Canine Cough – (Bordatella and Para-influenza)
Canine cough is
the most common infectious
conditions in dogs. It is a highly contagious
respiratory condition that can be best compared to
the human version of a cold (which is bacterial) or
influenza (which is viral). Bordatella is bacterial
(requiring contact to spread) and Para-influenza is
viral and is airborne. Kennels have an outbreak of
canine cough every winter when it’s cold and
immunities are at a low, and every summer when the
wind is warm and dry (carrying para-influenza more
readily). The versions of canine cough develop
constantly, and at last count there were 17
different strains floating around.
Impossible
to avoid
Your child goes to school and can catch a cold or
influenza; you can catch a cold or influenza at your
place of work, on the plane, or from members of your
family. Although there is a ‘flu vaccine,
unfortunately no vaccine has yet been found for the
human cold, and we just have to struggle through a
week of misery until it runs its course.
Just like you and your family, your well
exercised dog will, at some stage in his life, catch
both bordatella and para-influenza. He can catch it
from contact with another dog in the park, at puppy
school, from your shoes if you’ve walked through it
in the street, or even from a dog that has canine
cough living up to 5 kilometres away (yes, it’s
airborne!). So, as you can see, it is almost
impossible to avoid getting canine cough at some
stage, even if your dog does not leave your
backyard.
The good news is ..
As mentioned earlier, canine cough merely is the dog
version of our cold and ‘flu. Fortunately for dogs,
there IS a vaccine that can be administered each
year which helps dramatically – though it must be
noted that these vaccines ARE NOT ABLE TO PREVENT
your dog contracting canine cough – however they can
REDUCE SYMPTOMS by up to 80%. This means that
instead of your dog suffering from a high
temperature, runny nose, loss of appetite, possible
pneumonia ... he will generally only develop a deep,
noisy, dry sounding cough, resulting in a bit of
yellowish bile coming up occasionally. There is
generally no loss of appetite, temperature or any
other symptoms.
Unlike humans, who can get a cold every year, and
the ‘flu every few years, a dog will build up his
own immunity to bordatella and para-influenza after
getting them, and it is very rare for him to get a
second bout of either for the remainder of his life.
This means that a dog will generally get two cases
of canine cough during his life, and then that is
it. Finished.
Treatment
It is very difficult to tell whether your dog has
bordatella or para-influenza. They only way to
correctly diagnose either is by doing a throat swab,
which then has to be cultured for 6 weeks, by which
time of course the dog has recovered fully.
Therefore, if you do take your dog to the vet, he
will generally prescribe an all round antibiotic to
prevent any further developments i.e. pneumonia. He
will also advise you to keep your dog away from
other dogs for a period of time, as of course it is
highly infectious to dogs who have not yet had it.
The noisy cough can be treated with Benadryl Cough
Mixture – which makes your dog sleepy and more
relaxed.
"My dog got Kennel Cough at XYZ Boarding
Kennel I’m never going back there again!!"
Sadly we do hear this a lot ... clients come to view
our facility and express their anger/dismay at the
fact that their dog came down with canine cough at
their previous boarding kennel, and that they will
never take their dog back there again. We are quick
to point out to these clients that although we are
absolutely spotless at Red Woof Kennel, and only
guests that have had their full vaccinations are
admitted .. we can still occasionally have guests
coming down with canine cough whilst they are here
or shortly after returning home.
This ONLY occurs because another dog
coming in to us for a holiday has it already
– and as canine cough takes 7 to 10 days to show
any symptoms (the loud cough) we can easily
accept a perfectly healthy-looking dog from an owner
who has been socialising him in the park daily – he
has caught canine cough – and we do not know he has
it until 7 to 10 days later. By this time it is too
late, he has passed it on to any guests here who
have not already had it.
So ... that is the story of Canine Cough –
unfortunately because it is airborne, and because
dogs do not show signs of it when they have caught
it for such a long time – we cannot avoid having it
here from time to time. As long as you put it into
the same category as the common cold however, and
remember that unlike us, dogs only get around 20% of
the symptoms due to the fact that they were
vaccinated, then you can treat it accordingly.