Elderly dog - snorting/ choking a lot.

[Babyroobs]

Just wondering if this is anything to worry about. Elderly dog ( aged 13) seems to be reverse sneezing/ snorting a lot , then does a chokey cough and it clears for a while. This probably happens once an hour during the day, not usually at night ( she sleeps next to me ), but has had one episode at night. These episodes last between 15-20 seconds .It happens always if she is having tummy rubs and is on her back. Otherwise reasonably healthy - some gastric bleeding recently which has settled with Omeprazole and back legs getting a bit weak.
She saw a vet recently who said she has dental decay again. Dog is nearly 13 years.
Do we need to see a vet ?

Sorry to be clear, it always happens if she's on her back but can happen at any time.

Older dogs can get paralysis of their vocal cords (partial or complete). My old Labrador had it. I would take him to the vet and get him checked though. I had to be careful with hot weather and exercise but there was no ongoing treatment.

My cocker is 11 and he's a nightmare for reverse sneezing... def getting worse with age. Our sprocker has never done it. If it's not normal for him, I'd get the vet to check it out.

Thanks both. I think it's just getting worrying as it's become a lot more frequent in recent months. She has always done it just not this much !

I have a lot of tiny (badly bred, rescue) dogs. Reverse sneezing is very common in my house! It happens to all of them, a lot but they’ve all been vet checked (many, many times) and they are fine. It doesn’t harm them. I wouldn’t rush for a vet appointment but next time you are in, mention it, but I would honestly be more concerned if she was coughing, rather than reverse sneezing.

I am not a dog whizz, but I have a boarder collie who does the same thing and I have noticed it happening more just now as her allergies are flaring up with the weather

Video it for your vet.
Is it definitely coughing or sort of retching?

My old dog was doing a sort of cough/retch thing which I couldn’t well explain to the vet - and of course she didn’t do it while there. She also gets a kind of post-nasal drip when in her back, but this was different.

So, on the next visit I showed him the video and he got it instantly. He had a list of 3 things for me: tracheal collapse, heart failure and something else I can’t recall now (sorry). Sadly, she has heart failure, but now on meds, is so much better.

Could be nasal drip running down her throat when she’s in her back if she’s a bit allergic to pollen which allergies are just beginning to kick off now. They sometimes become more prone to allergies as they age.

The back leg weakness could be connected. Look at GOLPP - geriatric onset laryngeal paralysis and polyneuropathy. My lab was diagnosed at 12. It’s sometimes missed as the legs get written off as arthritis.

No cure, but in our case it’s very slow progression and managed by physio.

Thanks I will try to video.
It is a sort of coughing that starts and if for example she is on the sofa when it starts it's as if she then has to jump off the sofa , go over to a quieter spot, then she does a big sort of chokey cough and it clears. Sorry hard to explain !

Our dog has a cough and it is heart related. Now on medication

Thanks . This is interesting. I just had a bit of a read and will explore further. The article I read also mentions regurgitation which could fit in with how she has been with small vomits in the morning ( although these have stopped for now). I think I will speak to the vets. the back legs seem stiff but there have been times when she has almost looked drunk/ her gait changes when she walks and legs seem to have buckled but she quickly recovers, it really only lasts for a second and not enough for her to fall.
She is otherwise energetic, jumps , chases and plays, is naughty and mischievous as she's always been stealing things, wanting us to chase her, can climb the stairs and jump on the bed easily.
Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate them.

I do this and I'm not a dog but I am 62. It's because my soft palate has gone floppy and blocks my airway. I would think its the same for an elderly dog tbh. My elderly cat had this too.

If it’s happening every hour I would speak to your vet.

Just an update. Our beautiful girl died suddenly last night. Funnily enough the snorting had settled over the past few days and was less frequent. Yesterday at 5pm for the first time in a long time she was lying on her back chilling with no snorting. We took her for a lovely walk in the evening sunshine at 8pm and there was no sign of anything being wrong. At 11pm she suddenly had erratic breathing , a big vomit and died in the car before we could get to the emergency vet. Our own vet this morning thinks it could be related to a sarcoma she had removed around 18 months ago, we knew it would return at some point but hoped we had a few more years. We are utterly heartbroken.

I am so sorry. We lost our boy this week from heart failure (posted only a few days earlier on your thread when our dog was doing okay on meds)

It’s so awful, sending hugs 💐

So sorry for your heartbreaking loss 💐

Thank you . I am so sorry to hear of your loss too, it is just devastating isn't it. I hope you are ok.
Our other dog is looking a bit lost. We brought our girl home for the night so he could see her in the hope he might understand what has happened, he is seven and has never known life without her. I think it's going to be so hard for him.

Oh I'm so sorry, it's the most horrendous pain when you lose them.

@Babyroobs thank you.

Think I feel like your other dog 😔 Every time I walk into a room I expect our dog to be there, hits me every time. Ours was an only dog, so feels so odd to have no dog in the house.