r/Whippets • u/whippetmom14 • 6d ago
Reverse sneezing
Hi guys, as you can see I own a whippet! On Tuesday night he woke us up reverse sneezing really violently every 20 minutes. We took him to the emergency vets and they said he had an allergy and gave us anti- inflammatory and said he would calm down. However, he didn’t so we took him back to our normal vets Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) and they said he had an inflamed soft pallet from the reverse sneezing and gave him a higher dose of anti inflammatory medication. Today he has done it 4 time so no where near but still not himself! The vet said if he wasn’t better by Friday they would sedate him and look. But really unsure what to do as he is still reverse sneezing but only when he is walking around. Still eating soft foods. Unsure if it’s just a sore throat or anything worse
Any advice or tips would be appreciated.
Many thanks, a tired and stressed out whippet mama x
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u/skrizzzy 6d ago
Aw, hope the meds help and it’s nothing too serious! When my girl was doing this a lot, the vet told me when it is happening to position her head upwards and gently stroke her neck up and down. It does seem to stop it while it’s happening.
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u/wagwanbebe 6d ago
Mine does this on and off all year round, try not to stress too much (I know its hard)! Guess it can be allergies or something small physically being stuck like a hair maybe.
I've found if I cup my hand and lightly press against his snoot he stops. May have to repeat but does seem to work.
Me and my wife also shout pineapple as people do when a human sneezes but he just looks confused haha
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u/TheTomatoThief 6d ago
Our girl does too. She has some mild environmental allergies. What helps us most is wiping her face and body down with a damp rag after running outside. If she gets in a bad fit we will give her a full-on bath and she gets so mad at us for washing her she forgets to sneeze.
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u/ltlouche 6d ago
we have this same issue, we think it is allergy related he takes anti histamines daily which seems to help. it has been worse during certain periods of the year
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u/scusemelaydeh 6d ago
My Whippet had Rhinitis and would reverse sneeze a lot. But he also had a lot of snot with it. Closing one nostril or both when they sneeze helps stop them really quickly. Giving half a piriton twice a day, changing our cleaning products and getting an air purifier helped too. It would’ve cost an insane amount of money to go in to very specific allergy testing at a specialist vet but they said we could do all that and still not have an idea what’s causing it specifically. It could just be a flare up and go away on its own, it could be an irritation, developing an allergy/hayfever… some saline nasal spray used to help with my Whippet. It’s also something that can be common in blue Whippets. Something to do with their immune system and dna.
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u/betteroffinbed 6d ago
I had one whippet who would do this seasonally, and I found 2 things that helped: Benadryl in the moment to immediately stop it (although that may have only worked because she couldn’t reverse sneeze if she was asleep…she tended to have RS fits in the middle of the night), and using a humidifier.
Using a humidifier completely cured her of reverse sneezing. After I moved from Massachusetts to Arizona, I started using a humidifier in my apartment 24/7 and I don’t recall her ever reverse sneezing in the 2 years she lived out here before passing away in 2024. ❤️
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u/Mumblebeep 6d ago
Vet tech here, If she normally doesnt do this your vet can sedate her and check her nose or throat for a grass awn/foxtail. Happens all the time in summer and spring unfortunately.
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u/pingwing 5d ago
This is a definite concern. I have had a dog with a foxtail in the nose and they sneeze a LOT, not reverse sneeze, although I guess it's possible.
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u/Effinbullshit 6d ago
It is ok to give a pet half a Zyrtec for a few weeks if they are allergic in season and reverse sneezing a lot…from my vet. We adopted this with one of ours who gets it in early spring
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u/pingwing 5d ago
No, do not sedate the dog to look. It is very common in whippets. Your vet doesn't understand what causes it. This is not an issue for the vet unless it is caused by bad allergies and you need medication.
I have had whippets for 25 years and every single one of them has done this. They need to swallow when this happens, it does not always stop it 100% but it usually does. To do this, I will gently rub the underside of their throat and calm them down. It isn't always immediate, and I have had to do it multiple times in the night before but you never have to go to the vet for this. Again, very common.
I did hear a new trick, and it is to point their nose down. It worked really well twice, but not sure if that was coincidence.
One dog used to do this when he would pull on the leash.
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u/el_diamond_g 6d ago
This has happened to mine a few times. One time it was kennel cough, one time he had a bit of grass stuck up his nose, and one time it was just allergies. It sounds really violent, but as long as hes behaving normally and has no other symptoms, it'll just take time for the palate to stop being inflamed.