My Pug started coughing/weezing a few days ago. It was as if he were a cat and had a hairball he was trying to cough up, or vomit. Once it persisted too long, I brought him to an emergency vet last night. It turns out he has what they refer to as a "collapsing trachea", which is a weakening of the trachea and it gets thinner/shorter in a particular area. It makes it a little more difficult for the dog to breath, and also leaves a weird feeling in his chest causing him to want to cough to get rid of it.
They put him on a few different medications, and I also need to have him lose some weight. Other than that, there really isn't a cure. With some weight loss and the medication they say you can manage it a bit, and that it's a fairly common affliction amongst toy dogs. He also hasn't eaten since he has started the meds, but that's listed as a side effect for both of them.
Also, he bit one of the vets when they tried to give him some X-rays. Even worse, it's been longer than a year since he had his rabies booster shot, so they called the department of health on me! I'll probably have to keep him quarantined at home for 10 days, but there's an outside possibility that they'll make me pay to have him stay at a vet for the next 10 days.
Poor dog, he had that horrible eye surgery and barely sees out of his one eye. He's about deaf in both ears. He's 12, so of course he's slower than he used to be. I'll have to monitor him extremely closely going forward and hope he can overcome yet another hurdle. He's brought me so much love in the past 12 years and has been with me every step of my life - so it's worth every penny, and then some, that I have spent to make him happy and healthier.