Hi everyone,
Well I think the dreaded Kennel Cough has hit my two after their week in the kennels. They did have the intra-nasal vaccine in Sept, which should lessen their symptoms, I think. I picked them up from the kennel last Sat. They've been fine until last night and today. I"m not sure of the brew time for the stuff, but I can't think of what else would be their problem. :( :( Any other possibilities that this could be?

They've been at home all week and just in the yard..no walks due to weather and work. We took them out in the car today for a drive. Samma was wheezing and just not looking 'right' by the afternoon. Then when we got home, Chienne started this long horrible hacking cough...sounds like hubby when he had bronchitis. Puir babe :( She's done it a couple of times since we've been home. Unfortunately, we HAVE to go out tonight. A "Do" for hubby's work that he has to go to, no matter what. :rolleyes: Personally, we'd rather stay home--being the homebodies we are :)

Because of laws and this being a non-emergency situation, we won't be able to take them to the vet until Monday.

Does anyone have ideas on what we can do to ease the wheezing Sam's having when she's resting? Also how to ease the series of coughs that Chienne has when she gets started with her deep hack? All I could think of is the same thing as croup for a baby..... mist up the bathroom with steam. I have yet to find arnica here, so that's out of the question.

Any suggestions to make them feel better will be greatly welcome.
I"ll check back as soon as we get home :)
tia.
toodles

Hiya Sara
Hope it's not too bad
Childrens cough mixture ( for dry coughs ) I believe can help but I'm not sure of the doses
Sorry can't be of any more help :(
Liz :)

Hello
Try echinacea capsules, and some water with honey in it, some natural remedies for you to try, hope they are of some help

Diane

<<<Childrens cough mixture ( for dry coughs ) I believe can help but I'm not sure of the doses>>>

Give the dose stated on the bottle for a child.
Homemade honey and lemon to lap will also ease their coughs :)

of what age ???????

Hi

If you have a dog crate you could add some vicks in hot water or something simular and put the dog in the cage with a towel over the cage and put the vicks under the towel,it would help with breathing

I have found the chesty cough syrups that have Guiaphenesin (sp) as the active ingriedeint as being most effective for the symptoms, and just keeping them warm and dry until it runs it's course, unless a secondary infection ensues.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions that were waiting when we got home. Interminable social event of the year :rolleyes: :P All I wanted to do was be home with my dogs in comfy clothes. :O

Chienne's officially off her feed. She wasn't interested in dinner at all this evening, the fussy sweet puir thing. That's normal for her when she's not feeling up to par :( :( She did take a biscuit from me later, so she won't starve in one night.

We tried the honey remedy, but apparently all we have is old German special honey that turned nasty when accompanied by echinecia. According to hubby, even Samma turned her nose up at it. (that was right before we left).

Call me a bad person, but I've never used the Vicks menthol chest stuff. :rolleyes: Late at night we can't get any. :( :( So that's out of the picture.

I have two types of Children's cold medicine. The Triaminic seems to be the best for the situation "Relieves coughing, stuffy and Runny nose" - - nighttime formula. It doesn't have the "Guiaphenesin" that you mentioned...neither did.
I have no idea what these are, but they're the 'active ingredients' :
Pseodoepnedrine hydrochloride
dextromethororphan hydrobromide
clorphenephiramine maleate

But I hope these work for her. Her coughing is horrible---a wet sound with a strong smell of 'dog' behind it. She's quiet unless she's moving faster than a walk. Her excitement at our arrival home set off a 5 minute hacking session.

Unlike the Dimetapp which goes by age, the Triaminic doses by weight. Since 48-95 pounds was 2 teaspoons, I figured 1/2 a teaspoon would be ok for a 18 pound... by the time it was poured from the 'cup' into a spoon, spilled a bit, then poured down her throat when she wouldn't lick it, I figure she got somewhere around 1/4 of a teaspoon or a bit more into her.

Samma got to lick the spoon. She does sound quieter breathing than this afternoon, but she hasn't been doing anything other than sleeping.

Hopefully, the triaminic will work for Chienne and help her clear that chest out. I'm crossing my fingers that it will work by tomorrow morning. Yep, being optimistic. That's about as much as I can do right now.
Tomorrow morning, I'll try to find another type of honey I'm sure I have and put them in the bathroom during my shower.
Thanks again, everyone :) :D :)

Hiya sara, Can you get junior Benelin over there? If so, thats about the best cough medicine for dogs with KC. the other option is clear honey, with onion and garlic in it, marinated overnight,strain out the onion, and give the honey to the dogs, and it dosnt taste as bad as it sounds, Ive tried it :)

The active componednt I mentioned is what is in Benylin which the vet has always recomended, but I buy the generic version fromsafeway, much cheaper and just as effective. Lloyds chemist and Somerfield do ones with the same ingredient, though Somerfields tastes horible.

I could probably get the Benalyn through the RAF store, but it's not open this week. Nothing off base, which might have it will be open until Monday :rolleyes: :P

I'll ask hubby to possibly make up the onion/garlic/honey mixture... He can't smell anything due to his own congestion, so the stuff won't affect him like it would me :P

Thanks, you're great!!!!

Hi Eog, you`re right on steaming the bathroom up, give it a try. The recipe Bec gave you is good, it`s a human one as well, for bronchial coughs. You could also mix the honey with glycerine. Draw it up in a syringe & then give it to her, you will be able to put it straight in her mouth & squirt it down slowly & you should get it all down. When my lot have had KC, I`ve always kept them as quiet as possible & no excercise. Hope she gets over it soon & don`t forget, if her breathing gets really laboured get her to the vet.
Christine, Spain.

Hi when my lot got it last year I used benalin for children and rubbed snuffle babe on there chests which helped there breathing and made them more comfortable these were also used on my 8 week old puppy’s that I had at the time it can take up to 10 days for the first signs of kennel cough to show after infection, if the coughing has not eased after two weeks pop down to your vets or if a lot of colored nasal discharge is seen as kennel cough can case secondary infections in the lungs and antibiotics will then be needed to clear the infection.
Sandy.

Thanks Sandy, you eased my mind about vet urgency visit :) :)

I"ve been ruminating over whether or not to take them into the vet today.
The children's Triaminic has worked wonders. Chienne is bright eyed and bushy tailed again. She ate her full dinner last night (:D :D CHEERS :D :D ) and her coughing sessions are only when she gets happy or roams for a bit out of her bed. They're much shorter and not as loud as they were. She's perky, but quite content to remain in her bed most of the time.

Samm's wheezing has gone down quite a bit. It was only noticeable when she was resting, but I went ahead and dosed her too. It's funny that this stuff is for 'nighttime" and will make a child sleep more..but these two are wider awake on the stuff. Not hyper, just alert and watching us from their bed :)

I"m going to telephone the vets and see what s/he has to say...they'll be closed the next three days, so I really want to make certain I'm doing the right thing. I'll also be tel. our kennel and let him know that they came down with the stuff. I'm not sure what he'll do, but at least he'll know.
Tchuss all & Frohe Weinachten,
Sara