Im desperately looking for advice.A week ago my gorl started coughing although not the typical kennel cough signs i have seen before.On the advice of my vet i have been giving her manuka honey but during the night she was terribly unwell and coughed all night,the honey doesnt seem to be helping.Im calling my vet today again but would appreciate advice from experienced breeders and what can be given at this stage in pregnancy,im so worried.Also will it be passed on the babies? Many thanks.

Synulox or Noroclav (same thing, different names) can safely be given during pregnancy and I would request this to play safe. My vet will prescribe it if a dog has really bad kennel cough and it does seem to speed the process up, plus most importantly of course prevent secondary infections. Good luck -I can imagine the worry.

We have recently had a similar problem our vet prescribed Noroclav to cover any secondary infection and we were recommended some herbal drops by a breeder friend of ours which seemed to work really well there was one lot of drops to give as a preventative for any other dogs that could be at risk and one lot of drops if the dog has already started coughing. Both lots of drops are safe for pregnant bitches and puppies. The companies website is www.helios.co.uk, hope this helps.

Thanks so much.My vet told me she wasnt willing to give her antibiotics because kennel cough was a virus but i am taking her back to vets tommorrow because the cough is getting worse.I will get the drops too,thanks for the advice.

Could you tell me the name of the drops? Thanks x

The drops are called kennel cough nosode, but if you give them a call they are quite helpful and can advise you further. I'm very surprised your vet wont give Noroclav, you are not trying to treat the kennel cough but help prevent a secondary infection which is what usually causes the problems when a dog goes down with kennel cough.

Yes thats what i thought,im going to demand them tommorrow because she is definately getting worse.Thanks so much for the advice x

Iv had a girl here with kennel cough at 7weeks she had ads to help and went on to have a healthy litter of 8 and all pups where big apart fro. 1 tiny girl she now 4 and doing very well :)

I wouldn't be to worried though at seven weeks she's got a couple of weeks to get over it before the pups arrive. Its no worse than us catching a bad cold and in most cases and shouldn't do the pups any harm while they are still in mum.
I would recommend using a vet grade disinfectant and give everything a good clean down just before the pups arrive to try and avoid them catching it, if they do come down with it I would take them straight to the vets for an anti biotic injection. The problem with new-born puppies catching it is that they are prone to go off their food but it shouldn't do them any long-term harm.

Just a little update.i tooke her to the vets and she put her on antibiotics for a max of 5 days but told me to stop if the coughing stopped which it hasnt,infact its worse.Today the drops arrived so im hoping i will start ato notice a difference soon,can you let me know how long the drops took to work with your dog? x

Personally I would complete the five day course even if the cough stops if your vet has given you Noroclav it is perfectly safe in pregnant bitches so I cant think why there would be a reason not to give the full course. We have 11 dogs and the kennel cough swept through 10 of them despite us quarantining them and disinfecting everything everyday, luckily only one was in pup at the time. It really does affect each dog in different ways and takes each dog a different amount of time to get over it but once we had started the drops we saw a noticeable improvement within three days, once the coughing is under control the dog seems to feel much better in itself and pick up.

Thanks,i will finish the course but think i would have to anyway because her cough still is very loud and sounds sore.the vet said her throat was sore due to coughing,such a shame.i have never seen kennel cough run on so long but vet said its due to being pregnant and her immune system being so low at the moment.Im on day 2 with the drops so fingers crossed we see an improvement soon because she is on day 55! x

We were lucky as we caught ours very early as several dogs went down with it from our ringcraft group so we were already looking for it. The mum of the first dog to get it had it the worst with us and kept hacking and being sick our vet said this was because it often starts as Laryngitis and then the cough builds from there. The problem is that there is no set recovery time as each dog is affected differently but it is quite distressing to see them like that. At least on day 55 there is still plenty of time for her to get better.

At least on day 55 there is still plenty of time for her to get better.

Well with plenty of bitches giving birth on day 56 to 58, not plenty of time. FINGERS CROSSED. I definitely vouch for continuing the antibiotics as well and cannot for my life understand why any vet would say not to.

Well hopefully enough time. Well as we all have witnessed a huge number of vets have very little or no knowledge of dealing with pregnant bitches and breeders that have a good understanding of what's going on. We are very lucky with our vets they are happy to listen to us and have a realistic view of breeding. I thought that was the golden rule with antibiotics always finish the course.