Kennel Cough

We adopted little Ripley (miniature poodle) from the shelter this past Thursday. He had a little cough (very infrequent...maybe 3-4 times since Thursday) and I mentioned it to the vet on Saturday when he had his first visit. He thought he might be getting over a bout of kennel cough. Well in the middle of the night last night my Bella started coughing. I guess we can safely assume now that she has it too. My Pumpkin (RB) developed this years ago after I had boarded him. I don't remember if we gave him medication for it or not. I don't feel it requires a call to the vet and, being a Sunday, I would be referred to the Emergency Vet so I'm just going to sit tight for now. Anyone have any recent experience with kennel cough?

Pam,

I told you about my experience with kennel cough in the other thread. I'll try to find some more specific information though..

Here's a few things I found about the different opinions in medication. It seems that most vets do like to give the medication. I have had good luck with my fosters without medication though. It went away quickly on its own every time. The main reason vets don't use medication is that they may become resistant to the medication and if they got pneumonia or something, the meds wouldn't work:

If your dog is diagnosed with kennel cough, your veterinarian will likely prescribe an antibiotic to help prevent any secondary bacterial infection and a cough suppressant. We have found in those persistent cases of kennel cough, the use of a relatively new antibiotic, azithromycin, to be effective. This medication is very effective in the treatment of the mycoplasmal forms of tracheobronchitis. Again, before any treatment regimen administered, is it is imperative that a proper veterinary examination and appropriate diagnostics be performed.

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Some vets feel that it is best not to treat this condition with antibiotics since it is almost always self limiting and the organism is a normal inhabitant of the upper airways. Treatment may lead to resistance problems and difficulty treating the most serious complication, pneumonia, if it occurs. So many dogs are very uncomfortable due to the severity of the cough that I think most vets do use antibiotics to treat this.

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Although most cases will go away on their own, we like to think we can hasten recovery with antibiotics to directly kill the Bordetella organism. Alternatively, Kennel Cough may be treated with cough suppressants to provide comfort during natural recovery. Or antibiotics and cough suppressants can be combined.

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And this page is 6 strategies to beat kennel cough:

http://www.petsmart.com/pet_library/...el_cough.shtml

Malone got kennel cough when he was only a few weeks old (10 I think). I was pretty scared & took him right off to the vet, only to have them tell me that he would be fine and to keep an eye on it. They told me that they only prescribe medication when an animal has another disease on top of it, or if it starts to become really bad. It took about 3 weeks, but sure enough he got over it, and has been fine since.

A call to your vet might give you peace of mind, and would be worth it, just to find out what their professional opinion is.

Hope your pups are feeling better soon!!! Ripley is beautiful!!!

The info that Aly gave you is great, Pam. I don't know if you remember me mentioning that just a couple of days after I took in the foster pups from the Michigan Humane Society, they came down with Kennel Cough. It was never a bad case, but naturally since Kersey was in their faces so much and she licked them, played with them, slept with them, ate with them, and drank from their water dish, she did get ultimately get the kennel cough virus but since she had been vaccinated, it was really only bad for one night. Everytime she coughed, it triggered her gag reflex and she was throwing up all night long, which a pain. It was nothing serious, and since she was vaccinated, the cough was only really bad the first night, and the next day I took her to the vet, got her on antibiotics, and within just a couple of days the cough was gone. The puppies, however, had it for about two weeks and they had to be put on two rounds of antibiotics. So it's nothing serious at all, as long as it's treated. It's more annoying then anything, especially when your dog is puking with every cough!

Good luck and kiss those precious dogs for me.

Aly, Leslie and Cookie Baker thank you so much! I am planning to call my vet tomorrow to see what his thoughts are. The funny thing is that I never knew there was a vaccine. It's strange that it was never suggested to me by the vet. Then again, maybe Bella already received it along with all of the numerous shots she has had and I just wasn't told or maybe I forgot. :confused: That would be nice because then she would be over it quickly. I must ask about this. The article mentioned throwing up foam and Bella did that twice today. I feel so bad for these two. Leslie I don't think I read the thread where you mentioned that your little fosters had it, although I was following that thread. Bella has a grooming appointment on the 31st, so I guess I had better cancel it for now. I wouldn't want her infecting the other pupsters. :( I'll keep you posted and thanks again so much!
Oh my this is going to be a sleepless night for me since Bella will be in the Big Bed and Ripley sleeps in a crate in my room. They are both taking turns hacking now. Poor widdle doggies. :( Poor widdle me with bags under my eyes tomorrow! :)

Oh poor babies...hack, hack, hack.

I've never had my dogs vaccinated for kennel cough because I have never had them boarded, but the past year I decided that inasmuch as they come in close contact with where other dogs are or have been while at the groomers, it may not be a bad idea, so we got the vaccination. I was surprised to find out that they just spray something up their nose (no shot). I doubt that they would give it routinely without asking you if you wanted it.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Rachel
I doubt that they would give it routinely without asking you if you wanted it.

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Rachel I am sure you are right. Since I had no plans to board Bella and was doing all of her grooming myself for the first year or so he may have suggested it and I didn't see the need. To be honest, though, I just don't remember any conversation about kennel cough vaccine.

Ripley had a good night - slept like a baby. It was a different story with poor Bella. She hacked and hacked and got up several times to spit up foam on the rug and kept hopping back into bed with me. I tried to soothe her as best I could and we both got very little sleep. Today I need to purchase some sort of spot cleaner :rolleyes: as well as make that call to the vet.

Awwww, poor Bella dear. And poor Pam dear! Maybe Bella has a furball? :)

Hope the cats don't get it too! My guess is that this virus is all about dogs and not kitties! Kitties have their own, special illness/virus that they get at the shelters!

Hope all goes smoothly at the Vet's and that everyone recovers quickly.

Pam, you might want to pack those "bags" and stay in a hotel and let hubby deal with the hacking! Right!

;)

I'm sorry the pups aren't feeling well, Pam:( Aly and everyone else have given you great advice. In the past I had passed on the bortadella vaccine. But the past two years I have had the vet give it just in case they had to be boarded in an emergency. Here, all boarding kennels, even vet boarding facilities, absolutely require it; no exceptions. But getting the vaccine is no guarantee that a dog will not contract it. There are so many new strains forming yearly that the vaccine may be ineffective against. I hope Bella and Ripley are both feeling a little better today. Please check in after speaking with the vet. And I was so happy to read that little Ripley is improving in the potty dept.! Like you said, potty training in winter is miserable for doggies and humans!!:D And your sig. is so precious!! What a beautiful furfamily!!:)

We, too, get the innoculation, "just in case", as Honey and Lilly are boarded on occassion, plus they go to the groomers as well. I do think that they can now give it as an injection or the traditional nasal treatment.

Hope they both quit that coughing soon, Pam!!! :)

Well they have had their first dose of medication (amoxycillin). He said unfortunately it may get worse before it gets better. You can be sure I will get the vaccine. This is just awful with the two of them coughing sometimes in unison. Plus it is soooo cold outside today and the rest of the week is going to be even colder that I hate the thought of them going out in it while they are coughing. I feel that they should be in bed under blankies. LOL! Here's hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.

Listen to them cough is sooo hard!! Cincy got Kennel Cough this past June after my mom adopted taggert from a shelter, even aftershe has been vaccinated (required for Doggy Dayschool). We found a vaporizer really helped her. We also gave her human cough medicine (no alcohol or codeine) til we got Tussigon from the vet.

Aw Pam..Hope the puppsters are better today. And that you caught a few winks. Cody once had the bordatella nose spray vaccine (don't remember why) but years later when I was going to board him, he went ballistic (MY Cody??) when they tried to spray his nose, so he had to go thru 2 rounds of shots. Hope the kitties are ok. I think you all need to crawl into the big bed on this freezing butt day and snuggle under the blankies!!!!! Kisses and huggies to all

We had a much better night last night. Bella only woke up about 3 times coughing and it wasn't nearly as bad - no foam came up this time! YAY! Ripley slept through again. :) I have noticed now that they mainly hack when they come inside from being out and running around. They have been on the medicine only two days now (4 doses) and they seem to be improving. :) Thankfully, this is not something my kitties can catch. Whew! This is enough excitement for me!

Thanks for the update, Pam. Good to know that the meds are taking effect already. We've been worried about these two dears.