Thanks for the clarification.

Based on what you are describing, here are some of the possibilities of what could be causing his coughing:

- Heart disease or congestive heart failure
- Heart worm disease
- Pneumonia
- Chronic bronchitis which can sometimes be caused by allergies
- Cancer unfortunately needs to be considered


At this time, if he is not responding to the hycodan syrup, I would definitely talk to your vet about taking an x-ray of his chest. Many of the above disorders that I mentioned above could be ruled out just with an x-ray alone. Heart disease is a very common cause of what you are describing which can cause coughing at night. There is medication that can be given to help control this type of coughing.

If this is due to an infection or a allergic disease then other medications such as an antibiotic can be given or a steroid/antihistamine can be used.

If you would like to try an antihistamine you could give him some Benadryl at a dose of 1 mg per pound every 12 hours.

Overall I would definitely ask your vet about taking an x-ray because that test alone should give you a much better answer.

Hope this helps -please reply if you have any other questions or if I have not answered your question completely.

An x-ray generally should cost about $80 - $120 depending on the area that you live in. I would definitely talk to your vet about the cost to make sure that he is reasonable.

You can definitely try the Benadryl first to see if this helps first though. This may help with an allergic disease.