How long will my 13 week old shih szu have a runny nose?

Question

My 13 week male Shih Tzu has had a runny and stuffy nose for two weeks now. He is 4bs. It was worse at first so I took him to an emergency vet. They gave him liquid antibiotics to take for 10 days by mouth because they thought it was an upper respiratory infection. It got a little bit better, I don't hear anything in his chest but he still can't breathe very well out of his nose so he looks like he is panting because he is breathing out of his mouth not his nose. He is still his normal self other than this (hyper, normal stool and appetite). He has a VERY tiny nose. I wanted to find out what I can do to make this better because it seems like he will have a runny, sneezy nose forever! Is this normal? How long will it last?

Answer 1

Ask your vet.

Answer 2

Our Shih Tzu puppy had a runny nose (and would blow bubbles out of it!) for some weeks after we got him and at the time he too had a very small nose. The first vet we went to said he may have a virus (when we took him for his vaccinations - he couldn't get them because she thought he had a virus) and then a week later (she told us to see how it went) he still had a runny nose but he was seen by a second vet who said there wasn't anything wrong with him and he got his vaccination. As long as there is no discoloured discharge then it may just pass as our Rory's did. Our Shih Tzu now has a larger nose and has no problems.

My Shih Tzu at almost 13 weeks:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27423443@N0...

His nose recently:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27423443@N0...

Answer 3

I really feel you should take him back to the vet. Perhaps he needs to have some more antibiotics. Or maybe he has a allergy to something. Please don't wait any longer