“Why is my dog coughing?” is a commonly searched symptom.
My answer is going to be different than what I found online. If you want the standard medical discussion, that will be easy to find elsewhere.
What causes coughing in dogs?
Viruses, heart disease, heart defects, and collapsed trachea are the usual whipping boys, but pinning a symptom on a named condition only begs the question, why do they have that problem? To say that a symptom is due to heart disease doesn’t get to the root cause of what is causing the body to do “heart disease.”
Congestive heart failure is a condition where the left side of the heart doesn’t pump efficiently and fluid buildup in the lungs results in coughing. Why would the left side of the heart become sluggish?
At the foundation of body function are the nerve system and the energy system. These systems may really be an integrated system because they both move energy and information (I call it inform-energy) around the mind-body leading to harmonious function when nothing interferes with the process.
What can interfere with inform-energy flow?
Physical trauma can compromise nerve tissues causing interference. Part and parcel to the physical trauma is the activation of the fight/flight system. This system hijacks the body’s normal flow of inform-energy so that it can respond to life-threatening situations. Normal housekeeping duties like resting and digesting are suppressed in favor of increasing heart rate and blood pressure and directing that increased blood flow to the skeletal muscles for strength and speed. Stress hormones and mind generated power via the brain and nerve system join in to increase our chance of survival in the moment. If this response reaches an intensity threshold or lasts for more than a couple of minutes, it can remain activated indefinitely. In severe cases in humans, it gets called PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
How does this relate to coughing in dogs?
A hijacked system is running our body (or your dog’s) in emergency mode. If it gets stuck as I just described two bad things happen. One, the normal housekeeping functions stay suppressed and two, the emergency response gradually wears down the involved organs. Remember the increased heart rate and blood pressure? A body can’t keep it up indefinitely and organs will eventually fail.
Can a hijacked inform-energy system get back to normal?
Fortunately, the body can be reset and turn off the fight/flight system. Neuro-Energetic Balancing™ is the most efficient way to do this. I have worked on animals that were clearly stuck in a fight/flight response and saved their life with a reset. Here is a video of Chewy who had collapsed trachea (a “cause” of coughing in dogs) and the beginnings of heart failure (another “cause” of coughing in dogs) and nearly died twice. We kept him happy and active for years after our first meeting.
Would you like a free consultation?
I offer an up to 30-minute free consultation to see if Neuro-Energetic Balancing™ might be a good fit for your dog, cat, or horse. Just CLICK HERE to get your free consultation.
