buddy has kennel cough

[bellasmum]

hello everyone, Can anone give me any help please.Little Buddy, and only just about 6 months old, has picked up Kennel cough.The vet this morning says he has not got a raised temp. and he is still interested in his food, but the cough is so hard and troublesome.He just cannot seem to sleep. We have antibiotics and are also giving him honey and glycerine. Has antone any tips that will make a difference,It is so hard listening to this awful cough and am praying that he will not get any worse/

[Bill]

Kennel cough is really not a big deal in dogs. Its a little like a human having a cold. I know it's agravating listening to him but in will be gone in a few days. You just have to ride it out. Keep him warm and always have water available to him.

[bellasmum]

Thanks Bill, for putting things in perspective, I suppose it is like me having a head cold and cough and worrying that it could turn into somethiing fatal, I have been thinking just that about Buddy. The cough is like listening to children whilst they are asleep. Feel loads better for your advice.

[RubyRoo]

Do keep your dog away from other dogs, especially older dogs and puppies. Although this disease is not serious is healthy dogs, it can be in old dogs.
Also keep exercise minimal as running around can sometimes cause more extensive problems.

You could also give your dog Kennel Cough Nosodes (homeopathy) to help it go quicker.

[Stephanie]

Ruby has had KC a couple of times, the first time I treated her with AB's then I read and did more research and found that most times they do not need them - KC is a viral infection, and AB's will do nothing at all, vets simply throw AB's at you "just incase" they should get a secondary bacterial infection too. Most times, where the dog is young and otherwise healthy, it is quite capable of fighting the infection off on its own.

Anyway, when Buddy has finished the AB's you might want to put him on pro-biotics for a couple of weeks to try and restore the good bacteria that the AB's will have destroyed in his system - AB's cannot distinguish the difference and destroy both good and bad bacteria............

Ruby got over it pretty quickly, in 3-4 days if I remember rightly, but it can go on longer.

[bellasmum]

Hi there, thanks for all replies, I hope I am not being too optomistic, but, Buddy seems to be very lucky, is still wanting his morning run, just seems a bit irritable at times. I will definately put him on probotics, good advice,thanks.

[Justontime]

Poor Buddy, I hope he gets better soon. Had he had the kennel cough preventative treatment, it is not an injection, they put it up the nose.

[bellasmum]

Hi thanks for your concern.No, he had all his injections .i.e. the two lots and I thought he was covered for everything.When he was diagnosed with kennel cough and I queried his overall protection the vet told me that kennel cough was not given unless asked for.Of course then I remembered Buddy had not been given anything up the nose. I would with hindsight advise anyone to ask for it in addition, its not nice to see a puppy or dog of any age for that matter suffering. Buddys cough has eased a lot, but he is wheezy, so pray that the antibiotics will do the job and prevent any complications.

[Bill]

It's best not to vaccinate a dog agaist kennel cough. I would never have it done. Kennel cough is not a serious disease and the vaccination only covers a small number of variations of the disease. Chances are that he would have gotten it even if he had been vaccinated. Vaccinations of any kind are not without risks. IMO the vaccination is more dangerous than the disease. Your vet did good. Most are not as good simply because they want the money. Antibiotics are not going to do Buddy any good as this disease is a virus and antibiotics have no effect on a virus.

[RubyRoo]

I believe that Kennel Cough is a viral/bacterial infection, which is why some vets will give anti-biotics.

I number of years ago I had my first dog vaccinated for Kennel Cough, before all the knowlege about vaccines and damage they can cause, became known. My dog had had three vaccinations at six month intervals up the nose, but five days after the third vaccine, he developed Kennel Cough. He was much worse than when another of my dogs a few years later picked up the disease, and he was treated with anti-biotics, which started to have affect 24 hours after he was given them. Presumably they work on the bacterial part of the disease.

Years later another vet said that getting the dog vaccinated for Kennel Cough was pointless as there are a number of different types. For example a large dog shelter called Wood Green, near where I used to live had their own variety of it, and it was endemic there. Battersea Dogs Home in London also have problems. You always steared clear of any rescue dogs when they first came out of Wood Green.

Like with horses that cough, care should be taken with exercise while they are coughing.