May 17th, 2004 Welcome to you all and God Bless. I am new now at this site and am not sure how to do all this, so I hope my post comes out! I have had dogs all my life and I must say this has been the most draining on me! It just seems my babies have all been sick so long. I we went to the shelter on April 23rd looking at a new addition to our family, we had to wait until the 26th to pick up the puppy, as they said he was to be neutered. The kennel worker thought then the puppy had kennel cough, the puppy acted fine and his nose looked to me to have dirt on the tip, he really was showing no signs yet. We came home from the shelter and (unfortunately) exposed the other two dogs to the virus, they have had all their shots? My 8yr old girl Gina has had all hers, My Boy KoKo 1 ½ yrs has had his up to this date. When we brought the puppy home on the 26th  he hadn't shown signs until two days later, they say the incubation period is 3 to 5 days, so the  23rd  we came home from visiting the puppy, exposed  the other two, the 26th the puppy was here, by evening time the puppy starting to cough. I'll swear this has been so hard on me, these are my babies, it seems as though they have been sick so long? I have done my research and have read where kennel cough last from seven to sometimes thirty days. My question is has anyone seen dogs that have had this virus this long? I'll swear it seems like forever! Thank God My 1 ½ yr old boy (KoKo) is doing much better, he's at least eating and has very little cough, I'm giving him his meds with Robutissin cough gel caps, Gina (my 8yr old girl) as well, she's not eating as much but getting better if it's a dang T bone steak ha! The puppy on the other hand is the one I'm most concerned about, he's still not eating, I'm giving him his meds and basically force feeding three times a day. I'm giving him two to three ounces of pureed meat and eggs, I also administer children's vitamins for him, I give him some food first (as to not upset his tummy) and then squirt in the recommended dose from the pharmacist, I have read up on this and felt it was best for the puppy (being that if he's not eating) to keep vitamins in him, especially with the vitamin "B", he might get a little appetite back?
Thank God, three days ago he started to walk around a little more, he actually barked yesterday and just made my day. I prayed so hard the night before and ask God to forgive me for questioning why he is still so sick. It's just so dang hard to see a little baby like this, one you rescue to love and take care of, to show what it is to know a warm and loving home, then watch him (right in front of your eyes) get this sick! He's still skin and bones, I can latterly see his ribs and hip bones and that just tears me up.   it's hard to see them sick. I have had a humidifier going the first bad week, the whole time followed them all (with separate warm  rags) wiping their noses, applying little swabs of lanolin so their little noses don't get raw. Last night Gina would not stop coughing, she wanted to stay outside but it was too cold, so I got a heating pad to keep her chest warm and stop the coughing, I  put it up where she lays by me, and she slept there for a while not coughing, Thank God!!
I went through this when I adopted Gina 8yrs ago, she was given a 50-60 chance she would "Not" make it! I did the humidifier, the cough medicine as my vet said, she had several shots, I did as much as a mother would! This time, perhaps it's because it's so overwhelming with the three of them sick, but I am really getting discouraged, I feel like I'm not doing enough, but what else is left to do? My husband has gone back to the vet twice with them all, they all had meds, stronger meds, more cough meds, shots, Does it sound like this is normal, has anyone personally seen dogs have it this long? If it was your little baby what else would you do?  Please help me, I want my babies back!!

10:46pm and Gina has blood in her flem????

oh you poor thing, how rotten for you :(  i cant really help you but im sure someone will be able to soon, it sound like you are doing everything you could possible do for your dogs, if only all dog owner did the same, i know how i would feel if my Toby was ill, you obviously love your dogs very much, im sure they will pull through, good luck :)

Heidi

Hi,
When Trefor had kennel cough some years ago, he was very ill and the vet did not think he would survive. He did survive. It can take a long time for them to get over, Trefor was ill for quite a while and it felt like forever!

My vet advised me to feed him anything I could tempt him with, if was my dinner.... give it to him if he wanted it! He got very spoilt during that time. A few things I found helpful food wise were to feed a good natural yogurt fed warm with honey and a little milk to make it more like a drink. For the sore throat and to ease the coughing, use vanilla icecream but it has to be the type made with the vanilla bean not the essence. Vanilla has a lot of healing properties. When feeding a more solid diet, I added very finely chopped garlic it must be raw to be effective. I also find find pilchards are good for puppies. Not the type sold in brine but the type sold with tomato sauce. They are tempting to dogs as they are quite smelly.

I hope you'll let us know how they get on
regards
Polly

please check this page http://www.weim.net/faq/cache/60.html
my dog had kennel cough for ages & was very poorly, several doses of antibiotics & no better, I found this recipe for natural healing within a couple of days she was all better & the new puppy didn`t contract it
it really helped me & my dogs
good luck
Kerry

O my Funnygirl! It sounds as if you are having a rough time with your little ones :-( I am pretty new to this site myself and say welcome, glad you found us :-) I have not much experience of kennel cough but once nursed a whole litter of scotty pups with pheumonia, sadly they did not all make it. It was a long time ago now in fact I remember feeding them with an eye dropper while watching the funeral of Winston Churchill on the television..crying for the sick puppies and the sadness of the occasion. It sounds as if you are doing everything you can, have you tried letting your sick ones lick honey off your finger, it is very soothing and must be comforting for them , also scrambled egg is easy to eat and the broth made from slow cooking shin beef..and fish and porridge oats made with puppy milk or shin broth. I also remember using a burner and night light with menthol and eucaliptus (sp?)oil. I do hope your little ones are better soon.
Best wishes.

You could also try Nutridrops or B Sorb

sorry to hear about your pups - you must be so worried - several years ago my dogs caught kennel cough - 3 were not too bad but my 'oldie' was very poorly - they did all pull through with no lasting effects - I was recommended to give them a children's cough medicine called Tixylix it certainly eased the cough quite a bit. Good luck - I'm sure they will all be fine in the end.

Yvonne