# Choke from drinking water - is that normal?



## havanese (Feb 10, 2016)

Whenever Ollie drinks from his water bowl, he seems to choke on it as if the water goes down the wrong pipe. He would do the coughing wheezing thing. Sometimes, he will cough up some spit/water. Then, he would either continue to drink some more or he is done with it.

I would say he would choke on it 90% of his time. Is that normal? 

I am dealing with his leg now. I should hope he is just drinking too fast and he will learn "how to drink better" as he gets older? Maybe I should change his bowl to bottle??


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## abi38 (Mar 23, 2017)

All dogs (various breeds/sizes) I have had would do that if they drink too fast, usually when they are particular hot and thirsty. The worse was our golden retriever, he'd regularly (especially after walks) drink and immediately threw the water back up on the floor then drink some more (and kept those down). Don't know why. He lived to 13 so it was not a health issue for him. Bad habit maybe?

I wonder if there are special water bowl that can keep dogs from drinking too fast like similar bowls for food. Licking water bottles should work too. Or leave it be if it has no ill effect on him.


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## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

Shama does that fairly often, and I think it's just reverse sneezing. Below is an article about reverse sneezing. It gives suggestions of how to stop it, but it also says you can just ignore it if it doesn't seem to be bothering your dog. She says it would do more harm if you (the dog's owner) freaked out about it each time. We'll see what the others say, but I don't worry about it in Shama.

How to Recognize an Episode of Reverse Sneezing


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Willow almost always coughs when she drinks water. My corgi did too.


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## havanese (Feb 10, 2016)

Thanks all and the educational video too!


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## Tux's Mom (May 24, 2016)

Tux coughs occasionally also. He learned to drink water from a bottle attached to a pen, but graduated to a wide mouthed glass a few months ago. I figured he hasn't learned to master this new technique yet, or else he's just a sloppy drinker.


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

havanese said:


> Whenever Ollie drinks from his water bowl, he seems to choke on it as if the water goes down the wrong pipe. He would do the coughing wheezing thing. Sometimes, he will cough up some spit/water. Then, he would either continue to drink some more or he is done with it.
> 
> I would say he would choke on it 90% of his time. Is that normal?
> 
> I am dealing with his leg now. I should hope he is just drinking too fast and he will learn "how to drink better" as he gets older? Maybe I should change his bowl to bottle??


Just wondering if the choking started after Ollie's surgery? Scout started reverse sneezing every time I gave Acepromazine. I called and was told the med can cause the throat to relax and to half the dose. It was scary because we couldn't stop it. Thought I'd mention it since the pups are probably on the same med regimen.


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## Genie1000 (Apr 13, 2017)

Glad to hear this sounds normal. Penelope gags and coughs a bit when drinking too.


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## havanese (Feb 10, 2016)

Ollie does that before the surgery. I always wonder if it is normal especially my friend jokes about it. She said her Shiba Inu only did that when she turned 13. With Ollie's intermittently limping turns to required surgery, I am now a little eerie with what's normal and what's not?!


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## DuketheDog (May 1, 2017)

Duke does this ALL THE TIME!!! We even got him a new water bowl to help and not choke on the water, Pretty sure it's going inside his nose! If we hand feed him water tilted from a glass he is totally fine... If only I could find a tilted bowl  

I think this is pretty normal by the sounds of everyone!


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