Kennel Cough

[Reddii]

Bugga, bugga, bugga.

Despite taking all the precautions I could we have Kennel Cough - well, not me, my dogs have it. Not too serious according to the vet, but enough to have me up for hours at a time cleaning up plegm and listening to that horrible noise.

I haven't been through this before and obviously have the obligatory time out from training and competing, but am not sure how long to rest the dogs for.

Once they have stopped coughing how long should I give them before beginning to slowly load them up again. (Guessing this is a bit like a human coming back from illness as well - need to avoid relapse and injury.)

Thanks in advance.

Tony

[~*Shell*~]

That sucks Tony!

I know how you feel - Zero caught it off a dog at the park and ended up with a pretty bad case. It took him about 4 weeks to stop coughing (but as i said it was pretty bad) and then it was another two weeks after that before i could even get him up to a run without him getting puffed out and tired very quickly. I think it's probably up to the individual dog - maybe talk to your vet and see what they have to say.

[DeltaCharlie]

Most clubs/associations say 3 weeks after coughing has stopped. It can hang around in the system for weeks after the symptoms go away and they can still be contagious during this time.

[Reddii]

I know ADAA is 3 weeks after symptoms first occur.

My girl has just about stopped 3 days after she started really hacking.

[Cavandra]

For interests sake, the only dogs I ever know to get KC this badly are those vaccinated for it.

Once I had the annually vaccinated dog next door hacking away for 3 weeks, driving all of us crazy.......while mine did get it from this dog they had a very mild cough for 2 days & that was all........My dogs are not vaccinated for it, and are not vaccinated past 15 months of age. My eldest dogs didnt get it at all

Theory is that such dogs have such strong immune systems they dont get things as badly as over vaccinated dogs do, Annual vaccines suppress the immune system ;)

I know someone who had it quite badly from Erskine Park, and she had to stay away from shows for 3 months according to the regs she said.

[Tassie]

Although the effects seem to be quite idosyncratic. Cases in point - two friends each with 2 dogs - both dogs in each case vacc (C5) at same time. In each case, one dog showed symptoms, the other one not. Same environment, same food, same vacc history, likely same exposure - different results. So yes - it likely does depend on the strength of the individual dog's immune system - but there are many factors affecting that.