History of Boone
I had adopted Boone (3-year-old 75 lb Hound/German Shepard mix) from the North Shore Animal Leage on Thursday, the 17th of June who had sneezed a couple of times & low-key, but otherwise looked strong & healthy. They named him "Boone" because they said he seems like "an old man" & a perfect lap dog that isn't hyper & VERY docile. His papers indicated he had at least 4 different vaccines on June 9. They said he had a recent pink-eye infection, but was resolved & he healed quickly & was perfectly healthy. By the next day, he was heaving/reverse sneezing 1-2x/day & started getting a runny nose which we figured would blow over. He then couldn't breathe out of his nose & started sounded like he was getting worse & congestion was in his throat & going deeper. The only good thing was his appetite & digestive functions were still healthy.
On that following Monday, the 21st, North Shore vet barely kept the thermometer in Boone for 20 seconds, listened for only 15 seconds to his lungs & declared he had no fever & only had a little cold probably caused by using the a/c too high. The vet gave me the antibotic Baytil (136 mg tablets 1x/day for 10 days). Boone immediately got 100x more lethargic, tired, not as sharp, and didn't want to move much. His ability to breathe also seemed even more labored & difficult & seemed tired from being unable to sleep without waking up often from choking. His appetite had decreased as well and now he had diarrhea from the antibotics.
On Saturday, the 26th, he was heaving 3x in a row & still choking on his congestion, so I went to the North Shore in an emergency. They did an x-ray which showed fluid entering his lungs and his temperature was almost 103. They said it was Kennel Cough/Bronchitis turning into pneumonia. I were given the same antibiotic again & that was suppose to be for 14 days. (Intersting you're suppose to "finish" it, but with the same medication, I'm given 2 different lengths of treatment.) I was also given a bronchodilator called aminophylline 100 mg small tablets 3x/day for 5 days which is for humans. We continued the antibotics & the bronchodilator for 2-3 days but he seemed to get EVEN WORSE. He seemed too tired to fight to breathe anymore. He was constantly choking, his heart rate was very fast & he seemed to have to heave his whole body for EVERY breath of air. His appetite was still the same, decent, but not as high as it should be and his diarrhea was worse.
On Monday, the 28th, I took him off both medications to see if he would get better. He actually seemed less tired & was batteling slightly less for each breath. His appetite increase and his stools normalized. My family was worried I would kill him for not being on any meds, so I got a suppy of homeopathic remedies on July 2nd.
By July 4th, his eyes cleared up to healthy glitter/shine that we never saw as bright even the day we adopted him, his energy increased 200 % and he started running around as fast as possible for fun first time ever, he was playing with his bone for the very first time as well. He still was congested, but it seemed to be all coming out right after his doses with sneezing, coughing & heaving and his breathing wasn't labored anymore. He wasn't an "old man" anymore & though we knew he was a big, strong dog, he started showing 200% more strength then even the first day I adopted him, curiosity & desire to hunt, etc. for the first time ever to the point we definitely will have to get training to handle him since he is too strong physically if he gets stubborn.. I guess he wasn't an "old man" but just sick all the time they had him.
On July 8th in 92º weather w/a weak a/c in the car, we took him back to North Shore to make sure the fluid was out of his lungs. He would heave/reverse sneeze only a few times a day but seemed to him only a mild annoyance. While waiting outside the building, anytime a dog walked by, he would bark & pull me until he LITERALLY pulled me off the bench even though he had a choke collar on. He was, of course, hot with all the exertion, but still would try to chase birds or anythign that moved. The vet took his temperature corrctly & said he had a temperature of 101.5, but to be expected in the heat & exertion. She also listened to his lungs in many places for about a full minute declaring that his lungs seemed perfectly healed. She said if she didn't know his chart, she thought he was a healthy dog. She said if he was still sneezing, that there might be some residual congestion left, but should heal. When heard he wasn't on antibotics & using homeopathy, she was very stern & upset almost to the point of accusing me of trying to kill the dog. She offered to give him a different type of antibotics & I must give them to him or they will not treat or see Boone any longer. I, of course, declined.

Helena, LMT, AOS, CRP in NY