Backward sneezing and drooling.

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi and thanks for your question. This is a tough one to answer, but I can give you a few of my thoughts.

It's an interesting set of symptoms...sudden reverse sneezing, incontinence and vomiting. I am having a hard time putting those symptoms together.

When a dog suddenly starts to reverse sneeze there are a few possibilities. Sometimes it can be because of a "something" affecting the nasal cavities. That "something" could be a foreign object, an infection, or nasal mites.

Really, none of these problems should cause any other symptoms though.

One thought I did have would be to ask your vet about the possibility of a fungal infection such as blastomycosis. A fungal infection in the nose could definitely cause the reverse sneezing and can cause other symptoms in the body. It will not necessarily show up on routine blood tests or xrays.

A tooth root infection could cause reverse sneezing. It should not cause loss of bladder control though. In theory, it could cause vomiting if the infection was serious enough. A tooth root infection is usually not difficult to pick up with an exam, but sometimes it can be tricky. Additionally, we usually will see an increased white blood cell count, but not always.

Were there tests done on his urine? Any time that a dog has incontinence issues, it can be helpful to do a urinalysis.

It doesn't sound to me like this is a food related problem, or an allergy.

If this was a cat I would be wondering about a polyp affecting the pharynx. If the polyp was big enough it could cause issues with the inner ear causing nausea and balance issues. I've never seen this in a dog though.

I would really advise that you have one of your vets recheck him. If they still can't determine what is going on he may have to have a test called a rhinoscopy done. This is where they use a special camera to look up his nose and determine if there is a problem in there. Unfortunately though this is a test that a specialist needs to do and it can be expensive.

I'm sorry I don't have an exact answer for you, but let me know if you have more questions.

Dr. Marie




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Dr. Marie replied:

Ah, I see. If we take the incontinence out of the picture, it becomes a little more clear.

It is extremely unlikely to be due to an allergy. When dogs get allergies they are rarely respiratory. We usually see issues with the skin on the feet and ears.

So, if we narrow he symptoms down to sneezing and drooling then this sounds like either a tooth root infection or something inside of the nose, with that "something" being either a bacterial or fungal infection, nasal mites, a tumor or even a foreign object.

It may be worthwhile to have another xray done. (I am assuming that the xrays were done of the nose/head.) Then, the vet can compare the xrays from before to the current one and see if there is evidence of something growing in there.

If this were my case I would likely give Tucker a treatment of Revolution which is a heartworm medication. This medication kills nasal mites easily.

Again, the rhinoscopy may be necessary.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh. Sorry to hear that things are getting worse. The condition you are talking about is called toxoplasmosis. It is a parasite that can cause neurological lesions. I've never heard of it causing sneezing though.

I really hope things improve soon!