Hello, I have just been reading previous posts on kennel cough, but none of them fit what i need to know.  My 20 month old dog has cought kennel cough off a friends dog, her vet told her he didnt need antibiotics unless he didnt get better within a fortnight, does anyone think different from this?  My dog started coughing and bringing up plegm yesterday, although he does not seem poorly in himself, he is eating fine and quite lively, although he does cough a bit when excited.  Friends vet said to give cough medicine only if the dog didnt have a productive cough, so should i give it to my dog if he is fetching up plegm, as i thought that was what a cough was for (in humans anyway) to clear the chest and lungs etc. any advice much appreciated, thanks in advance.

I'd say the vet gave good advice, but you may want to take your dog to your own vet to make sure ;)  You could try putting garlic in his food or giving him clear chicken soup with garlic, sage and thyme in it (as you would for yourself, but no salt), these are all good against viruses and bacteria and will be very soothing to the throat.  Also enouraging the dog to drink will help to keep the mucous loose.  When my dogs had KC last year I also put a drop of Tea Tree oil on their collars to help them beat it :)  Personally I didn't allow my dogs to exercise as much as they would have wanted, I felt resting them through it helped them more - after all I can't run about as much if I have a rotten cold ;)  Don't forget KC is contagious so you'll need to keep him away from other dogs until he's better and a bit after.

thanks for your reply dill, I have just spoken to the vet who told me to give baby benylin 2/3 times a day but that most dogs need antibiotics, i have to give him a couple of days and if he does not improve, or  if he gets worse to phone again for an apointment.

Hi,
  We used to show staffies and you could almost guarentee that about 2 weeks after the show our dogs used to get a bout of kennel cough,we used benelyn cough mixture and within about 3-4 days it was gone.