# I Think Dulcie Has Kennel Cough



## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Well dang. I'm not sure, but I suspect that Dulcie has kennel cough. She is vaccinated, but there has been a large outbreak in my area. Yesterday, when she hacked a couple of times, I thought it was just that she had got some fibers from her rope tug toy in her throat. There was no frequent coughing.

This morning, she woke up and coughed a very croupy sounding cough in her crate. No toys in there. I thought OK, could just be anything,

However, she has coughed several more times this morning and it is definitely a barky, hacking, throaty kind of cough. If she was a child, I'd say Hmmm croup.

After she ate her breakfast (with gusto, no loss of appetite), shortly after, she had more coughing and brought up her entire feeding. ugh.

Sound like kennel cough to you guys?


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## PoodlePaws (May 28, 2013)

Yep. My dogs are vaccinated and still got it. It's hit or miss with that vaccine.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Yeah, I'm thinking it is kennel cough. I just called my daughter and cancelled our planned visit for this weekend. I don't want to bring it up there to her pets. :-(

Also I think I'm going to have to skip Obedience class tonight. Dang.


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## PoodlePaws (May 28, 2013)

She will need antibiotics


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Are you sure? It was my understanding that kennel cough is viral - and that antibiotics would be useless in that case. Only if it progressed to a secondary opportunistic bacterial infection would antibiotics be any use. Have you heard that?


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Yes, it sound just like Taylee was back when she had kennel cough - she was better in a few days.
She got it soon after she had the vaccine, and I have never given the vaccine since and never had a dog get it again - not even after visiting a dog park with an "outbreak".


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## PoodlePaws (May 28, 2013)

All the vets here in Texas usually give antibiotics for kennel cough


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## Poodlerunner (Jul 4, 2014)

Poor you and Dulcie. It could very well be kennel cough. Disclaimer: it is the only type of cough I have any direct experience with and all of them came out of it just fine. Piper had it. I think most likely Bodhi got it from puppy kindergarten and gave it to Piper who gave it to my little Yorkie. Their cases were pretty mild... lots of gagging type of coughing and sneezing too. I had a puppy a long time ago that was very young when she came down with it and she just outlasted it. It's such a drag and pretty long lasting like 3 weeks+  but from what I know, it is usually self-limiting. I hope she gets a mild case.

pr


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

PoodlePaws said:


> All the vets here in Texas usually give antibiotics for kennel cough


Of course they do. They sell antibiotics. 

Absolutely not necessary for a cold and cough... and harmful as heck to the world.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

I put a call into my vet just to cover the bases, however I am leaning toward taking a watch and see attitude. She doesn't seem unwell (the vomiting this morning seemed to be strictly brought on by the coughing fit, and she has since eaten with no problems; no diarrhea or anything either).
The cough is very infrequent. Just when I begin to think again, OK it was just a one-off - then she coughs again. Raspy, throaty and hacking. Then nothing more for another couple of hours.

P.S. also there was the white foamy stuff that I have seen mentioned connected to kennel cough. Otherwsie, hours of normal behavior.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Countryboy said:


> Of course they do. They sell antibiotics.
> 
> Absolutely not necessary for a cold and cough... and harmful as heck to the world.


Yes, Countryboy, I am leery of overusing antibiotics, too. Didn't do it with my children and won't do it with my dog. Yes, if she seems to get worse, I would recognize a secondary (bacterial) infection possible and then consider antibiotics because they are useful for bacterial infections. But I don't think it is wise to use them on a healthy animal prophylactically to prevent a secondary opportunistic infection that MAY or may not develop.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Double post!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

nifty said:


> Are you sure? It was my understanding that kennel cough is viral - and that antibiotics would be useless in that case. Only if it progressed to a secondary opportunistic bacterial infection would antibiotics be any use. Have you heard that?


Bordetella, a bacteria, is the most common cause of kennel cough. That said, there are viruses (adenovirus, parainfluenza, distemper, etc.) that can make a dog more susceptible to contracting Bordetella.

The Bordetella vaccine itself is a bacterin vaccine. Bacterin vaccines (bordetella, lepto) are not as effective at producing long term sterilizing immunity in the way that viral vaccines are and typically only cover a few of many serovars or strains of a disease.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

I did not know that! Thank you, Charismatic Millie! I will hear back from the vet and do what she recommends.


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## sweetheartsrodeo (Sep 19, 2012)

Dang that isn't good! Sorry your sweetie is sick! Hope she feels better soon and kicks it fast! 

Thanks for this post, I learned a lot!


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## PoodlePaws (May 28, 2013)

My vet says ONLY bordetella should be called kennel cough. No other illness. a cold is called "a cold". Bordetella is bacterial. My vet does a nasal swab to check for the bacteria before she prescribes antibiotics.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

PoodlePaws said:


> My vet says ONLY bordetella should be called kennel cough. No other illness. a cold is called "a cold". Bordetella is bacterial. My vet does a nasal swab to check for the bacteria before she prescribes antibiotics.


That's great. Medical doctors don't even go that far as to determine that it's not a virus. Mostly they just dish out the antibiotic 'cos the patient wants it. Then they take it for . . ohhh . . a few days. Then they feel better... so they stop. 

ARRRRRRRGH!  

Truly, it drives me crazy! lol


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

If it makes you feel better Racer has an occasional cough this week too. I'm very much a wait & see type as I believe it to be allergy related. His little eyes are a bit red & this happened at the same time last year when the trees were blooming.


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## Michelle (Nov 16, 2009)

I think Atticus had it a couple weeks ago (I'm in your area too). I thought it was his collapsed trachea acting up, but after watching him closely for a few days it went away. He too was acting 100% normal otherwise. None of my other dogs got it (we have 3 others) so I'm not sure.

I work at a grooming salon and we had a few clients cancel their appointments because they heard of the kennel cough outbreak in the area and they are scared they will pick it up being around so many other dogs...we haven't had any cases at my work that we know of but I'm glad owners are taking precaution. I'm not taking Yuki to day camp for a while just in case... 

If she's not acting strange I'd let it run it course...the coughing will subside after a few days.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Thank you everyone for your feedback. 

For most of today, Dulcie was pretty much normal - maybe a little tired (slept a fair bit) and she has a runny nose. She only coughed once in awhile, but usually hacked up some foamy stuff. Then, she would be normal again. 

The vet got back to me and gave me a reference for a closer vet. She is also calling in a prescription to my local pharmacy. She could hear Dulcie coughing over the phone and said it does sound like kennel cough and she would prefer that we treat prophylactically.

I'll pick the prescription up tomorrow and see what I think after watching Dulcie overnight tonight. When she is not coughing, I tell myself it's fine. When she starts the hacking, coughing and that wheezy, raspy, bronchitis sounding croup thing, I am not so sure.


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

Poor Dulcie


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## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

Stella had this cough too a couple months ago. It was not kennel cough. She also had a wet cough and also brought up foamy stuff. She also had soft stool off and on. The vet was sure it was kennel cough. It was not. Kennel cough does not cause vomiting or diarrhea, it is an almost constant dry, hacking cough as far as I remember. My Great Dane had it long ago, and he coughed for 3 weeks! It drove us crazy. No meds were prescribed. Stella was put on antibiotics, and cough suppressant and was better in 1 day. The cough/gaging totally stopped. Gave the meds as prescribed for 1 week. My Border collie caught it and was given the same treatment and was better in 2 days. They had caught a virus from somewhere. There are airborne virus's everywhere, even going outside to potty they can catch things. Hopefully this is what your precious girl has and gets better as quick as my girl did!


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## mom2m (Dec 24, 2014)

Hoping Dulcie is feeling better quickly.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Yes, it's certainly possible that it is not kennel cough. However, it isn't a wet cough. It is dry, raspy, croupy sounding. The foamy stuff comes along after she has hacked and hacked for a few minutes. Other times it is just the honky, croupy cough. She does not have diarrhea and isn't vomiting (the breakfast was, again, after several moments of coughing following eating, she brought it back up undigested. Exactly what happens to a child who has pertussis - the coughing gets so intense that it eventually makes the child gag and vomit, but when not in a coughing fit, there is no vomiting - it isn't a vomiting thing, it is a turning inside out with coughing so hard thing).

Anyway, apart from that, she seems to have plenty of energy, so I am going to watch and see and hopefully it will pass in a day or two.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

I hope Dulcie gets well quickly. It is hard to watch our "kids" when they have kennel cough, if that is what it is.


Told a friend of mine this week that I did not think I had an ordinary head cold plaguing me this week, that I was certain it was Kennel Cough, due to me trying to frequently hack up a lung. He didn't think that was funny...well, it felt like kennel cough to me, I swear!!


Best wishes for a recovered Dulcie soon!

Viking Queen


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

LOL Viking Queen - I get what you are saying. I find myself comparing Dulcie's cough to infections I have seen in my children or experienced myself, too. We are different species, and yet I do think there are similarities in biology which render certain symptoms oddly similar with various infections.

I had pertussis as an adult - and so did two of my teenaged (at the time) children. The symptoms I experienced are remarkably similar to what Dulcie is currently exhibiting. It is also similar to croup - which again, is similar to pertussis in older children (not babies or toddlers, who show the classic "whooping" symptom with pertussis, for example; I am referring to the occasional nature of the coughing fits with normal behavior in between. The coughing fits that start suddenly (or after physical exertion) and then go on until the person starts to gag, sometimes leading to what looks like vomiting but is not caused by a digestive bug but rather the force of the coughing fit).

Dulcie had another quiet night as before - and coughed upon getting up this morning. Eating and eliminating normal. Barking at painters in the hallway outside the apartment brought on another raspy coughing fit. It seems classic for something similar to croup or pertussis. I don't know if that is what kennel cough looks like, but it is what Dulcie is experiencing.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Poor girl. Get well soon Dulcie. Yes, antibiotics are only good to prevent a secondary infection. But I wouldn't jump in too big a hurry for those. See if she develops a fever first or just gets sicker or the vet gets a culture. Over use of anti biotics are creating resistant strains. Yep, vets love to sell whatever they can...at least a lot of them do. You might try a humidifier and see if that will help loosen that phlem up or a steamy bathroom here and there during the day. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Thank you, PoodleBeguiled. Yes, I have a humidifier set up in the apartment in the bedroom near Dulcie's crate.

I am inclined to think that in this case, my vet is erring on the side of caution for good reasons - Dulcie's age (under 1yr) and the nature of the strain going around are in her judgement good reasons for prophylactic treatment. She is not selling me the antibiotic (she has called it in to my local pharmacy). I will pick up the prescription today.

I am really cognizant of the risks of antibiotic overuse. I am very much against it and having raised five children who had very few courses of antibiotics in their lives, this is to something I would rush to do.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

If her coughing fits get really bad and can't stop ask the vet about Robitussin cough syrup to calm down the cough. We had our vet prescribe it for a friend's little dog who was miserable from the cough. They were visiting from out of town adopted her at a local shelter and she came down with KC after coming home. We all finally got some sleep after the robitussin. She was a Havanese so was quite little. She didn't like it much and we all wound up wearing some of the pink sticky stuff from her spitting it back. It does work though.

Best of luck, VQ


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Poor Dulcie........Hope you feel better soon baby! 
Molly has occassional bouts of 'reverse sneezing' and hearing the choking sounds are always unsettling, and make me feel helpless to do anything! I know it must wrench your heart to hear her coughing!!!


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## georgiapeach (Oct 9, 2009)

I hope Dulcie feels better very soon!


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Thank you, everyone! I will keep all the tips in mind. MollyMuiMa, my last dog (a bichon/maltese mix) had that reverse thing occasionally and I know just what you mean - kind of distressing, although she seemed to be fine ag=fterwards (my vet said it was to do with allergies).

Dulcie is doing well. Same occasional barmy cough. Otherwise seeming normal, if sleepier.

The instructor for her Obedience 2 class called tonight (we had to miss Wednesday's first class). She said she has had at least one or two clients/dogs out EVERY class due to the kennel cough outbreak and some have actually been hospitalized with pneumonia. 

I think the severity of this outbreak (it has made the news, too) is the reason why my vet wanted to err on the side of caution. I have Dulcie's antibiotic prescription and am watching her carefully. If her symptoms get any worse at all, I will start giving her the prescription (and yes, using it until it is finished). Right now, she has had no change from occasional fits. She is sleeping well overnight and has no apparent breathing issues. I took her for a walk today (no walk yesterday) and a little game of fetch and she did very well.


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## KellyL (Apr 17, 2013)

Cooper and Alfie are just getting over KC...well, we think it's KC, anyway. Cooper started 2 weeks ago with a hacking type cough. I was told that his throat was inflamed and he also had a fever so our vet gave him antibiotics. Alfie at the time was fine but I was told if he ended up getting the same thing to come and get the antibiotics for him as well. Alfie did start a few days later and I did get the antibiotics just to have in case he had a fever with it. But he didn't have a fever so I didn't give him the antibiotics. Cooper and Alfie eventually stopped with the coughing but then the sneezing started. Cooper now is fine but Alfie still is sneezing a few times here and there. Both the coughing and the sneezing seemed to happen mostly when they woke up in the morning or from a nap.

Cooper and Alfie have been going for their walks but Cooper needs to get to the dog park to run...I'm thinking by the end of this week he should be fine to go back. I just don't want to have him pass this on to another dog.

I hope Dulcie is feeling better soon. Has he had any sneezing?


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

HI KellyL, yes that is exactly how I feel - I don't want to pass any infection on to other dogs. Dulcie is barely affected by it and yet another dog might not be so lucky.

I definitely know what you mean about Cooper needing to get a chance to RUN! I have been lucky that there is a regular park near enough to me where I can play fetch with Dulcie on a long leash - there are a few other dogs being walked in the area and if they approach to greet, I simply grab Dulcie's leash and let the owner know that today is not a good day to greet. IT's been working out fine so far and there is a lot of space at the park so we are able to play for an hour or so pretty much without bothering anyone. And boy does Dulcie RUN!

I'm happy to say that even with this very hard running and play, she has had almost no exertion related coughing for the past day or two and very little of it before. Like you, Kelly, I noticed it more first thing int he morning and also if she is wearing a leash connected to her collar and pulls away. On walks and play, we use a harness with virtually no coughing.

She has never had a night of coughing, either, so I have continued to watch and so far have not felt the need to start the antibiotic. She really is seeming perfectly well otherwise - eating and eliminating normally. She does sleep more - pretty much most of the day when not out for a walk/fetch session. All in all, seems like the reaction of a dog in basically sound health who is recovering from a mild infection.


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## KellyL (Apr 17, 2013)

It's such a worry when they aren't well and can't tell us what's wrong. But sounds like she's recovering quite well. Have a nice weekend


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## mom2Zoe (Jun 17, 2014)

Poor baby!!
a week after we brought Zoe home she had KC, prob from the poop conditions where she came from.
The vet gave her meds, but it didn't really help. I am thinking it was viral because it took like 2 1/2 weeks to totally get better.
Hope she has a speedy recovery!


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