Reverse Sneezing?!!

[leih merigian]

Passing this along, as it totally freaked me out when Geyser had a horrible incident a few weeks ago...

She's always done this, what turns out to be reverse sneezing, but I thought it was related to her lung issues. One day a few weeks ago, she had a horrible attack of it, when we were out hiking, and suddenly, out of the blue, she's choking and can't catch her breath, and trying to breathe. It went on for about 3 minutes (all the youtube videos I've found are much milder than what she was doing), and her tongue started turning blue, and she just scared the bejeesus out of me. So, to the vet we went.

Turns out, it was "just" a bad episode of reverse sneezing, which dogs can get when they get something caught in their throat...dust, pollen, grass, just about anything can do it, I guess.

If it resolved on it's own, fine, but if not, they'd have to put her to sleep and go in with a scope and find the offending item and remove it. Geeze, just another way the vets are killing me

Fortunately, Geyser resolved on her own after about a day of these attacks, and since then, I know what it is and don't panic about it when it happens. Also fortunately, most of her episodes don't last all that long and don't continue over the course of a day, constantly, as the one really bad one did.

The good news is they don't die from this. Whew. I thought she was a gonner, I really did...

Anyway, here's what a more mild version looks like...
http://youtu.be/U3L4v0W2_Sw

[Dutchringgirl]

wow, thanks for posting that! I have seen Thalie do that every so often, just about the same as the dog in the video and only lasting no more than a minute, my parents Bassets used to do that too. I never knew what it was and It was always a bit freaky but, like you said, no one has died from it. Im glad I know what it is now.

[felixone123]

That would scare me also. I never heard of that before and thanks for sharing.

[roxanne]

I had a poodle that did it if he pulled on the leash too hard. My little dog now does it occasionally too. Not sure I've ever seen a big dog do it. It can be really scary. The poodle had awful episodes.

[CaroleBoaz]

I will need to watch that video when I get home tonight. My Laekenois always did something weird. I thought it was caused by aspirating food or liquid. I even took a video to show my vet, and she said she never saw such a thing, but to save the video. He did it a lot when he was a puppy, but not so much anymore.

[mariposa34]

My Westie Terra has those episodes all the time with her allergies. Sometimes it's so bad (and she's short) she hits her face on the floor.....anyway I've found that if you can get your dog to lick (not eat) your hand or a treat while it's happening it helps stop it....until the next episode that is.

[Diesel]

I"m glad to know what that is now incase it ever happens. I had never heard of that before. I can only imagine how scary that must have been.

Diesel sneezes regularly, they always come in threes and sometimes he sneezes so hard he hits his nose on the floor which only triggers more sneezes!

[CaroleBoaz]

Poor Diesel and Terra!

My dogs gets some seasonal allergies or I need to vacuum the bedroom more often. He gets morning sneezes sometimes. It's sad to see.

[vneerland]

I can still see my husbands malinois K9 when he would do that. Legs planted out, chest heaving, snort, snort. He would truly have spells, and most of them could be fixed by covering his nostrils until he stopped. My evil plan might originally have been to see him pass out (Just kidding, I think!) but I soon found out it fixed the problem, at least for a while. He sure was prone to it. Most of my brindles don't do it, unless they mess with toads. That might set them off, foamy saliva and all. Lovely sight!

[Christie M]

I can still see my husbands malinois K9 when he would do that. Legs planted out, chest heaving, snort, snort. He would truly have spells, and most of them could be fixed by covering his nostrils until he stopped. My evil plan might originally have been to see him pass out (Just kidding, I think!) but I soon found out it fixed the problem, at least for a while. He sure was prone to it. Most of my brindles don't do it, unless they mess with toads. That might set them off, foamy saliva and all. Lovely sight!

I had learned at my vet clinic that it was also the result of the dog trying to force too much air through the trachea too quickly, causing it to collapse some. Sort of like trying to suck air through a straw while partially obstructing the end. So I was also taught to cover the dog's nose to force them to open their mouth which allows for better air flow. I have also forced their mouths open with my fingers. I never quite think before doing that

[Sugars Mom]

One of the last times Sugar was sick and I had to take her the vet, this was one of her symptoms and I had no idea what it was. She (Sugar) happened to do it while leaving the vet office and my vet was able to see it happening. She said "oh...thats a reverse sneeze. No big deal. Nothing to worry about".

[leih merigian]

Yes, I've learned about the covering the nose thing and will try that the next time she has a bad bout of it.

From what I can tell, it's more little dogs who do it a lot...pugs, chis, maltese, like that.

That's interesting, Christie, about how it can be caused from too rapid breathing as well. Sigh

[Lauren]

Xena does that sometimes too. I heard once that blowing on?/into? their nose will help it to stop. It Havent tried the blowing into, but the blowin on makes them lick their noses (as they reel from the disgusting human breath ) and it did seem to work. But we've only had mild cases.

[lisaanne]

As soon as I saw this forum, I thought of my beagles, who have ALL done this in various capacities! Some worse than others, and often when overworked, tired, stressed, etc Then I watched the video....of course, a beagle. Every beagle owner I ask about this reports same thing.....

never saw Beta do this, but after all these years, it wouldn't faze me a bit:)

ps my now gone beagle Merrie reversed sneezed something fierce, and she was quite tiny, and when she really got going would "sneeze" so violently she'd smack her little face on the ground.....then it'd stop and she was fine. I tried not to make a deal over it because it didn't help anything anyways.

[vneerland]

Very intresting thread. More common than I thought! My only real experience was with the malinois. He was almost always wound up, so it could have been the cause but I never noticed any other state of being in him. (He was a mess)

[alspyce]

Rott's do this quite a bit also, and yes, hand over nose works well.