Boerboel cough/hacking

Hello. My 4 year old boerboel is eating and drinking,acts excited to go on walks, begs for food but she has this cough. Like if she was a smoker it sounds like a smoker cough and there seems to a lot of the times be one “string” of drool hanging from her mouth when she coughs on our walks. It also seems a little thicker to me as well. And she’s also not coughing 24/7. Sometimes when she eats she may cough, sometimes when I give her a treat she coughs. I don’t remember her eating anything she wasn’t supposed to. She seems to be breathing fine too but I’m worried I made the wrong decision by waiting 2 weeks for my vet. I’m just confused because overall she’s been acting normal and herself. I don’t take her to any day cares, we only go on walks in the neighborhood and the small dog park that’s at my apartment It’s probably been about a week now since I noticed it. I want to take her to the park for longer walks but I just don’t want to make her cough more. Does this sound like dog pneumonia, hyperthyroidism, something lodged in there. I know it’s hard to confirm or diagnose anything without seeing her but my vet is 2 weeks out 😭😭

Hello - two weeks can seem a long time sometimes, can't they.  It seems that this is a periodic cough in an animal that is not otherwise suffering or showing signs of illness.  This doesn't sound to be an immediate emergency or a typical presentation of a trapped foreign body - although there will be occasions where something like this unexpectedly proves to be one (I once saw a referral vet pull a long blade of grass from the throat of a chronically coughing dog, for example).  This is not usually how the symptoms of kennel cough are described (think hacking cough, fast onset, worsening) but again, not every patient reads the text-book.  Curveballs like hyperthyroidism (which forms a lump near the larynx) may present like this on occasion, but not so commonly that it would be near the top of my list without other symptoms.  More typically, dogs presenting as you describe might be in the early stages of heart disease, or harbouring parasites (lungworm / heartworm), or lung disease eg d/t chronic dust or pollen or narrowing airways.  Cancer and laryngeal problems are causes of  narrowing airways.  Ideally, this case will be seen and any abnormalities found and treated while still in the early stages ie while the patient is well.  The question is, if the case is going to get worse, how big is this window?  In some cases, the signs can go on for months or years - although a chance to treat them has often then been be lost.  Other cases can deteriorate surprisingly fast and in those cases, a wait of two weeks may prove significant. The best plan is to ask your vet or a suitably qualified nurse for triage, which is the assessment of the patient (often over the phone) in order to determine how the urgency compares to the urgency of other cases that they have waiting, and how long they are happy for the patient to wait to be seen.  I am in no position to do this for them, but I expect that they may warn you that if there are any changes in the seeming stability of the case, your dog should always be assessed again, however short a time is left to wait. I hope that something here is helpful.