How worried should I be about this cough?

Question

My dog began showing symptoms by throwing up; after that, she's made horrible hacking noises every so often like she wants to throw up but can't. I think this is a "cough"? It doesn't sound like my friend's dog who used to cough a lot, which was more of a dry wheeze. When my dog coughs, sometimes white slime comes up, but not much (maybe a teaspoon). The rest of the time nothing comes up; she's only thrown up one other time, and it was after I gave her a bunch of dairy and then played roughly with her, so I am pretty sure that one was my fault. Is this a "wet cough" which I am told is very dangerous? Or is this "retching" or something else instead?

Also, in this situation, how soon is okay to go to the vet? She has her first wellness visit in 2 days, is this an emergency room situation or a "see your vet this week" situation? We assume this is a "don't over-exercise and keep warm" situation in case it's a virus of some kind?

Added as per comments: so over the last few days she's had several different noises. The one that initially worried me is more of a wet hacking, occasionally with some phlegm or something spit up, and I've also seen her hack become full-on vomit. But this video captures the most common noise, a dry cough that she gets reliably after exerting herself (here by playing her favorite game, tug): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXJcmoTJNg (ignore the growling, she always growls during tug, it's the coughing we're looking at).

Answer 1

If by "wellness visit" you mean a visit at the groomer, I would reschedule until after she was seen by a vet.

This hacking could have different causes. Maybe she inhaled some food during your play. But maybe it's kennel cough (Web MD) or a different contagious infection. You should separate your dog from others until you know for sure.

That means:

• No visit to the groomer, the dog park, a puppy school or anywhere else where lots of dogs meet.
• No walks with her other dog friends. She shouldn't touch any other dog until you know if her cough is contagious.
• Document the evidence! A picture of the sputum she coughes up would help your vet diagnose.
• Always have a tissue paper in your pocket when taking her on a walk. If she coughes and spits out some fluid, you should wipe it away to avoid infecting other dogs (after taking a picture for your vet).
• In case your vet wants to do labwork on the sputum, you could also collect some in a clean doggy poo bag, but it must be fresh to be analyzed.
• No strenuous activity for her. Light play and walks are ok, but she shouldn't play fetch or do any activity to the point she has to pant.

As long as she doesn't pant or choke while resting or becomes extremely lethargic, this doesn't warrant a visit to the emergency vet. But you should get her checked out within the next days.