Kennel Cough

[lute]

i was walking Gracie and Kodie today and our neighbor has 2 rotties. (i saw him hitting one not too long ago so i'm already fed up with this guy.) one of the rotties has kennel cough. a bad case of it too. i know the dogs aren't vaccinated. i had to nag this guy to get one of the dogs a dog house. my dogs are vaccinated so i'm not too worried about them getting it, but i'm worried about all the stray dogs in town that are not vaccinated. pretty much none of them have been vaccinated...ever.

do you think that if i bought a vaccination for this poor rottie that the guy will let me give it to the dog? will it do much good even though the dog already has kennel cough?

[Jessika]

If the dog is in need of veterinary attention, then probably all you can do is report it to your local shelter or authorities. You can try talking to him, but I would let them deal with it to be honest.

[Lori Jordan]

i am going through this right now my Newf molly has wonderd the last 2 weeks and now all 3 if my dogs have it you need to tell him that it is very contagious!!!!! and as a responsible owner he needs to get something done and as someone as kind as you i would hope he would appreciate what you want to do

[Glacier]

The vaccine is completely useless if the dog already has the disease. You should also be aware that your dogs are not completely protected. Kennel cough has many strains. Vaccinated dogs are protected against only that strain in the vaccine. They can still get a different one--just like your flu shot only protects against certain strains of the flu not all of them! Keep them well away from the infected dog. Kennel cough is airborne so if this is a close neighbor isolation may not be possible. My dogs all caught it two years ago from a kennel over a mile away--course every sled dog yard for 100 miles had kennel cough that spring!