Question:
I have an 11-year-old, female Japanese Chin. In November, she had her teeth cleaned, and some were extracted. That night, we had a flood in our bathroom from a leaking pipe that overflowed into the master and guest bedrooms. The disaster-recovery people came and cleaned up the water and shampooed the carpet the next day. Two days later, my dog developed a bad, hacking cough. She has been coughing ever since. I took her to the vet, and he examined her and took an X-ray. He said she had pneumonia and put her on antibiotics and a cough suppressant. He also gave her a shot to stop the coughing. She was on the medication for two weeks, and the coughing stopped until the cough suppressants and antibiotics were finished. The vet keeps telling me she's congested, but from what? He keeps giving me a prescription for the cough suppressants and the antibiotics. It has now been three months, and my dog is still coughing. I feel that the vet is treating the symptoms and not the source of the problem.
G.S., Lewisville, NC Jun 15, 2008
Answer:
Your poor dog is like the proverbial canary in a coal mine. New carpets give off toxic fumes, from formaldehyde to thyroid-damaging, fire-retardant bromide compounds. Carpet cleaners that are not "green" can leave residues of potentially toxic, allergy-triggering chemicals. Find out what the carpet cleaners used and let me know. Have the carpeting shampooed again, but apply a thorough sprinkling of baking soda two to three hours before cleaning with hot water only. Ventilate the rooms well as the carpets dry. Cover them with cotton sheets for a few days. This may help your dog recover from what seems like an allergic bronchitis. It could also have a psychogenic component associated with the emotional stress of the invading carpet cleaners, compounded by the trauma of major dental surgery.
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