Fagan seems to have recovered totally from his kennel cough but Alfie is getting worse :(  he finished his anti biotics last week and seemed much better but he has deteriated over the weekend, his little cough is constant and every now and then he does a big retch.  He keeps sneezing too and he has got a constant running nose with proper green bogies I never knew dogs could get snot like that and it makes me proper retch with bile and everything when I have to wipe it :( :p  In himself he is fine, still eating and playing (and I swear he purposely chases me to wipe his horrid bogies on me )

I am going to call the vet today to see what he says, I obviously cant take him down there because he is still contagious, but I will see what the vet says - maybe he will come out to my car.  Im just worried that the vet is going to prescribe more anti-biotics because if the last lot didnt work will this lot ?  Does anyone know of anything else I can give him to help ? (he is having honey to soothe his cough.)

Claire :)

Sorry to hear he's having so a rough time with it, Kayla had kc back in December and it was awful for the first 5/6days, constant coughing/retching/snezzing, she couldn't move without having a coughing 'fit' and she couldn't bark, a fave pastime of hers :D !!
She was on antibiotics for 2 weeks, plus a kids dose of Benylin, a teaspoon 4 times a day I think which I kept up until a week after the antibilotcs were finished. I also tried to keep her clam, not too much running around as any stress on the lungs makes it worse, not an easy thing I can tell you!!
I hope this helps, and I hope little Alfie starts feeling better soon, kc is a really nasty thing to have, luckily Chloe didn't get it and we didn't have the pup then but ut was still bad -no walks for 3 weeks, not fun with a hyper 2 year old, 25kg vizsla!!
Emily

I am amazed when I hear these descriptions of kennel cough. My middle dog has got it at the moment. He started coughing a week ago on Saturday and has been on antibiotics in case of secondary infection and cough medicine. He hasn't been to the vets, I am treating it myself. He gives the occassional retching cough, like he has got something stuck, as is usual with kc, but that is it. No snot, no reaching, he can still run and bark, although he coughs a bit more when he comes back.

A friend of mine who is a vet (handy:-)) has been advising me throughout, although she hasn't actually seen him. It is definately kc, but it seems so mild compared to what other people have described. And he has had it for 9 days (it's nearly gone) and the other 2 are not showing any signs yet. Is that weird? I thought it was really contagious so how come they haven't got it? They are 9 mths and 10.

Also, I have heard a lot of you say no walks, but my vet advised over the phone, and my vet friend, both said kc is only transmitted through the air with direct contact as it is an airbourne virus. They said therefore, it was fine to take them out for a walk as long as I kept them well away from other dogs. They cannot catch it if they are not there, like you could not catch my cold if you walked through the park ten minutes after me.

Claire   

Claire,

There are 3 different strains of Kennel Cough which is why you're reading about such a difference between what you've seen and what others are experiencing.

And you are correct, a walk through the park is fine as long as you are well away from other dogs, but a trip inside a tiny vet's office, etc. could be harmful to the healthy dogs that are there at the moment.

With exercising your dog while it has kennel cough it is important not to allow a lot of free running as it can damage the lungs.  It obviously depends on the type of dog you have, a stroll through a field off lead is fine, but if your dog is the type to charge around don't let him off.

Hi, kennel cough can be caused by many various viruses or bacteria, working alone or together, so maybe the a/bs already used weren`t the right ones. Its airborne so any droplets when the dog coughs or blows its nose etc can be spread by the wind & passed to another dog further away. It is best to keep them quiet & not let them run around cos it can damage the lungs/airways & complications can set in.
The reason some dogs have a mild case & others have more serious case is because each dog is different & like us, you may have a severe cold/flu while hubby gets a mild dose. It`s down to your immune system & how its working at that time :)
Also it`s a good idea to have seperate drinking bowls.

Christine, Spain.

>Also it`s a good idea to have seperate drinking bowls<

How do you tell each dog which bowl is theirs :D

He is near the end of week 2 and hardly coughing now. When it was slightly worse during week 1 he didn't go out at all. He wasn't allowed within a mile of other dogs when out so no chance of it being spread. Still no sign from the other two, so fingers crossed everyone that they don't get it. :-)

LOL@ Sandrah. I am trying to teach them to count so they don't get lost on an agility course, maybe I should teach them to read their names too!!! :D Seriously tho, bit late now for that. He's had it nearly 2 weeks. Thanks all for you imput. :-)

Bit late to this post but Copper has had major kennel cough in the past - to the point where I phoned the emergency vet at 3am in the morning (least popular person on the planet at that point :)).  Vet advised giving him quarter of co-codamol in a bit of jam or something and to be honest it worked a treat.  Dog just went to sleep, didn't cough or anything and after four quarters of the tablet (at intervals) he was A1. 

When I say major kennel cough, he coughed to the point of weeing  himself and then the poor soul got more distressed etc so this remedy really did work.  I had previously antibiotics from the vet but the co-co'd worked better (and cheaper).

CG

PS.  I changed kennel arrangements and he has never had the problem since.

Little Alf is now on stronger anti-biotics and is much better, he only tends to cough when he pulls on his lead but he used to do this anyway - could he be cured ?  Fagan (who only had it mildly and who I thought was cured) has now started coughing worse so im going to have to go get him some stronger drugs :(