, or even cancer for the older ones. I would do what your Dr recommended and definitely recheck if no improvement. I do think though a chest x-rays for an older pet would be very helpful. Good luck

Hello! It sounds as if his antibiotic course may not have been long enough, but it is a little hard to know for sure, as I'm not sure what he was being treated for. It sounds like he might have had a fever. Possibly he had kennel cough, in which case, antibiotics often need to be for up to 10 days. Would you be able to take him back in to see his vet, to be checked over, and possibly to be re-started on his antibiotics? Some blood work might be helpful, too! He might need specific treatment for his eyes as well. He is adorable, and I really hope he feels better soon!

Poor guy. It can take 48-72 hrs for antibiotics to take effect. So if it is not past that point then he likely needs a bit more time. If you feel the coughing is too severe, and he isn’t coughing up mucous or fluid, then he can safely be prescribed a cough suppressant by your vet. You can also try some warm water and a small amount of honey, which has natural anti-inflammatory properties to help with his cough. Poor guy. I hope Vincent feels better soon. Take care.

Oh my. Poor Buddy! This seems a bit extreme even for a Kennel cough, which is what your vet is treating him for with the Doxycycline. It can take about 48-72 hrs of medication before you see improvement; however, if he is getting worse and seems to be in respiratory distress and difficulty breathing, then he needs to go back to the vet for another look. He may need some diagnostics ran (radiographs of his chest) and/or stronger antibiotics to help him recover faster. I do hope your fur baby feels better soon!

Poor guy. I would first be inclined to ask for chest radiographs to be taken to look for internal causes for the cough such as bronchitis, heart disease or primary lung disease. I am not sure what kind of medication he was placed on, but for most coughs we typically will try an antibiotic first if it seems to be infectious and then go with more diagnostics if things don’t improve. I would also ask the vet to check for any abnormal lung or heart sounds on physical exam. I hope that you can get to the bottom of Pretty boys cough soon! That is a long time to have a cough, is hopefully he can stabilize soon. Take care.