KarissaKS
Posted : 4/15/2009 2:58:19 PM
Welcome to the world of reverse sneezing! It's unfortunately common in little dogs such as this. Kaiser completely freaked me out the first time he did it -- I actually took him to the vet because I was so concerned! The vet echoed everything that I'd read online (that it's normal, not harmful and there is nothing you can do).
One thing I did that DID help was to go out and buy a humidifier. Kaiser seems to get really bad episodes when the air is really dry and I do believe that the humidifier has helped. His worst time was in the middle of the night, so now I run the humidifier in my bedroom for a few hours before we go to bed.
Massaging the dog under the throat and/or on the top of the neck helps -- if nothing else, I think it calms them down. I've noted that the episodes get worse the more upset Kaiser gets by them. If I can get my hands on him right when it starts, it typically lasts only a few seconds. When he gets really worked up about something, it's not uncommon for it to go on for over a minute.