Q:  I have an English Mastiff who is 5 years old. She has had a cough on and off for a week, and then last night she started coughing up blood. The vet told me to give her cough medicine which did help. What could have caused her cough?

A:  I am sorry to hear about your dog’s cough. A cough can be caused by various underlying problems from a foreign object (a stick, a bone, etc.) lodged in your dog’s trachea (the windpipe), kennel cough, pneumonia, heart failure or a form of cancer. Large breed dogs such as Mastiffs are also prone to developing a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy which can produce coughing. Although your Mastiff is a bit younger than the general age usually associated with the development of dilated cardiomyopathy, it is still worth mentioning as a possibility. Because, as you can see, there are a whole host of potential causes for coughing, it really calls for having a vet examine your dog to make a definitive diagnosis. Your vet will likely want to perform chest x-rays on your dog to help make a diagnosis. Finally, in my opinion, her coughing up blood is concerning, and I believe more should be done than just giving her cough medicine. Cough medicine can often help a bit with a cough no matter what the cause of the cough, but this does not mean that there is not an underlying issue that needs more treatment.

Your question has been answered by the following veterinarian:
Daniel Lauridia, DVM

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