# Kennel Cough



## JRTPup (Oct 13, 2008)

Does anyone know much about this. I have a friend who was telling me her dog came down with Kennel Cough after staying with some other dogs.


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## LoveNewfies (Jun 18, 2008)

Basically, it's equivalent to a human cold virus. More often than not, the virus will run its course without major problems. Yes, there will be symptoms, but unless they are persistent and are accompanied by green discharge from the nose, eyes, etc. there isn't anything to worry about aside from the fact that it is contagious.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Ditto to the above. You can usually put them in a steamy bathroom or in a room with a humidifier to help with the cough and give some honey. But yes it is extremely contagious so the dog(s) should not be around other dogs at least until 3-4 days after he/she is symptom free. My dog's had it twice, once it took about a month to go away but he was fine, the other time it turned into a sinus infection and he needed antibiotics the virus itself lasted about 3 weeks and then he was good to go.


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## Smilez4u0102 (Nov 3, 2008)

Even if your dog does develop the green snot, it may not necessarily be the end of the world. I got Hoss from a shelter and he developed the green snot and sick sick...my vet scared me and told me he had the worst case scenario of canine distemper, but I refused to put him down and he ended up giving me some antibiotics. With care, over two weeks his symptoms were gone with no more complications of any kind of distemper.

So, dont panic if he does get the green snot. But do be concerned.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Green snot with KC typically just means an infection. A 10-14 day course of antibiotics typically resolve the issue. I wouldn't even be concerned to be honest, it just means it's time for a vet visit and antibiotics to get rid of the infection.


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## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

This is probably a dumb question but can cats get kennel cough?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I have a question for all of you? If your going to give your dogs antibiotics to get rid of the infection, why not just prevent it from happening with bordatella, I regularly (every 6 months) give my 2 BT the intrnasal bordatella becase they love to go on outings where there are many other dogs.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

While most all day care and boarding facilities require the dog be immunized for Bordatella, it isn't foolproof. Even dogs that have been vaccinated can get kennel cough. There are different strains of the virus and the vaccine doesn't cover all strains all the time. Same thing with a human flu shot. It doesn't necessarily guarantee that you won't get the flu, but if you do it will be a lot less to worry about than if you didn't get the flu shot. 

I always have both of my dogs immunized against Bordatella because day care requires it but I know they are not totally immune.

Am I making any sense here at all?


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

LabbieMama said:


> While most all day care and boarding facilities require the dog be immunized for Bordatella, it isn't foolproof. Even dogs that have been vaccinated can get kennel cough. There are different strains of the virus and the vaccine doesn't cover all strains all the time. Same thing with a human flu shot. It doesn't necessarily guarantee that you won't get the flu, but if you do it will be a lot less to worry about than if you didn't get the flu shot.
> 
> I always have both of my dogs immunized against Bordatella because day care requires it but I know they are not totally immune.
> 
> Am I making any sense here at all?


Yep and ditto that. Not to mention it isn't life threatening so why pump them full of vaccines for something that isn't life threatening? The vaccines can have side effects themselves also and can cause problems. I'd prefer to take my chances. My female has never had the bordatella vaccine while I have had her (3 years) and she's been exposed many times and never came down with the virus. My male who passed away also never had the vaccine and never got sick from it either so why give non needed and very potentially useless vaccines?


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## MrPitBull (Dec 23, 2008)

I would not be quick to conclude it is "Kennel Cough". Bought two pups from a respected breeder. A few days after their arrival, they both started coughing. Vet said; "Kennel Cough" and gave medication. Coughing continued. Took to a second vet, who found they had hookworms, which was the cause of the coughing.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

LabbieMama said:


> I always have both of my dogs immunized against Bordatella because day care requires it but I know they are not totally immune.


I NEVER immunize my dogs against bordatella because the vaccine is more dangerous to them than the disease is. They have never had bordetella and I suspect they never will.

I never get flu shots for myself either. :smile:


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Well, I'd like to know how much all you people really take your dogs out! Now, remember my vet was very into me feeding raw, he's into not having my older cat getting her shots every year, just wellness checked, she's 13. And he says that as many places as my dogs go, they should be immunized although not foolproof, because there are so many people out there who don't immunize their pets at all. People are very irresponsible, it's a throwaway society out there, people don't really care that much about their animals. It's only a very small % who really care.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

whiteleo said:


> Well, I'd like to know how much all you people really take your dogs out! Now, remember my vet was very into me feeding raw, he's into not having my older cat getting her shots every year, just wellness checked, she's 13. And he says that as many places as my dogs go, they should be immunized although not foolproof, because there are so many people out there who don't immunize their pets at all. People are very irresponsible, it's a throwaway society out there, people don't really care that much about their animals. It's only a very small % who really care.


My dogs go out daily but mostly around my neighborhood however I foster for a rescue and I pet sit in my home so I have dogs in and out of my home CONSTANTLY some in better health than others. So where my dogs don't go to public places frequently they are exposed to a vast number of dogs from all walks of life on a regular basis which I would assume would be the point of the question.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

whiteleo said:


> And he says that as many places as my dogs go, they should be immunized although not foolproof, because there are so many people out there who don't immunize their pets at all.


You need to do some research on immunizations. If you are just talking about bordetella, this disease is not a serous disease. There is no reason to immunize against it. If your dog gets it, he will sneeze and maybe have a low grade fever for a few days to a week or so. Usually no meds are called for.

If you are talking bout the other diseases ... once puppy shots are taken at 8, 12, and 16 weeks there is no need to vaccinate them again. They will be immune for life. Immunization is not something that just goes away in a year or 3 years. My 4yo Thor got his puppy shots and won't get another vaccination the rest of his life.

Abby hasn't had any in about 5 years and won't have any more. I am confident they are immune to the diseases that are prevelant around here. They both go out among other dogs regularly. They are also in daily contact with wildlife.



> People are very irresponsible, it's a throwaway society out there, people don't really care that much about their animals. It's only a very small % who really care.


I agree that people who never vaccinate are irresponsible but I also agree that people who vaccinate their dogs every year are equally irresponsible. Those vaccines are dangerous and have been linked to numerous chronic health problems in dogs and cats. 

I'm sure neither you or your children get vaccinated every year. Why vaccinate your dogs every year? Just because "its always been done that way"?


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2008)

RawFedDogs said:


> I NEVER immunize my dogs against bordatella because the vaccine is more dangerous to them than the disease is. They have never had bordetella and I suspect they never will.
> 
> I never get flu shots for myself either. :smile:


I really don't have a choice. My dogs are regular day care attendees and if I want to continue sending them to day care, they must be vaccinated. If I didn't send them to day care, I would save my money and not bother getting them vaccinated for bordatella.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

LabbieMama said:


> I really don't have a choice. My dogs are regular day care attendees and if I want to continue sending them to day care, they must be vaccinated. If I didn't send them to day care, I would save my money and not bother getting them vaccinated for bordatella.



Just depends on where you send them. I do doggie daycare and do not require my clients to vaccinate their dogs for it. I don't require vaccines at all under certain circumstances.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

LabbieMama said:


> I really don't have a choice. My dogs are regular day care attendees and if I want to continue sending them to day care, they must be vaccinated. If I didn't send them to day care, I would save my money and not bother getting them vaccinated for bordatella.


I understand your problem. Many day care and many boarding facilities require vaccinations. The way I look at it is if the dogs that are worried about bordatella are vaccinated, they shouldn't be concerned about the ones who choose not to. You could point that out to the day care and MAYBE they will listen.

I remember being in my former vet's office one time when a man brought in his dog on a Friday to be boarded and picked up on Monday morning. The vets office wouldn't take the dog until the owner agreed to let them vaccinate him against bordatella. Of course there was a charge for the vaccination. What they didn't tell him was that it takes 72 hours for the vaccine to become effective. SO the man was picking up his dog before the vaccine took effect. I found another vet after seeing that.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Ya know I guess it really just depends on where you live. Diseases like anything, continue to grow and become rampant if you don't have a good hard cold winter, well we finally just got one that we haven't had since 1996. Yes, I believe in vaccinating 
and worming puppies, especially for parvo, I will continue to do so until I feel that my very young 16 month old dogs truly have built up their immune systems. My daycare that I occasionally take my female, requires vaccines and bordatella, I think all ^ daycare facilities in my area require them.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

You should ask them if they'll accept titers instead. No reason not to, a titer can show whether or not your dog has the antibodies present in its system to fight off the diseased they're worried about. If the dog does, then they are vaccinated against it, they are immune to it, and that's just like saying that they are current on their vaccinations.


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## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

Until reading all the above posts, I always thought Kennel Cough was something you *NEVER *wanted your dog to get and it could easily turn into pneumonia. I was told to always get bordetella shots for protection because my dogs get groomed. Now I will rethink it. Thanks.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

ChattyCathy said:


> Until reading all the above posts, I always thought Kennel Cough was something you *NEVER *wanted your dog to get and it could easily turn into pneumonia. I was told to always get bordetella shots for protection because my dogs get groomed. Now I will rethink it. Thanks.


Well it can turn into pneumonia if not kept an eye on but even then you give them some antibiotics and typically it's gone in a few days. Actually both times my boy had it it never turned into pneumonia, first time he fought it off on his own, second time it was a sinus infection it was in his nasal cavity not his lungs so neither time did it turn into pneumonia. And my female who has never been vaccinated since I've had her, she was licking my boy's face with green snot pouring out of his nose and eating food that fell out of his mouth and around him the entire time (he had it about 8 days before starting antibiotics) and she never came down with it either time so it isn't a "necessary" vaccine IMO. They have a good chance of fighting it off on their own and if they don't there are antibiotics to treat the secondary bacterial infection.


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## LoveNewfies (Jun 18, 2008)

My dogs do not get vaccinated, aside from the mandated rabies every three years. They did have their shots when I first rescued them, but that's it. I do choose to have titers run every few years or so, primarily because I do take in rescues. One of which, just a couple of weeks ago, had kennel cough and he was over it in three days. And he's the only one under my roof that had the kennel cough vaccination. Neither of my two permanent dogs got so much as a sniffle. 

My dogs have a lot of exposure to other dogs and to wildlife. I own a pet supply store, take in rescues and have my dogs out in the woods on a regular basis. I agree whole heartedly that we do not need to vaccinate every year or every three years - we bring on more problems by over vaccination. Problems including allergies, which we see so much of these days.


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