shekhina Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 (edited) I've never had a dog with early stages of Kennel Cough, only a foster in the last few days of it, so sorry if this is kinda 'well der' Daegon has a kinda cough, it's more a wheeze/rasp outwards thing, but I guess a cough. He's shaking his head a bit with it, eyes are a bit watery but I think that's probably from the 'coughing'. He's not doing it all the time, I've just let all three outside for 5 minutes and I can't hear him doing it now, so it's only in bursts really. He still seems pretty happy within himself, he's even still eating and Daegon is fussy at the best of times, but obviously I'm concerned about him. I've left a message with someone to hopefully get him to a vet tomorrow to check that it's not something else. If it's kennel cough is there anything I should be doing? With three dogs it's probably going to spread to all of them I guess...if it does I'm really concerned about Jaida as she is much older than the boys...how do the older dogs go with it? ETA: have just done a very quick search (really need to get back to bed as I'm sick myself) and morgan has posted about using bryonia to help it settle, especially in the early stages. Has anyone had any experience using bryonia? I'll see if I can find some somewhere, Daegon was first coughing last night so hopefully it's still early enough. Edited November 7, 2007 by shekhina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austen Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 I am certainly no expert but when our dog had it she sounded like she was going to throw up, only nothing ever came out (charming I know) Apart from the coughing, she was behaving completely normally, running around as usual. The vet gave her some kind of medicine as well as cough mixture, he also added that most of the time they just get over it on their own. She had been vaccinated, but apparently there are many different strains. We think however she only got a very light dose of it as she would only ever cough a couple of times a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlemum Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Shekina - sounds very much like kennel cough. One of my dogs had it a few years ago, then everyone got it . It is highly contagious and my vet actually told me that the vaccination was not much good in providing long-term protection. He also said that, in an otherwise healthy dog, kennel cough was no more dangerous than a bad cold for an otherwise healthy human. If the cough is bothering Daegon you can get him some cough mixture from the vet. Otherwise it will run its course - keep him away from other dogs (as I said, it is HIGHLY contagious) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shekhina Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 Thanks guys. It's impossible to keep him away from the other dogs here, so I guess unfortunately they will all get it. Hopefully it's all over with quickly for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Kennel cough (KC) is usually only serious if the dog gets an infection in addition to the KC. Like a human cold can develop into a pneumonia. Normal care is to keep dog warm, plenty of fluids, rest. Cough mixture has been shown to make no difference to the course of respiratory diseases in humans, but plenty of people believe their dogs seem more comfortable with it. Antibiotics do nothing for viruses like KC. They're used only if pneumonia is suspected. If the cough worsens and your dog seems more unwell, I'd go to the vet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shekhina Posted November 8, 2007 Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 Thanks everyone for the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Shepherd mom Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 If I remember correctly (and this is going back a few years), when we got Casper he had kennel cough. I phoned the vet who vet-checked him at the pound and he said to give him Benadryl. I bought some normal Benadryl (the non-drowsy one) and gave him the child's dosage. It cleared up in a couple of days. Sounds awful though, doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokezu Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Shekina, I'm in your area (Granton) and my 3 dogs have all got this as well, I had my young girl (7 months) to the vet last night because she was really worrying me, wasn't really coughing just trying to be sick all the time, vet didn't know what it was and has given her antibiotics and anti inflamatory, she's so much better today, but Rauri has a horrible cough when he actually coughs not that often, all 4 of my dogs are vaccinated so I guess they get a milder strain. I got an e-mail last night from a friend in Deloraine asking if I had heard about the kennel cough sweeping the show circuit at the moment, I hadn't heard anything of it. Jazz,( my girl that started coughing first) her last outing was to the Royal Hobart Show, so I thought she must have picked it up from there. Shekina you don't do the dog shows do you? Do your dogs mix with other dogs at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millie Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 I've never had a dog with early stages of Kennel Cough, only a foster in the last few days of it, so sorry if this is kinda 'well der' Daegon has a kinda cough, it's more a wheeze/rasp outwards thing, but I guess a cough. He's shaking his head a bit with it, eyes are a bit watery but I think that's probably from the 'coughing'. He's not doing it all the time, I've just let all three outside for 5 minutes and I can't hear him doing it now, so it's only in bursts really. He still seems pretty happy within himself, he's even still eating and Daegon is fussy at the best of times, but obviously I'm concerned about him. I've left a message with someone to hopefully get him to a vet tomorrow to check that it's not something else. If it's kennel cough is there anything I should be doing? With three dogs it's probably going to spread to all of them I guess...if it does I'm really concerned about Jaida as she is much older than the boys...how do the older dogs go with it? ETA: have just done a very quick search (really need to get back to bed as I'm sick myself) and morgan has posted about using bryonia to help it settle, especially in the early stages. Has anyone had any experience using bryonia? I'll see if I can find some somewhere, Daegon was first coughing last night so hopefully it's still early enough. Kennel cough is an airborne virus. The incubation period of the disease is roughly 3-7 days. It can lower the dog' resistance to other diseases thus increasing susceptibility to secondary infections and so needs to be closely observed to avoid complications. It cannot be cured and must run its course. While a dog is still eating and drinking there is usually no problem. If the dog stops eating, drinking or has a temperature it needs to be taken to a vet. The vaccinations used to prevent this are made from one strain of more than 100 different strains of the virus and therefore not as effective against some strains as others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shekhina Posted November 8, 2007 Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 My dogs are not vaccinated against it, I choose not to. I'm not currently showing Portia, so they wouldn't have got it there. The last couple of weeks they haven't mixed with other dogs that I have seen either. But being the area it is there are stray dogs running around here all the time and quite often they come to my gate and stir my lot up...Daegon could very well have caught it like that. It breaks my heart to hear him coughing and looking unwell, hopefully he is better soon :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfgirl Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Shek pop some honey onto a spoon and let him lick it, it will help ease his throat pain. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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