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Kennel Cough?

5K views 35 replies 11 participants last post by  triciakoontz 
#1 ·
*Chloe receives all of her shots, on time. Including the kennel cough.

I boarded Chloe over Presidents weekend so I could go to Florida to see my mother. I picked her up on 2/18. (she was in the kennel 2/14--2/18) This 3/01) friday night I noticed her coughing. I freak a bit, like many her I worry about DCM. I could not get her in the vet until this afternoon.

She has a honk cough with a gag at the end. This is worse when she gets excited. She has been a bit more lazy and cuddly over the weekend. And this morning she did not want breakfast. She was eating normal until this morning. Her head was hotter than normal this morning. Could this be kennel cough?

I have never had this issue before. I prey its not her heart!
 
#3 ·
Good morning Blueberry - I will say yes - even with a vaccination - I think I remember that they can still get it - but just not as severe .

I do have a question for yeah - How long - after she was home from the kennel till she got sick ? I'm thinking signs would show up in 4 or 5 days

Question 2 - Have you called the kennel and asked them if there is any other sick dogs in the same time frame ? All kennels around - you must have paper work from your Vet on shoots + Bordettella + they would not kennel a sick dog .

Most likely your Vet will run blood work , maybe even a urine sample - Might be a good idea to call the vet this morning and ask if they are - that way you can catch one before you go - just put it in the fridg. to keep it -

Keep us updated !

Doc
 
#16 ·
Did Vet give meds......or watch and wait mode ?

It takes alot of trust for us to leave our dogs with anyone ....I am certain you are disappointed.
Keep an eye on food and fluid intake.......look for improvements .......
Some coughing is good.....bodies way of clearing phlem out the lungs ....
Collars around the neck can cause irritation to the already irritated trachea.....
Add some moisture to the air via humidifier especially if you have the heat on.........
Poor pup! Hoping she feels better soon......
 
#22 ·
A little late to this as I've been out of town, but my Mabel came down with kennel cough while I was down in Florida with her - most likely picked it up at dog shows in Maryland before we went to Florida. Now that I'm back, I'm waiting for Harvard and Jezebel to get it as well - ugh. Mabel is getting better at this point. I left Florida early because of it..... she had her borditella and the flu shots as well. Just like our flu shot, it does not cover everything.
 
#24 ·
Here are the first few lines from the link/article linked by LadyDi above:

"FORT DE SOTO PARK, Fla. (WFLA) - A potentially-deadly virus could be lurking at Fort De Soto Park, and your dog could be at risk.

Infected raccoons are to blame.

Recent testing found they have Canine distemper.

The virus is easy to spread,and potentially hard to treat.

Testing found Canine distemper in raccoons at the popular park."

I thought the info should be posted here for those of you who may not want to click on the link.
 
#26 ·
About the raccoons with distemper and the danger to dogs--Portland, Oregon has lots of raccoons and periodically there will be a distemper outbreak among them--the dogs at danger are unvaccinated dogs--the distemper in raccoons is the same distemper that occurs in dogs. It usually kills off a large number of raccoons and most of the time no dogs are affected (or infected).

The last few times these outbreaks have occurred the local papers or other news agencies have actually contacted the Portland Veterinary Association and had them provide them with a realistic alert and warning.

There is an antibiotic that an be given to a dog exposed to kennel cough if given pretty immediately after the exposed dog was exposed. This happened to my dogs (Burma was maybe 4 months, Toad who was around 7 years) one of our vets had a young Lab who turned up with kennel cough (probably from a dog park where her husband took the lab the week before). Both of my dogs hung out with the Lab at the clinic and as soon as the vet realized that her dog had kennel cough she offered all of our dogs a prophylactic dose--for my dogs it worked--neither of them came down with kennel cough.

Neither of them was vaccinated for Bordetella--I stopped even bothering to give that vaccine after I had two fully vaccinated dogs with cases of kennel cough. It's true that bordetella is one of those microbes that mutates fast and has a bunch of serovars and if your vaccinated dog is exposed to one of those it'll end up with kennel cough--sometimes a mild case because he had partial protection. But my Aussie had the worst case I had ever seen--I had to confine him to the kitchen because he coughed gallons of "stuff"--his nose ran, his eyes ran but he never stopped eating and never even acted like he felt bad--the only thing he got at the vet was meds to relieve the cough. It lasted about 9 days and for several of those days I was mopping the kitchen floor five or six times a day.

All of the Aussie's vaccines had been given in Vermont and he came down with kennel cough in Seattle--that vet speculated that east coast might have been using a vaccine that worked well locally but just wasn't covering what the west coast had.

It really is a lot like the common cold--except that Bordetella is a microbe and not a virus.

Anyway--glad she's feeling better...

dobebug
 
#27 ·
@ Doc

Yup... Thats why I hate hospitals. That is where you get sick. My wife elderly aunt did not die from her hip surgery, she died from a myriad of infections she picked up in the hospital after surgery. Hospitals due the best they can. Still...

All the surgeries that I had done recently were done outpatient, where they will not accept "sick" people. In order for them to consider you, they require a complete physical and a sign off by both the primary care physician and the surgeon. In the case of my joint replacements, I was on prophylactic meds, nasal, oral and topical for about a week before surgery. Upon intake they do a pretty thorough pre-surgery exam.

No sick people are ever in the Surgicenter. Not doctors, staff or patients. It was pretty much the same with my eye surgeries. In case of an emergency, there is a major hospital just blocks away where all the doctors at the Orthopedic clinic do their out patient surgeries.

The sickest that I ever been was in a hospital ICU years ago. Not their fault, I had at systemic Strep infection. It was the worst experience of my life. I never want to die in a hospital. Any place else would be fine. LOL

John
Portland OR
 
#28 · (Edited)
One addition to what Dobebug said above.....

The article talked about unvaccinated dogs being at risk due to distemper...this especially applies to puppies who have not had their full round of puppy shots.

There are different combinations of shots available, but they should include vaccines for distemper, adeno virus (hepatitis), parvo and parainfluenza--the core vaccines. Leptospirosis can be included if you think your puppy may be at risk, but he definitely needs the others. Typically the puppy will receive three or four shots about 2 weeks apart, starting between 6 and 8 weeks and continuing until the puppy is at least 14 weeks old. Depending on the age of your puppy when you get him, your breeder should have already given some of those shots.

One reason the shots are given in a series is that the puppy can have some carry-over immunity from his mom and that immunity can interfere with the puppy's ability to create his own. It is hard to tell exactly when that will occur, so you start vaccinating early and continue the series until the age when the puppy should definitely have made his own set of antibodies for these diseases.

But the puppy may still be at risk of catching one of the diseases mentioned until the shot series is complete. The article was talking about distemper, which is a very serious, potentially fatal disease. Parvovirus is included in the shots, and it is another really serious disease that dobermans seem to be especially susceptible to.

That is the main reason, really, that it is recommended that you don't bring your puppy to places that other dogs frequent until their core vaccine series is complete.

Rabies, of course, is another shot puppies need, in many places by law. It is generally given by itself, at about 4 months or so.
 
#29 ·
I try to get a pet sitter whenever possible to avoid all the issues at any boarding facility. It comes out a lot cheaper for me - $40/day vs. minimum of $52 at a facility. My sitter does two stops during the day + stays at night for that, so Boon gets out at least every 4 hours and lots of attention. It’s kind of a pain to get in with a good one but well worth the trouble.

By the way, Kennel cough is a broad term for everything from the bordatella BACTERIUM to a large number of viruses which can cause bad coughs and are easily transmitted. One vaccine doesn’t confer immunity to everything but the bordatella bacteria can be extremely bad and I would never do all the classes/competitions I take Boon to without that vaccine- just not worth the risk it might prevent. Of course they can still get something. Careful nursing is usually all it takes to get over Kennel cough but a nasty cough always warrants a vet check in my book.
 
#30 ·
Hi Tricia,

Yeah, I'm one of the pet sitters--and I only take dogs I know well--they come to my house (except for a group that consists of 4 to 6 dogs--2 Chinese Crested's and the rest Dobermans) and a cat--for those I go to their house with Toad and spend the night--feed them dinner and breakfast--take them out in one of their big fenced yards and pick up poop after they've been out and go home, with Toad) and feed my cats--breakfast.

But that one only happens a few times a year. The other dogs, several Goldens, a Lab and cute medium sized mutt are mostly owned by the vets at the clinic where I work. I used to have a Dobe bitch come to me for 6 to 8 weeks in the summer while her owner a college professor went on trips to Africa, South America, India etc.

But the requirement is that my dog(s) get along with any boarders and all of them did--the Lab and the youngest Dobe always slept in my bedroom at night on the same dog bed--the Goldens who are all rowdy get an x-pen in the computer room.

And I'm cheap by comparison to any boarding facility.

And it's true that a lot of things that get called kennel cough aren't Bordetella (which is why the vaccine didn't work) and are viruses to boot and I'm definitely with you Tricfia about coughs. Any cough gets my dog to the vet--'course I kind have an advantage since for many years my dogs were at the vet at work with me on an every weekday basis
And even now if I call and say I've got a problem I can figure that one of the vets will either come in early to see my dog or cat or they'll give up part of their lunch hour or stay after they are off work to look and see what's going on.

dobebug
 
#32 ·
I use a pet sitter (so very rarely, lol), but...so worth it. My dogs stay with her, but she takes a very, VERY limited number of dogs, all very well known to her. They stay in her home, much like Bug. She is a vet tech at our clinic, and my dogs have known her all their lives. They LOVE staying with Jenny. Richter, especially, doesn't really like coming home sometimes. His "girlfriend', an Aussie (what IS it with those Aussies????) lives their. He thinks Paulie is just about the best thing on earth. He stayed with Jenny when we took our first vacation when he was less than a year old and he fell in LOVE with Paulie...she was bred by our vet, who shows and breeds lovely Aussies...he kind of has had a thing for them ever since!

It's great to have someone like that to take care of our dogs. She lives really close to me, too. They have a bigger yard than they do at home, Jenny lets them sleep with her, they have playmates...no vaccines required that I wouldn't already give, plus, I have zero worries about care, because she knows everything I do, and can care for them at least as well as I do. And a bonus is that if, worst case, something DOES happen, she can get them to my vet, and she is authorized on our account to do any treatment. She and my vet both know what I would do and it's a good feeling to not worry when we're gone.
 
#33 ·
Chloe is totally back to her old self. She really enjoyed having us home over spring break. We both work in the public school system. Bob is able to let her out during lunch each day during the regular school day.

I have boarded my dogs for years and have never had an issue. I have always used my vet as a place that I know she is safe when I'm out of town. I was always scared of leaving her with someone at my house. I guess I'm worried they would leave her outside and leave. At least at the vet I'm fairly certain she is trapped and will get medical attention if she needs it. And then cost is a factor, 45.00 vs 150.00. Money is tight right now.
 
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