I am rather new to this part of the forum and have read with interest many post's from the animal lovers on here. I know this is going to be a long post so please bare with me here as i go from the beginning to the present.
I am just going to add a little info I found out the hard way about Kennel Cough.
We have a 9yr old Black cocker spaniel who went blind Christmas week of 2008. We had no advanced warning of his blindness and he woke up one morning and walked into a wall. After an emergency trip to the vets and tests it was determined that he was completely blind no reason given by the vet. We did what any good dog lover does and ordered a ramp for him so he would be able to get into the fiver without any problems. He also learned the layout of the house and fiver in very short order and know's that when we say UP or DOWN there are stairs ahead. Also when told EASY or CAREFUL he slow's right down because he know's he's going to hit something in his path.
Anyways we took him to Florida with us like we had always done and he adjusted just fine. The walks were a little slower but his nose seemed to go into overdrive with all the scents he could now smell.
When we returned home he was tested for Cushing's and was put on Lysodren for Cushings. He's been doing good on the meds with little side effects and no more accidents in the house. He was also put on med's for a thyroid condition.
A couple weeks ago we traveled to Vermont and took the dogs with us as we always do. While there the cocker started having some problems and ended up at the Vets on the 4th of July. After some meds and new food we came home with a dog who was feeling better once again. Then it hit..the coughing fits in the middle of the night and during the day. I took him back to our vet who checked him out and said it wasn't his heart and he could hear nothing in his chest and asked if he had been around any new dogs. Our dog's (3 of them) are always under our control ( ona a leash) and never went near another dog or into anyone else's site.
After 3 weeks of his coughing and it getting worse I took him back once again to the vets and this time the Vet suggested that he has kennel cough. I then informed the vet that our dog's have all the vaccines needed including bordatella nasal vaccine.
This is when I learned that even though they were vaccinated they could still get kennel cough. It seem's that because our cocker's immune system is low due to Cushings he has been diagnosed with Kennel Cough..something I always made sure he was vaccinated against because he goes to the groomers.
After all is said and done our cocker named Tucker is now being treated for something I always been careful to avoid and did everything to make sure he and the other dog's were safe from.
Not sure how many others have come accross this problem but it's out there and even if vacinated they can still get really sick from things they were vacinated aginst.
As for the other 2 dog's we own..they have not gotten sick and we will watch them very carefully for a cough.
Thanks for reading my rant but it upset's me to think that we spend all this money on keeping out pets safe and they still get sick from something they are vaccinated against. Fingers crossed he will come out of this with no ill effects and that the other pups dont get it as well.
We own a 6 month old cocker pup as well as a 5yr old sheltie and they are up to date with all vacinations so keeping our fingers crossed they stay healthy.
Frank & Dawn
2005 Ford Super Duty F250 Diesel 6.0L Fx4 Short Box supercab
2007 Palomino Thoroughbred F-829RK
TUCKER (Black Cocker) 10yrs old
SADIE (Sheltie)6 yrs old
MASON (Black Cocker) born Feb 8th 09
It's my understanding that dogs can still get kennel cough even after being vaccinated because new strains of kennel cough develop all the time, and even though your dog was vaccinated, he likely wasn't vaccinated against that particular strain.
Just like with people and flu shots. Lots of people get the flu even though they were vaccinated, just a different strain of the flu.
My dogs don't get the bordetella vaccine at all, haven't for years, for a few different reasons, this being one of them.
Sorry your pooch is sick, I hope he feels better soon!
The way our vet explained it, kennel cough is just a general term for a whole bunch of different respiratory viruses. The shot is designed to protect against the most common varities, but it can't guard against them all. The explanation that your boy is immune compromised sounds very plausible. I do remember noticing blindness in what I would consider fairly young cocker spaniels. Just like humans, as we get older, all we can do is take one medical problem at a time and deal with it. Sounds like you are doing a good job with your baby.
CA POPPY wrote: The way our vet explained it, kennel cough is just a general term for a whole bunch of different respiratory viruses.
Not just viruses, bacteria as well. Kennel cough is tracheobronchitis, inflammation of the trachea and bronchi, cause not specified.
We vaccinate against those most common and most likely encountered when appropriate. There are other infectious causes that have no vaccine.
Animals with Cushings have a poor immune response and therefore are more prone to disease and less likely to respond to vaccination.
While kennel cough sounds terrible (the cough is impressive) seldom does it progress to a more serious disease. Those most at risk of something more serious are the young, old and those with other diseases- like cushings.
Doug, DVM
Doug & Sandy
Megan (15 yr old Golden)
2008 Southwind
2001 Honda CRV
Don't mean to highjack this thread, but my questions are about kennel cough. My 5 year old Rat Terrier female just came down with a cough (7/30). Took her to our Vet the next day where she was examined, ex-rayed and put on Baytril and cough tabs. He said her heart and lungs looked good; no objects appeared to be ingested; he felt it might be viral. Honeybun has not been kenneled or to the groomer. She hadn't even been to the park the week before due to the crazy weather we had been having. She has only one more day of the antibiotic, but is still coughing periodically (mostly when she is excited or at night when she is sleeping???) She has only been exposed to one other dog a few days before the cough began that had been to the groomers. Is kennel cough that contagious? Could she have gotten it from a cat that comes over the fence? Which vacination is for kennel cough?
1980 Dodge Xplorer
Pixie Honeybun (Rat Terrier) and Itsa (kitty)
The vaccine for kennel cough is usually called bordetella (because that's the name of one of the parainfluenza viruses that causes it). It can be in the form of an injection or nasal drops, but I believe the nasal drops are most commonly used.
A dog doesn't have to be at the groomer's or vet's to get kennel cough. If you take your dog on a walk through your neighborhood or have other dogs who come through your yard, that would be enough to expose your dog to it. Think of it like the flu in humans--school children are primary spreaders of it, but lots of adults who aren't in school or in regular, close proximity to other people still get it.
One of my dogs (now nine) had a really bad time with kennel cough when he was about six months old. We had to do multiple courses of antibiotics to get it knocked out.
Me and the DH
Two boys and two dogs (and two cats who prefer to stay home)
2008 Forest River Georgetown 350DS (bunkhouse model)
2001 Honda CR-V
Parainfluenza, a viral compontent of the kennel cough complex is usually included in the "distemper" combo shot (distemper, parvo, hepatitis, parainfluenza). Bordatella (bordatella bronchiseptica) is a bacteria and the vaccine used is a bacterin. This is usually given as a separate vaccination and cn be given intranasal or by injection. I prefer the injection, studies have shown that you get equal immunity either way (though the nasal happens a day or two quicker) but it is so much easier on the dog to give the shot rather than squirt drops in the nose.
The cough from kennel cough can go on for weeks after the acute infection is under control. I usually only have do one course of antibiotic, and that only if there is evidence of bacterial infection (antibiotics do nothing for viral infections).
Pawz4me is completely correct that you don't have to come into close contact with an infected dog to spread the diseases, people and objects that are contaminated can spread it.
The thing we have to remember always is that vaccines don't protect anyone from anything. Only the immune system does that. The vaccine can only alert the immune system to what to look out for. If the immune system is not up to the task of developing that immunity/fighting off the intruders, then if exposure occurs there is going to be a problem. And exposure is of course very hard to avoid.
What I've always been told by my vets about kennel cough is it is thus named because it tends to occur when dogs are in crowded and stressful environments, such as being boarded. Stress is hard on the immune system, plus a lot of dogs around that may be carrying something, equals increased risk. But that isn't the only way it can be caught, clearly.
In any case, what one most needs to do is whatever one can to keep that immune system running at top speed. Not easy with Cushings, to be sure.
In recent years, and a new study with small kids just came out yesterday, giving a daily probiotic (friendly cooties) bolsters the immune system and with the kids, cut the incidence of colds noticeably. There's a reason this works and it has to do with the fact that a lot of our immune system is in our guts, as it turns out. I don't know the specifics of that with respect to dogs, but it is surely worth researching and it may be that for immune challenged dogs a regular dose of probiotics would be helpful. There's also the raw food option, but that gets into controversy and not everyone is willing to do it anyway. Though I will say that Best Friends has about 1500 animals at any time and their most immune challenged carnivores apparently do eat raw. Acupuncture, massage therapy... hmmmmmm.... might be worth looking into.
Code2High wrote: Easier on the dog, or easier on the vet, Doug?
Both!! Me for sure , but trying to restrain a dog enough that I can accurately squirt a 1/2 ml of fluid in each nostril without jamming the syringe up his nose and so my hands and finger aren't sacrificed, isn't a fun thing for the dog.
Thank you for your replies. Tucker is on a product called FortaiFlora to help with his nutritional supplements and it helps restore the balance of good bacteria and boots immune system. He is also now on Metacam but will only be on this for a short time while he's fighting the kennel cough. Tucker at this point is also on Clavaseptin 500mg tabs twice a day for 10 days as an anitibiotic to help with the kennel cough.
This poor old guy is also on Lysodren twice a week for cushings and on Eltrosin 200mg tabs and he takes 2 tabs twice a day for his thyroid.
Not sure if we shuold add any more to his diet right now with everything he's taking but i'm willing to try anything to keep him healthy. The vet said that if his cough gets worse or he starts to vomit then to call them back immediately and they will do X-rays. The problem with them doing X-rays is that Tucker is a lot over weight. He weighs in at 60lbs and thats after being on diet dry dog food for a year. He has always been on the heavy side and in the past year has gained more and more weight so he's on a strict diet of no table food or treats. Talk about a hard thing to do to a dog who is sick but if it keeps him healthy its worth it. The Vet said that because of his weight it would be very hard to see anything in an X-ray with all his fat in his chest area. I've asked and was told that an X-ray might be the next step if he doesn't get any better so we will have to once again wait to see what happens.
Anyways again thanks for your information on Kennel Cough. I was always lead to be believe that they only got sick with it if they were not given the immunizations and were exposed to a sick animal. Seems that they can get it from the air any place at any time and with Tucker's immune being compromised with cushings he can get anything at any time even easier.
Offline
