If you’ve noticed that your dog is coughing and struggling to breath, you have to get him to the vet right away. Your vet will give him a chest x ray to take a look at his lungs.  Todd Drost, a Radiologist at Ohio State University says that it may be Pneumonia, asthma or even an allergy. The lungs react differently to different conditions. He says patterns that are revealed in thoracic  images can point to the root of a dogs problem. Chest x rays could also be used to look at a dogs heart because breathing difficulty can be linked to cardiac trouble. My dog started coughing and sounded like he was choking on something. When I took him in for an examination, they found that he was having heart failure! The thoracic radigraph showed an enlarged heart and fluid in his lungs.

A chest X Ray can be a very powerful tool when it comes to diagnosing a respiratory problem. It may even be found that the condition is not serious and could be cured by pet medication alone. Unfortunately, for my dog, the condition was very serious and was not curable.