My dog has started to cough and at tge end of the couching

Hello, you are through to Dr Linda, a UK based vet with 10 years of clinical experience.

I'm sorry to hear this and understand your concern for him.

Hay fever usually starts before a dog is 4 or 5. If this is a new cough, we can be fairly confident it is not hay fever.

What breed is he?

What did the x-rays show?

Thank you.

Is he currently on any medicine?

Has he had an airway exam for laryngeal paralysis?

I am just typing, yes.

I do echo your concern as a cough like this that persists is not normal and confirms there is something going on.

A chest x-ray will not pick up on every condition that causes coughing and a clear x-ray doesn't tell us all is well, it just rules out several conditions.

We would still need to consider e.g. laryngeal paralysis, lungworm, heart disease etc.

At this stage I'd be considering further investigations such as an airway exam and heart scan.

Laryngeal paralysis affects a dog's voice box, whereby the cartilage collapses. Larger breeds are more commonly affected.

That is good but a cough that lasts over 2 weeks is not normal and tells us there is something going on.

An x-ray is not a great way of assessing heart function and many potential issues can be missed. A heart scan is more sensitive.

Lungworm is caused when a dog eats slugs, snails or grass.

A general blood test would not show up any of the conditions discussed above I'm afraid.