Kennel Cough

[welshlibranr]

My neighbour's two dogs have just returned from a week in boarding kennels and they have kennel cough. The gardens are not fenced off and therefore they share the space with my dog, my neighbour didn't tell me about the problem until after her dogs had been in the garden, and one of them had been briefly in contact with my dog, he's diabetic and nearly 13 years old, and so I'm worried that he may contract kennel cough, if he hasn't already. Can anyone give me some advice about minimising the risk to my dog, and the treatment if he does get it. TIA..............welsh

[paraffin]

Hi welsh:

As far as I'm aware it's treatable by either antibiotics or cough suppressants(basically cough mixture).

Your dog would obviously have to have contracted it and it'll be obvious if it has, in which case, unfortunately, it would of course mean a trip to the vet's with the obligatory expense which that would incur. Perhaps your neighbour would "cough up"?(Sorry !!!)

Good luck.

[lankeela]

Kennel Cough can be airborn so they don't even need to come into contact, and most fit, healthy dogs would shrug it off with a course of antibiotics, although very young or very old dogs can suffer more from it. Definitely get your vet to check yours, as it takes about ten days from being in contact with it to the symptoms showing. Benylin can be used to relieve the cough if they actually start, but antibiotics will be needed to clear the infection.

[welshlibranr]

Thank you for the advice parrafin and Lankeela,( very droll parrafin! I'm quite sure that she won't "cough up" though.) I will keep a close eye on Ollie, he's fine so far, fingers crossed!! Thanks again both............................welsh

[happy_face]

My 2 dogs havehad Kennel Cough a couple of times and they got it from walking in the park.
There are so many different strains of it that even if you vaccinate your dog, it's not necessarily covered by all the strains.
I've found on both occasions that the sooner you notice the signs and get them treated the better it is. So once you hear a cough or two (sounds a bit like a seal) then get him straight down the vets. The first time mine had it I didn't react at fast as I didn't have the experience to go on and their coughs were quite bad. If you can catch it before it progresses too far then the cough shouldn't be constant nor keep you up at night.
Good luck

[welshlibranr]

Thanks happy_face,
I,m keeping a close eye on Ollie, and he's fine so far, but if he shows any signs of it, I'll get him to the vet pronto! Thanks again................welsh