Hi, I was reading a string from a few weeks ago, and lots of posters' dogs seemed to be contracting Kennel Cough at an alarming rate. I am going to start showing a puppy all over the place - hopefully - soon and wondered if there were still lots of new cases. I am a bit concerned that if it is still "doing the rounds" that I should get her and maybe the others too some protection. She has been fully vaccinated, but will this give her good protection from every strain? She has had vacc against Parainfluenza, but I am ashamed to say (blush) that I dont know whether this covers KC. Is there anything else I can do to protect her from it? Any advice would be grateully received.

Unfortunatley W. L. Kennel Cough is caused by quite a number different bugs like colds and flu. I would think it impossible to protect from all causes of cough. As with humans and flu it is unlikley to cause harm to a health dog over 'say' six months and the not very elderly, but an infected dog can infected othes for some while, so in fairness to others it is best not to allow mixing with other dogs for some weeks. Which of course meens no shows. With a bit of luck you will never get it, lets hope so. JH

I agree with Jackie :-) There are so many varieties, you could never vaccinate to cover all of them. The only other thing that I would add, is that once the dog has had it they appear to develop some immunity to it. Leigh

I was one of the concerned posters because I had heard of quite a few cases going round and didn't want my pup or my dog with immune problems to catch it. I have my dogs on homeopathic KC vaccine, don't know if it helps or not - don't want to speak too soon ;-) Didn't like the idea of the KC vaccine as it's not an injection is it but drops or something up their nose ?

Recently I've not heard of anymore cases but I guess it's always around.

Intra-Trac II is given intra-nasally and produced by Schering-Plough. Containing canine parainfluenza, modified live virus and Bordetella bronchiseptica, avirulent live culture, it is used as an aid in the prevention of canine parainfluenza (kennel cough) and Bordatella bronchiseptica when administered annually to healthy dogs over the age of three weeks.

While it is not an absolute guarantee against kennel cough (last study that I read suggested there were some 54+ different strains of the virus causing 'kennel cough'), I have used it for a great number of years on many different dogs and have experienced good results. I, and many veternarians, recommend it if you are showing or trialling your dog and therefore around a lot of strange dogs. In the case of many boarding kennels, you may find that it is a requirement prior to the dog being boarded and must be administered at least two weeks before the dog is taken into boarding.

I find the intra-nasal administration to be less invasive than innoculations. While most veternarians will administer half in each nostril, the literature from Schering indicates that it need only be administered into one nostril for effectiveness. (Just a helpful hint if your dogs, like ours, don't particularly want to sit still for both nostrils!)

Since using Intra-trac, I have never experienced a kennel cough problem. I did have to treat Bri, our Battersea border collie, for kennel cough when I picked her up -- the first kennel cough that I've had in years.

I have now decided against vaccinating nasally for Kennel cough - one of my dogs collasped today with a temp of 104 but no other sign of illness - the vets suspect Kennel cough but think he is showing no real signs due to his previous vaccination a few mths ago - they also believe he picked it up at his last show Midland Counties as he had a dry cough for a day 6 days post show, which at that time was put down to an allergic reaction to the citronella oil used in the aboistop on another dog in our household.

The only sign I had that he was sick was a sudden collapse tonight with an emergency visit to vets and all they could find was a high temp with a cough they could stimulate (he hasn't coughed since!) I don't know how I would have coped if it had happened tomorrow or Sunday whilst we were out at shows. Think I'd rather have more signs of illness than this sudden collapse and risk infecting other dogs unwittingly as well as my own stock - we have pups of 6 wks at home too make it worse.

I know what you mean Schip I hate the idea of this KC being around and you don't actually know they've got it until the cough starts or like you say high temp etc. I would feel really guilty if I thought a dog had caught it off my dogs but if you don't know they've got it what can you do ??

Hope he is feeling a bit better today :-)

Thanks he felt fine Claire after he got his 2 jabs and a lot of fuss from the new lady vet! Well true to doggie form at least he was loads better once she'd 'sorted' him lol.

We will get the test results on Monday but I have my doubts about it being KC as we're still waiting for the cough other than when the aboistop goes off on the other dog, so have removed that and wait to see if he coughs again without a possible trigger. The vet did say this summer and autumn had been one of the worst yrs for KC she could remember.

Try using the water refill in your collar. Have know dogs to use a cough as a meens to get attention also had one that would sneeze for the same reason, this would not account for the high temp. though. Hope yours is now OK and you have no more trouble. Jackie H

Had decided to get a water refil for the collar jackie and yep an sure the occassional cough is an attention seeking behaviour as he now realises that barking his head off all day long doesn't get him anywhere - part of my disability is hearing loss in certain tones one of which seems to be a schipperke bark lol.

Coughing on the other hand gets mums attention - tomorrow can't come soon enough for the results as I have a sneakin suspicion that the others will soon learn this new tactic!

Thanks for all this info, I think I'll just cross my fingers. She has 2 shows and then none til after January so I might be lucky.