Coughing in pets after a dental cleaning is not a normal condition. This article explains in detail that why your pet is coughing after the dental visit? as well as it gives you some easy home-care tips to remedy cough in dogs.

Dental cleaning is important for pets because it helps to remove dental plaque and tartar from your pet’s teeth. It aids to maintain good oral hygiene and protects the dog’s teeth from a broad range of bacterial infections that involve periodontal diseases, gingivitis (inflammation and swelling of gums), or the tooth cavity.

But on the other hand, this may give some unwanted consequences and adverse reactions (i.e. allergic cough) for a few ones. Some dogs may feel adverse reactions after getting professional teeth cleaning services from the veterinarian.

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Professional teeth cleaning is an adorable treat for a dog from its owner. A vet may charge from $300 to more than a $3000 fee for the procedure.

Root Causes Behind Coughing In Dogs After Teeth Cleansing and Scaling

The dental cleansing process in dogs is done alongside Anesthesia, intravenous (I.V) fluids, intubation, and apparatus like scaler, etc.

Intubation

It help’s to maintain normal breathing circuits in canines which may affect because anesthesia. Intubation may also be the root cause of coughing in pets after the dental cleaning.

Intubation is the process of inserting synthetic silicon (sterile) tubes into the tracheal tube (inhalation pipe) of a dog (through the mouth) to provide oxygen during the teeth washing procedure.

Intubation helps a dog to breathe during anesthesia time. But it may also cause some unusual risks like;

• Tracheal tube damage (the synthetic (flexible) silicon tube is placed for hours in the tracheal tube that may be a cause of tracheal tube injury in short cases)
• Vocal cord injury (during the insertion)
• Chest tissues injury
• Bacterial infection (it’s a severe condition because bacterial infectious diseases include kennel cough, pneumonia, etc)

Anesthesia

Coughing in dogs may because of anesthesia. Veterinarians use different kinds of anesthetic agents to calm down a dog during the teeth washing procedure.

The anesthetic agent used during the procedure may cause various kinds of side effects if the dog is allergic to any of its (anesthetic agent) components.

Allergic cough in dogs must be gone on its own within a few days (1-2 days maximum). But if the cough persists that may be a sign of more fatal conditions i.e. kennel cough (a bacterial infection) or pneumonia (in very rare cases), and tracheal tube injury, etc.

In allergic cough, the veterinarians suggest anti-allergy medications i.e. Benadryl (diphenhydramine), etc.

Diphenhydramine is the active ingredient that helps to block the allergy symptoms like flue, sneezing, itching, rashes, and Cough. It’s FDA approved drug that can be used to treat all types of allergic cough in dogs (under the supervision of a veterinarian).

The Use Of Non-Steril or Poor Quality Apparatus

As a dog owner, you always try to give your best to provides a good healthy smile to your pet. Therefore, you must be careful about the dental apparatuses to make sure that they are well sterilized and clean.

Although, it’s an exceptional case because almost all veterinarians understand the importance of sterilizing their tools before a dental procedure.

If the dental apparatus is contaminated, your pet is going to get some life-threatening diseases, indeed.

A bacterial or viral infection in dogs may cause severe coughing. If your pet is facing breathing problems, chest pain, swelling (on any part of the skin), rashes, itching, or any adverse reaction after visiting a vet clinic (for the purpose of dental cleaning) you must re-visit the vet and consult your pet situation.