Kennel Cough

[doris2008]

My staffie was diagnosed with kennel cough yesterday. We think it got it from a collie on the farm i keep my horse. Collie was in kennels a couple of weeks ago, had not had vacc, came back coughing but soon stopped. Owner had not mentioned it & not done anything about it, so I had been bringing my dog up as normal.
Sunday eve he started coughing, then all night Sunday. Took him to vets yesterday morning. He's on antibiotics for 10 days & vet says he will be contagious for up to 2 months?! Is this correct? Means the poor lad can't play with any of his mates as none have had vacc.

ALso he is coughing horrendously at the moment, is there anything I can give him which may ease it a little?

poor chap is looking very fed up!

ETA - vet also said normally they have one case a week of kennel cough - last week they had 8 & yesterday morning they had already had 6! Looks like there is a lot going round so be careful if your dog had not had a vacc - I for one will certainly be getting one as soon as he is allowed!

 

[sloulou]

My dog has just had kennel cough

apparently the kennel club says that the dog should be kept away from others from 28 days from the last cough. Although various other sources online etc. say 15 days from the last cough (which is what my vet said).

I have decided to start lead walks well away from other dogs at 15 days - then go back to parks/ other dogs once the 28 days are up.

The vaccine doesn't actually protect against all strains of kennel cough

My vet says they are getting one a day at the moment - there is an outbreak where I live.

 

[lastresort]

My dog has just got over it its awful. I was told 2 weeks away from other dogs. seems to be quite bad at the mo by me. I was told no exercise for a week and use a harness Nothing you can do to help I dont think.

Its awful to watch them poor things

 

[doris2008]

I can't believe how quickly it got so bad! He really sounds terrible!

 

[sloulou]

The anti biotics worked really quickly on mine - he was bringing up bile all over the place at his worst point

 

[doris2008]

Widget - think we're going through that bit at the moment! He keeps having these coughing fits which sounds liek he is choking.I flew out of bed several times last night thinking he couldn't breathe!
Hoping they start working soon, need some sleep!

Thanks for the info guys.

 

[chester1]

I think you can get viral and bacterial KC, so ABs wont act against the viral infection itself but will act against any secondary complications such as pneumonia.

I think the vet is right about the 2 months. While it is fairly easily brushed off by healthy dogs it could be very serious for those who are frail or with an otherwise compromised immune system.

Some people give children's cough syrup at the appropriate dosage for weight.

 

[SSM]

I thought Kennels would not take a dog that had not had the Kennel Cough cover within 6 months?

 

[doris2008]

It would appear these kennels didn't even ask!! I too thought you had to have a certificate to prove they had been vaccinated.

The vet did say that it could be viral or bacterial. Am hoping they will do the trick but as you say if it is viral then they will at least stop it from worsening to the chest.

He is an otherwise extremley healthy young dog.

 

[Acolyte]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought Kennels would not take a dog that had not had the Kennel Cough cover within 6 months?

[/ QUOTE ]

I put my dogs in an excellent kennels the other weekend and asked them this question - they said they no longer insisted on it, as a lot of owners had found their dogs developed kennel cough after being vaccinated so it caused more problems than it solved???

Also, as someone has said, the vaccine does not protect against all strains so is not always effective

 

[sloulou]

Anyway - my dog got it from another dog in the park - neither of them has been into kennels recently... so you can actually pick it up anywhere as it is so contagious

 

[Acolyte]

Yep I have heard this too

I have been very very lucky as none of mine have ever had it

 

[c7mlm]

when we had racing greyhounds the kennels always had kennel cough. dogs were travelling all over the country and it was inevitable that they would bring something back with them. they would use kennels at the track that other dogs had been in. normally when one kennel got it all the others would finish. if you think about it each race has 6 dogs in it all from different kennels normally. 12 races on a card so that is 72 dogs just using one trap per night

 

[Amber123]

I think there is a lot of kennel cough going around at the moment. I have three dogs all with it, they caught it from the agility class, someone took there dog to the class with it!! I have kept dogs all my life and its the first time any of my dogs have had it or I have ever seen a dog with it.. I was told by the agility leader to give my dogs childs cough medicine as it works for hers, but I havent as it will probably give mine a bad stomach and dont want them to feel any worse than they already do! The vet has given antibiotics and just said that resting the dogs and keeping them warm and dry is the best thing for it, also he said steam helps so if you fill a bath and just keep your dogs in the bathroom for a little while this may help them.

 

[sade1986]

[ QUOTE ]
I was told by the agility leader to give my dogs childs cough medicine as it works for hers, but I havent as it will probably give mine a bad stomach and dont want them to feel any worse than they already do!

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't give child's cough medicine to a dog, alot of drugs that people take are really bad for dogs, i think paracetemol might be one and i know asprin is really bad for cats. I have also heard that cough medicines pretty much have no effect on people, other than to soothe on the way down so i would assume they are not of much use to dogs either.

Probably better to just ensure they have constant access to drinking water so they can get a drink if they get all coughy (can't think of a better word). Hope your doggies feeling better soon.

 

[haycroft]

benelin for chesty coughs CAN be given to dogs...alot of whippet racing /coursing had been cancelled due to KC and owners give their dogs this....touch woood my dogs havent caught KC
your dog can still catch KC even if its been vaccined against as there are abou t 32 different strains of KC sothe vaccine will only guard againt one of the strains of KC

 

[sade1986]

[ QUOTE ]
benelin for chesty coughs CAN be given to dogs

[/ QUOTE ]

I stand corrected, i never knew this. Had a quick look online and the active ingredient is Guaifenesin which is apparently used in the treatment of congestion of dogs.

 

[fruity]

you can give antibiotics for kennel cough to clear any bacteria,but the dog has to fight the virus itself as the there isn't any medication available to treat the virus.
Most decent kennels INSIST on your dog being vaccinated to at least protect their premises from being affected,it's not a must though so generally the ones that don't ask that your dog is vaccinated arn't the most prfessional and are not thinking of your dogs health, they are merely thinking of the money they are getting.

NEVER give Paracetamol or Aspirin to a dog it is poisenous to them.

At our surgery we are seeing at least two K.C cases a week and YES it is everywhere at the mo.The tail tail signs are a harsh constant cough -it doesn't go away or eases and also feel under the dogs jaw at the back and if the glands are swollen your dog probably has K.C and you should take it to the vets for treatment and isolate it from other dogs immediatly.

 

[doris2008]

Don't know about anyone else..but me & my KC suffering pooch had a rough night! He was up most of the night coughing his socks up...regularly bringing up piles of while flemmy stuff..nice! So I didn't get much sleep. He finally seemed to crash at about 5 this morning..feel like I have a new born child I've been up so much!!

REALLy hope it settles down a bit soon...may give the benelin a try in the hope I might get some sleep tonight!

 

[Spotnik]

Kennel cough is caused by the bordetella bacterium, it is contagious between dogs and cats so if you keep both, be aware.

The good news is that there is a highly effective vaccine for bordetella. The vaccine is squirted into the dog's/cat's nose so no need for injections.

Yan

 

[Ellies_mum2]

My two came down with kennel cough just after we brought them home from Dogs Trust. Took them back to see their vet and both had an injection and a course of A-B's but weren't told to keep them away from other dogs though. Was told to put them on a light diet though