Kennel Cough

Milo was making gagging and choking and snorting sounds over the weekend. I brought him in to the vet today, since it was not getting any better. He ate a ton of grass at my mom's place and I thought he might have something stuck in his throat. The vet checked him over and said he looked good, other than the coughing episodes. No fever and his lungs sounded clear. He's had his bordatella vaccine, but the vet said it could be viral. So, no antibiotics since he's young and healthy and it's not that severe.

Has anyone had experience with kennel cough before? I'm going to keep a close eye on him - if he gets worse, we will go back to the vet for antibiotics. I'm a bit worried about the pugs getting it, too. Not sure how just Milo would pick it up. They are not really exposed to other dogs. Basil is on Atopica, so I'm concerned about his immune system, but I will just keep an eye on him, too.

if it is kennel cough, it is contagious and the pugs could catch it. I'd try to keep them separated until Milo is feeling better, or you know for sure what it is.

the bordatella vaccine doesn't cover all strains of it - so it's possible to still catch kennel cough even with the vaccine.

hope he's feeling better soon!

Gooey had kennel cough during fostering with Kim which he picked up from a Pugalug event. I don't think any of Kim's resident pugs caught it from him. When I fostered Quincy, he brought it with him from the shelter and had quite a bad case. Of my permanents, only Betsy caught it and only a very mild case. Neither Quincy nor Betsy went on any meds and I just watched that it didn't get worse. Hers left in about 3-4 days, his in a couple of weeks. Strength of the dog's immune system is a factor in whether they will catch it or not. I look at it kind of like childhood chicken pox - while you don't necessarily want them to catch it, it's not a terrible thing. And once exposed, I think they have a certain immunity to it. You just have to watch that it doesn't develop into bronchitis.

Kennel cough doesn't carry a fever, as opposed to canine influenza which does. Canine influenza can develop into bronchopneumonia very rapidly and antibiotics should be given immediately if this happens.

Adrianna:
The reality is that kennel cough is contagious before a dog shows signs so there may not be any point in quarantining Milo from the others--they've already been exposed.

I get dogs through my house with kennel cough all the time and my guys never get it and are never vaccinated for it. Whoever is the newest permanent resident usually gets it the first year with me and then rarely gets it again.

If he gets worse, then do take him back to the vet--and don't muck around with clavamox. Ask for Baytril as it is the most effective in my experience.

My dogs got kennel cough when I first started fostering years ago. It caused pretty minor illness and once the initial vet visit was made, there were no follow-up visits because everyone got better on their own. Like Blanche, I no longer vaccinate for it, the vaccine is so narrow in scope, I don't see the point. That was years ago, and any respiratory infections have been very minor. I think fostering was like the human equivalent of sending your child to day care. They get sick a lot that first year, but then their immune system is no longer naive and they don't get sick as much.

I did have a few dogs in my dog training classes who had a long, lingering illness, but that was 3 or 4 dogs after doing thousands of classes. I understand that kennel cough is a syndrome. It's usually caused by a virus, just like the human cold and how sick the dog gets depends on what he is infected by, how the dog's immune system responds and if there's a secondary bacterial infection, but its usually a nuisance illness rather than anything serious.

The kennel cough vaccine is for a bacterium, one that's very closely related to human whooping cough, which I found interesting. But alas, the bulk of what causes kennel cough in dogs is viral :(

I will also say that once the first dog had it, the other dogs caught it in pretty short order, lots of snot and coughing!

Oh yes, I remember the snot - disgusting! Thanks for the memory ... LOL.

northernwitch wrote:Adrianna:
The reality is that kennel cough is contagious before a dog shows signs so there may not be any point in quarantining Milo from the others--they've already been exposed.

I get dogs through my house with kennel cough all the time and my guys never get it and are never vaccinated for it. Whoever is the newest permanent resident usually gets it the first year with me and then rarely gets it again.

If he gets worse, then do take him back to the vet--and don't muck around with clavamox. Ask for Baytril as it is the most effective in my experience.

ya, that's what i was thinking - same as for colds in humans. i don't really have a set-up to quarantine him anyway. i guess i could do it, but it would be very hard and the little guy would not like it. so far, the pugs are okay. i will bring him back for Baytril if anything worse happens. poor little dude. he actually sounds a bit better today, so maybe the vet visit was therapeutic.

thanks for the advice everyone!

I have had many fosters with it and a couple times mine have gotten minor symptoms from it. If it causes an infection then the antibiotics will help with the infection, but if there is no green snot, no need. I was just old to use Robitussin and give them about 3 ml to help with the coughing. It did make a big difference if it was a bad case.

The boys both got kennel cough a few years ago from the dog park. Grrr!
It was just a pure hack, not like nornal pug snorts or anything.

I just used an OTC herb, http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/kcdefense-hacking-coughing-cats-dogs.html?ysmchn=GGL&ysmcpn=Google%2520PetAlive&ysmgrp=PA+KC-Defense&ysmtac=PPC&ysmtrm=kennel%2520cough%2520herbal%2520remedy

I cant remember how long it took to get rid of it but it worked. Otherwise they acted fine.