Kennel Cough in Min Pin

[tinypaws]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum. I have been trying to get some advice and support from others. So here it goes. I adopted a mixed terrier pup from a shelter a month ago. She is active, playful and has a good appetite. She came home with diarrhea and loose stools everytime she went and congestation. I took her to my vet who put her on albon and cefa drops for her cold. The stool sample was negative for parasites, worms, giardia and coccidia. A couple of days with that meds her diarrhea became worse and bloody. So i took her back to the shelters clinic. They said she seemed healthy. Stool was negative but loose. They gave flagyl and Cefa. The next day she developed a cough. A couple days after that green mucus out of her nose. She went back to the clinic. The vet gave us the option of keeping her because her diarrhea was worse and she had pneumonia. She has been in the clinic a week now. Not any better with the diarrhea. The meds they gave her weren't working. They are now going to try different food. So my 10 month old 7.5 pound min pin at home developed the cough and now is on clavamax and cough suppresants for kennel cough. No Doubt caught this from Nala. She is energetic whereas he is lethargic, not eating and shivering. He also whimpers when i touch him. I am a worried mess. He has been on his meds three days. What do you guys think?

[lv4dogs]

Welcome to pet talk!

If he is not eating & has all those symptoms I would make a re-check appointment with your vet, or at least call & explain to them what is going on.

It does seem as though your vet is prescribing the right meds that are mainly given to dogs w/ those symptoms, for some reason it is not helping your pups. I suspect something else may going on. The pneumonia will take a while to get rid of though. But the kennel cough takes a while to get rid of you should not be seeing him that lethargic, not eating etc... after 3 days on the meds. He should be perking back up.
Since you have battling this problem, mainly with Nala, but now with both dogs for a month & still no improvement I would probably seek a second opinion, especially for Nala.
Did they do any blood tests on her?
Kennel cough will usually go away left untreated if it does not turn into something worse, like you said w/ Nala, pneumonia. BUT with smaller dogs, they seem to get sicker faster & easier *usually* unfortunatly.

The food change may help w/ Nala's stools.

I hope your babies get better soon!

[wolflady]

First, welcome to Pet Talk! I'm sorry to hear about your little pup.
Could you try a different vet for a second opinion? I agree with luv4dogs, there could be something else going on. Has your pup been checked for parvo?
Even though giardia and coccidia has been ruled out for the loose stools, it may be worth it to run another sample with another vet. Also, perhaps a different medication would be helpful. Metronidiazole can be given for diarrhea, and is typically given for kennel cough, giardia...etc and other diarrhea causing conditions. It sure does sound like kennel cough to me.

Please let us know how they are doing!
**hugs**