Kennel Cough is the common name that is given to tracheobrinchitis, which is a very highly contagious disease amongst dogs. This disease is prevalent throughout the world and is known to infect a very large percentage of dogs at least once in their lifetime.
Symptoms
• Dry hacking cough
• Cough may sound like honking
• May sound like there is something stuck in your dogs throat
• There is a watery nasal discharge seen in some cases.
• Activity and appetite remain normal in most cases.
Causes
In most cases we find that there is a recent history of boarding that has left the dog in contact with a number of other dogs. That being said your dog could also catch the disease while at the dog park or playing with the neighbor’s dogs. The kennel cough virus is highly contagious and generally spread though aerosols in the air. This means that if you dog could catch the disease by simply greeting another dog or sharing a water bowl at the park.
Prevention
The best way to prevent kennel cough is to prevent exposure. Bordetella vaccinations are also available through your veterinarian. This vaccine can be given to puppies at 8 weeks of age and need to be boostered yearly.
Treatment
If your dog develops a cough call your veterinarian and set up an appointment. Kennel cough is a self limiting disease which means that it will run its course and then clear up. Much like when we get a cold we often will take something to treat the symptoms but not the cold as it will go away by itself. Your veterinarian may prescribe you some cough suppressants to help keep your comfortable until the cough subsides. Ensuring your dog continues to eat, drink and get enough rest is very important whenever they are ill. You should see some improvement in one week but if your dogs symptoms seem to get worse or is you see nasal discharge, your dog breathing rapidly in addition to inappetence and lethargy take your dog back to the veterinarian as some cases of Kennel Cough could escalate into pneumonia.
This blog post was written by McQueen Animal Hospital, a veterinary clinic in Brampton providing quality affordable veterinary care
