Thistle has kennel cough. Do I need to restrict her exercise?
Jane

If she is having trouble breathing, then she will restrict her own exercise :-) If you mean should you take her out .. then the answer is NO :-) Jane, run a 'search' on Kennel Cough for past threads and thoughts on this subject :-) I hope Thistle gets better quickly.

Leigh
Should I not take her out for a walk at all then? How long do I keep her in? She's going to get bored stiff.She is fine but she's doing the cough which is described on the links and my training club phoned up to say there is KC among our group, so they've cancelled till after Christmas, otherwise I wouldn't have suspected anything. I'm not planning to take her to the vet's as I don't want her to be given antibiotics just for the sake of it. What do you think?
Jane

I think that KC is highly contagious and that if you care about other peoples dogs at all, you will not take your dog out until it is clear. Did you not read about Briedogs litter? :-( That alone should have told you all you needed to know about passing on this infection.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I gave my dogs Benylin Chesty Cough medicine, when they had KC. If you have more than one dog, you may find that you will need a trip to the vets if it doesn't do the trick, because they re-infect each other? Just out of interest, do you feed your dogs garlic normally? As for exercise, we just played with our dogs in the garden until they were clear. Not so much *running around* games, more things that stimulated them :-) HTH

Yes I did read about Brie's litter and obviously I wouldn't take Thistle anywhere where there are other dogs, but I am lucky enough to have a field backing on to my house which isn't public and no other dogs go there. I didn't know if it would be OK for her to have a run out there, or if she has to be kept quiet. I haven't got any other dogs. I haven't fed Thistle garlic, how do you serve it?
I've read alot about giving human cough medicine to dogs, but has anyone read the report that has just been published saying that they do no good whatsoever for humans and are a complete waste of time.
Thanks for your help Leigh and what does HTH mean?
Jane

HTH = Hope this helps :-) I think if you have access to land that is not frequented by lots of other dogs, go for it :-) You are luckier than me, where we are you can not turn round without meeting other dogs :rolleyes:

I feed garlic either fresh,crushed on their food or in capsule form. As for the cough medicine: I personally feel that it did help my dogs. It kept them mildy *sedated* and the decongestant did help clear the muck :-)

Hope Thistle gets well soon.

I was going to get in touch to arrange the walk but we will wait until she is better!

Lucy
xx