Thread: Dog allergies and phlegm

Hi guys,

It's 4:30 in the morning, and my dog has me awake with a hack/phlegm dropping issue.


Anyone around this early have any home remedies to help her?

She seems to have allergies quite badly, caused this time by the extreme heat in our area.

Originally Posted by spotted nikes

Has your vet confirmed it's allergies? Just verifying because if the dog is older, coughing is an early sign of Congestive heart failure. Or if the dog has been around other dogs, Kennel cough.

Dogs can safely have Benadryl. Look up the dosage. It will dry out fluids a little. If a vet hasn't checked your dog, then you need to do that. They have other meds that can help clear up chest congestion.

Hi, and thank you for the reply. I should have added more info, but I was half asleep!

Lexi is a 1 and a half year old husky/german shepherd mix. She has been to the vet quite a few times about this since spring time. She has had everything done to her, except an x ray of her head/nostrils. The only reason she hasn't had her head x rayed, is that they needed to sedate her, which I wanted to try and avoid.

We picked up some more Hydroxyzine today from the vet. Do you think it would work better than Benadryl?

I'm not thinking it is kennel cough, as she is barely ever around other dogs.

This started back up in her once the really bad heat kicked in, Wednesday/Thursday of this week.
Any advice is greatly appreciated

Originally Posted by spotted nikes

Give whatever the vet suggested. Do you keep her inside? If not, do so. It should help (assuming you have air conditioning.)

You might try a grain free alternative protein source food to rule out food allergies.

Yes, she spends most of her time inside, aside from going out to pee and walks. I have cut out the walks, though, until she is over this.

Does anyone else have experience with these types of allergies in dogs? I seem to come up empty on searches, yet my vet assures me it is very common.

Lexi went to see a new vet yesterday, who believes that, because of the crusty nose and hacking up of mucus, and NOT allergies. He gave her some medication to take.

I wish I could have taken her, because now I have questions, and am wondering if anyone here has answers.

1) if it is an infection, why would the antihistamine help with the symptoms? Are they able to help with nose and mucus problems, even if they were related to an infection of some sorts?
2) why are her eyes, and the skin around them, so red?

They listened to her lungs and heart, and they sounded good.

They apparently didnt say exactly WHERE the infection was, which seems weird to me.

My dog has the same issues and she is a German Shepherd mix aka pound puppy and has had allergy issues since she was about 1 1/2 yrs old, she's currently 75 lbs (heavier than normal because of the steroids she's been on). For this hacking and mucus/phlegm spit up issue, I've taken her to a couple of vets and the answer is a shrug of their shoulders and "let's see if this will work". Belle has a lot of allergy issues but we're not 100% sure what's causing this one (vet says it could be mold spores or pollen since its usually in the spring when it's at it's worst). Since both our dogs have allergies (one to things that fly-duck, chicken, turkey and the other to things with hooves- beef, lamb) we feed them Natural Balance -Sweet Potato and Fish. No treats. None, or we end up at the vet. The prescription that I have Belle on is a steroid called Methylprednisolone and Pepcid. I give Belle the Methylprednisolone and one Pepcid 20mg a day when it's bad. Every dog is different but the Pepcid was fantastic! The Methylprednisolone was what helped kick start her recovery. Belle is currently going through another bought of this mucus phlegm issue (it's spring) so we're back on the pills. I've noticed within 2 days there is a significant difference in Belle. Most notably, we're not abruptly waking up at 4 am to the sound of hacking (I know how that feels). Hopefully my experience helped. There are other steroids out there but Methylprednisolone is what worked for us.