Kennel cough / Marlay Park

Howitzer

Hi,

Our 5mth boxer pup, Bella, developed a cough last night.
Nothing too alarming - sounds like she's trying to clear a hair our of her throat.
We had her to the local vet this evening and he confirmed it was kennel cough.

She has picked this up from either 1)local park 2)Marlay park dog park 3)dog training lessons at dspca.

Our dog trainer had just told us the day before that it is the time of year for coughs going around.

So anyone with a new pup (or any dog!) - it may be worth getting a vax for this. We didn't know to get it... having been misled by the name of the cough and thinking it can mainly be caught in kennels and that kind of intense / prolonged contact. Perhaps it should be renamed to just dog-cough or social-cough.

She'll be out of exercise for a week/10days and on anti-biotics.
No contact with other dogs for that period too.
Then back to the vet for the vaccination once all clear.
All a bit of a bummer - but she is in good spirits.

I hope reading this doesn't panic anyone - but worth having a read up on coughs and whether your dog may need a shot.

The local nutgrove vet is seeing a few similar cases since December and wondering if there is a link to Marlay Park. It's possible as its a place dogs get together. Same probably goes for any dog park.

Hope this info is of help to someone out there.

cheers.

edit: just listening to her now... it sounds like a child with bad whooping cough. rough.

Sigma Force

Good tip, if dogs are out and about at all it's always a good idea to vaccinate against kennel cough but there are also various strains so it's not always possible that even a vaccination will work. Can't wrap our pooches up in cotton wool and in general if treated isn't serious but with young pups like yours or older or infirmed dogs it can turn nasty if not dealt with.

A little honey might help, although I'm not sure if it's ok to give young pups honey I've given our pup honey flavoured ice cubes just as a snack with no problems.

lorebringer

I always get my lot KC vaxed, even though it doesn't cover all the strains. I foster dogs that come directly out of Ashton Pound and they all come with KC - one of my own dogs has had it 3 times, and it vaxed. Generally, it is not a big issue in healthy adult dogs but in very young pups, sick dogs, older dogs or dogs that are badly cared for it can be very serious. Once you finish the antibiotics, don't be alarmed if your dog still coughs every so often for up to a few weeks afterwards. Some "Dry Cough" cough syrup (preferably sugar free) will help east the cough, about a teaspoon twice a day, easy to get in the chemist and the dogs love it because it's so sweet!

Unfortunately, KC is very like the human flu virus is the way it is transmitted - so dogs can pick it up from each other with direct contact or coughing around each other, or from surfaces that the sputum lands on (grass etc.). Just be aware that if any other dogs are going to come into your house even after your own dogs cough has cleared up that the virus may still be in beds or on floors etc. Washing beds at as high a temperature as possible with a bio washing powder and a drop of bleach will help kill of anything left on it and washing the floors and anywhere else your dog could have contaminated with a bleach solution (and a good rinse afterwards) will help kill it off too.

Hope your pup is feeling better soon - they can be very miserable with Kennel Cough, I always feel so sorry for them

Magenta

lorebringer wrote: »

Some "Dry Cough" cough syrup (preferably sugar free) will help east the cough, about a teaspoon twice a day, easy to get in the chemist and the dogs love it because it's so sweet!

I really don't think advising people to use human medications on animals is a good idea. Those medicines are dosed for people and there are things that are poisonous to dogs that are fine with us. For example grapes are poisonous to dogs.

VERYinterested

I think DSPCA Training Lessons is where your dog picked up the highly contagious virus. I was there on Sunday and at least 6 of the dogs in a class of 10 had had the cough. They all had been ill since the previous Sunday's lesson, including my own.

andreac

VERYinterested wrote: »

I think DSPCA Training Lessons is where your dog picked up the highly contagious virus. I was there on Sunday and at least 6 of the dogs in a class of 10 had had the cough. They all had been ill since the previous Sunday's lesson, including my own.

Thats terrible, people shouldnt be bringing their dogs out in contact with other dogs if they have a cough as kennel cough is highly contagious. Its not fair on the owners of other dogs and put them at risk of being infected. They should have been told to leave by the organisers!:mad:

VERYinterested

When we realised that the dogs had kennel cough we all asked should we bring the dogs home, the organisers said no, it wouldn't make any difference, the dogs had the cough and the lands were obviously infected.

You have to realise that not everyone is qualified and can spot the symptoms immediately, even my vet did not correctly diagnose it as Kennel Cough, so what chance have I? It was only when we arrived at the DSPCA on Sunday and speaking amongst ourselves it became apparent our pets had kennel cough, and there are many strains of it. A lot of people at the classes are there because it's their first dog and would not be familiar with the virus. I have kept dogs for the last 25 years and never knowingly encountered it before.

It just brought it home to us all that we should have had the dogs re-vaccinated before we attended the classes. Because we all signed a disclaimer that the dogs had been vaccinated, I know mine was, obviously ineffectively so. It's very easy to make judgements in hindsight, but it wasn't our fault our dogs became infected. Just one of those things, same as kids getting measles.

lorebringer

Magenta wrote: »

I really don't think advising people to use human medications on animals is a good idea. Those medicines are dosed for people and there are things that are poisonous to dogs that are fine with us. For example grapes are poisonous to dogs.

I understand you concern but my own vet (and several others I have talked to) advised this, as did the rescue I foster for, and from experience it works very well. I also advised on a dosage. I am aware that giving dogs human medications is a general no no but this is simply information that may help ease her dogs cough.

Magenta

lorebringer wrote: »

I understand you concern but my own vet (and several others I have talked to) advised this, as did the rescue I foster for, and from experience it works very well. I also advised on a dosage. I am aware that giving dogs human medications is a general no no but this is simply information that may help ease her dogs cough.

You gave a dosage of "about a teaspoon twice a day"- is this for a Great Dane or a Chihuahua? Because if it's for a Great Dane, and a Chihuahua owner follows your advice they could have a very sick dog on their hands.
I really think that advice on medication should be left to vets, I really don't think this forum is the place for it.

VERYinterested

Thanks for the tip Lorebringer. My dog is finished her anti-biotics and still is in some discomfort. I gave her some dry cough medicine yesterday evening and she really improved and is a lot brighter since. Hopefully the cough will become more productive and she can get rid of the build up quickly.

andreac

VERYinterested wrote: »

When we realised that the dogs had kennel cough we all asked should we bring the dogs home, the organisers said no, it wouldn't make any difference, the dogs had the cough and the lands were obviously infected.

You have to realise that not everyone is qualified and can spot the symptoms immediately, even my vet did not correctly diagnose it as Kennel Cough, so what chance have I? It was only when we arrived at the DSPCA on Sunday and speaking amongst ourselves it became apparent our pets had kennel cough, and there are many strains of it. A lot of people at the classes are there because it's their first dog and would not be familiar with the virus. I have kept dogs for the last 25 years and never knowingly encountered it before.

It just brought it home to us all that we should have had the dogs re-vaccinated before we attended the classes. Because we all signed a disclaimer that the dogs had been vaccinated, I know mine was, obviously ineffectively so. It's very easy to make judgements in hindsight, but it wasn't our fault our dogs became infected. Just one of those things, same as kids getting measles.

I wasnt getting at you directly, but it is very irresponsible to have dogs coughing like that at public classes where it can be passed on to other dogs that arent infected. Kennel cough is highly contagious and is an airbourne disease so the organisers saying that the grounds are already infected was wrong on their part to say as if they knew there was kennel cough around then they should not have had dogs there at all.

Also, a coughing dog is not a well dog and should not be out and training classes for a start.

If it was me there with my dog who was not infected with kennel cough then id be very angry if the classes were allowed to continue with dogs coughing all over the place.

ISDW

I usually find some Manuka honey in the water helps to ease it.

lorebringer

VERYinterested wrote: »

Thanks for the tip Lorebringer. My dog is finished her anti-biotics and still is in some discomfort. I gave her some dry cough medicine yesterday evening and she really improved and is a lot brighter since. Hopefully the cough will become more productive and she can get rid of the build up quickly.

No probs

Just a note - your dog may cough for up to a few weeks after the medication is finished, but it should be much less frequent. They can be terribly miserable while they KC, good to know she is doing better!

Allgäuerin

thumbs up for this: "Dry Cough" cough syrup (preferably sugar free)!!!!
i got the same advice from our vet in germany a view years ago and i'm still very happy with using it for the dogs "winter" cough

toadfly

Magenta wrote: »

I really don't think advising people to use human medications on animals is a good idea. Those medicines are dosed for people and there are things that are poisonous to dogs that are fine with us. For example grapes are poisonous to dogs.

I have been told this be two vets in different practices. My dog has KC at the min was coughing constantly sunday and monday, gave him cough bottle monday night and he only coughed once last night and that was when I came home from work and he was excited. other than that not a budge outa him.

The vets advised me to give per the instructions on the bottle going by weight of the dog.

convert

I'm sorry to hear about your dog, OP. Hopefully she's doing ok now and is feeling a bit better.

I really don't understand how people can bring their dogs out when they are coughing or are showing symptoms of KC or any illness. It's really irresponsible. I've known some people who took their horses/ponies who were coughing to a PC event when there was an equine virus going around and they were asked to leave as they were putting the other horses/ponies at risk, even though they were all vaccinated. The organisers should really have asked the 'coughing' dogs to leave the class, or to re-schedule the class for another time to give the dogs a chance to get over the 'contagious' stage, so minimising the risk to the other dogs in the class.

I would never bring an animal anywhere if I thought for a moment that they could be sick and/or have a potentially infectious illness. And I would have hoped that others would have the same respect for other people's animals and do the same.

H123

I am pretty sure its coming from Marlay dog park. Our Great Dane, who we vaccinated against kennel cough before we brought her to the dog park as someone warned us about it, caught it anyway. My other three dogs who don't go to the dog park also caught it, but later and probably off the dane. She had not been in contact with other dogs apart from there that week. I normally walk her in the woods or on sandymount beach since she is a big and bouncy puppy still and you need space away from other people to let her go.

All the dogs coughed for 2 weeks approximately. I treated 3 with antibiotics the fourth is a very healthy mutt and shook it off by himself. In him it was quite mild. To be honest, I wonder if the antibiotics were even necessary. The vet seems to hand them out continually. If its a virus then they are a waste of time! They were all given augmentin, standard human drug, adjusted for their weight.

There is little you can do, the vaccination obviously did not work. It sounds awful but the dogs were in good form and still wanted to go out. I just kept them away from other dogs for the duration.

If your dog is weak because of age or an underlying problem I would avoid the dog park. And in puppies I understand the immune system is not as strong as in adult dogs. So I'd be careful with them if they tend to be delicate. Otherwise its a great place to socialise young dogs. There are so few places you can just let a young not very well trained puppy run around and learn from his peers. Having an older dog in the house has always been a great training for the puppies. They follow the older dogs lead on walks, learn behaviour and so on. The dog park is a good substitute if you do not have the elder lemon at home!