Kennel cough
Bob and Sophie have to go into the kennels next week.
Does anyone have experience with the kennel cough vaccine? Some people say it's vital, others say it's an unpleasant procedure and not needed.
Is kennel cough a treatable condition ?
Any thoughts gratefully received.
32 comments:
Sorry, we don't really know. We always have kennel cough because we go to kennels. Actually, the kennel requires it.
XXXOOO Bella Roxy & Dui
Just the first up the nose bit is uncomfortable--after that it's just an annual needle.
It's always best to get them vaccinated against kennel cough in my opinion. It is something they can get even if they Don't go into kennels!! This has happened in the past with our lurcher. He was so unwell when he caught it that from then on every year, with the regular boosters, he gets the kennel cough one.
A simple injection no different to any other, but so well worth it.
Yes, it is up the nose, I was thinking how good our lurcher is with injections. Again, it is so quick the vet (if experienced with it) will pop the necessary up the nostril so quickly it's done with in an instant.
Our vet squirts the vaccine up Bertie's nose, no needles involved. For sure he doesn't like it but he also doesn't seem majorly traumatised (but then he is not the over-sensitive type). I often wonder how much of the substance actually goes in. One time, Bertie did pick up kennel cough at the kennels, despite the vaccination, and when I quizzed the vet about this, was told that the vaccine reduces the chance of kennel cough and the severity if infected, but does not offer complete protection. It left me wondering if the whole procedure was really worthwhile, but, here at least, boarding kennels generally require evidence of vaccination so one doesn't have much choice. (I seem to remember that the vaccine prevents bacterial not viral infections - or was it the other way round?)
Cheers,
Gail
PS I hope you are not too late - I think the vaccine need a week or two to 'take'.
Kennel cough vaccination is compulsory here if you want to board your dog. You have to provide the certification or it's back home you go. I'm pretty sure ours is the squirt up the nose ... Buster doesn't like it but it's over before he realises what's coming. Curiously I have noticed in the 24 hours following it he has a tendency to lick things ... especially carpet ... a weird side effect perhaps???
We are required to have it before boarding in Ohio. Yogi doesn't love the squirt up the nose, but its quickly forgotten. The good news is we've never gotten kennel cough ... but we've also heard of some that still get the much milder version.
Kennel cough vaccine is mandatory in Texas. I just renewed my girl and now they have a tablet they can chew, so no more squirt up the nose. I've always had my dogs get the vaccine and never had any side effects or problem. Its better to do that than go through them being sick and also it is more costly to treat.
Vaccination is also mandatory at the kennel I use in Nova Scotia. My Wheaton didn't have any kind of reaction.
You've gotten some great advice, Angus. I had to immunize our dogs for it when they were boarded before we moved to our current house. But they had never been given it before or since then. But because Bob and Sophie will be coming into contact with dogs in what may be a stressful situation, I would recommend it. Our dogs have never gotten kennel cough, even though we've had foster dogs that have come to us via shelters that either had it or developed it afterwards. It is relatively safe to administer (some vets are now doing it via injection instead of nasally) And I know that for best immunity, the intranasal Bordetella vaccination should be given at least 5 days prior to boarding. Vaccination will not prevent the illness, but will reduce the severity of clinical signs to a more manageable level. Symptoms are a honking cough made louder and more high-pitched by a swollen and inflamed larynx and airways. Other signs are just like with people who have an upper respiratory infection—runny eyes and nose, reduced appetite and energy—Treatment is oral antibiotics. ~~Sorry to ramble, but I hope this helps!!
Thank you for all your replies. Bob and Sophie are booked in the vets at 8.30 tomorrow morning. It's not mandatory to have it here in France - or certainly not in any of the local kennels. The view is that it may be called kennel cough but your more likely to pick it up from a dog that you might meet on the street rather than in a 'sanitary' kennel environment.
Now all we have to worry about is the heat. It's warmer in France than in Rio !
Thank you. It does.
The vet is already preparing for Sophie who has already gained the reputation as a 'howling' patient !
Thanks. The vet says five days - tops .
We're hoping for the 'quickly forgotten ' part !
Thanks for the tip. Sadly, tablets seem not to have reached France.
No reaction is good news !
I pity our vet and the '' up the nose '' bit ! It sounds so easy.
Angus my 6 year old Max has had the Bordetella vaccine every year. It was always given as a shot however this year it was given as an oral. My vet explained that it started as a nasal spray, then a shot and now it's oral. They squirt the vaccine into their mouth and no issues. The nasal is messy and the dogs don't particularly like it. The shot never posed a problem for Max but the oral is a snap. It is required here in AZ if you take your dog to a groomer, dog park, etc.
What they've all said. It's required here in order to take the dog to a kennel or even a groomer. Quick, in the nose, so fast that even Sophie won't have a chance to howl beforehand. Afterwards, maybe.
In addition to protecting the dogs, it protects the owners from fretting and worrying while they're gone and then obsessively watching for symptoms after return. Of all the increasing (alas) number of meds now being required, I think this may be the most important.
Edward has never had it because we have dog sitters stay here in the house when we're gone. Apple, on the other hand, had to have it when she stayed overnight at the vets after her knee surgery. She had no after effects at all. Unless of course, a severe hatred of chipmunks could be considered an after effect. xo
Aww, bless her little heart, I can just picture her there. Perhaps you could persuade the vet that her 'howling' is actually 'singing' and Sophie thinks she is serenading him. lol.
The kennels we used to use would not take dogs unless they had had the vaccine.
It was no big deal, a quick squirt up the nostril which was more of a surprise than anything, not too unpleasant and all done in a second.
We no longer use kennels, taking Lulu with us on holiday. Not easy by aeroplane though.
We've used it for many years with both our dogs, and never had any problems or reactions. And neither one ever minded the squirt up the nose, either.
Just be grateful you don't have the mandatory canine flu vaccination -- our local kennels here in suburban DC all require it, and it's a two-shot, two-weeks-apart vaccination. We didn't learn this, of course, until less than a week before checking Isaac into a kennel; fortunately, they allowed him to visit as long as we promised to get him the second shot (which we did, actually, since it seems to be mandatory everywhere here). Fortunately, he had no adverse reactions to it, either, even though he was quite elderly and frail at the time.
Yes, Yogi got a small ice cream cone on the way home ... and that made it "ALL Better" in his world. :)
ANGUS…….you do realize, don't you? - that you have a fan-club out here that all adore your PON DUO…….any of which (I am sure) would
come and care for them at your own home while you are away on holiday. The kennel situation worries many of us, I know. And the heat.
Hoping all goes well. Again, we will hold our collective breaths until you return to bring them home.
Your question reminded me that my first dog got kennel cough about 20 years ago. No kennel involved - probably caught while greeting other dogs on our daily walk. He had the loudest hacking cough (sounded like he was trying to bring up a huge fur-ball) which lasted a couple of weeks. It was loud enough to wake both owners many nights. At the time our vet's cure was daily doses of a well known human cough medicine! Since then my dogs have had annual vaccinations (also if they go to kennels here in NZ), but as Gail and Bertie mentioned above sometimes the vaccination only reduces the severity of the cough.
Wishing you an uneventful visit with Sophie to the vets - maybe take bits of croissants for the vet to feed her and some earplugs for you to use.
Meant "also mandatory if they go to kennels here in NZ".
I'd definitely do it if boarding. Our vet does titers, so Whitley hasn't been re-vaccinated (other than the required rabies) the last couple of visits because she has built up immunity.
Yes get the shots for this to be safe!
So odd I read this today, as I'm taking mine in for their shots, including Bordetella, on Saturday. I kennel them often. It used to be nasal, now it's a shot. They've gotten it their entire lives, and never had any issues from it...
It has been very interesting to read all the comments on here. As a vet I routinely advise the use of vaccines for Kennel Cough Complex - and it really is a complex, often caused by combinations of CAV2, Parainfluenza and the bacteria Bordetella bronchiseptica. (A similar bacteria Bordetella pertussis causes whooping cough in humans) . Other causes can be involved - and it is similar to human colds.
Its not pleasant for the dogs - and some can get pneumonia which always seems hard to treat in dogs.
I liked this article on it:http://speakingforspot.com/blog/2013/08/04/is-the-kennel-cough-vaccine-a-wise-choice-for-your-dog/
and this was food for thought too. http://truth4pets.org/2012/07/kennel-cough-vaccine/
particularly the section at teh end Bordetella Vaccination for Dogs: Fraud and Fallacy
By Patricia Monahan Jordan from Dogs Naturally Magazine July/August 2010 Issue
So I can see your dilemma Angus.
Still, I wouldn't want Poppy to risk catching it. I give it to her.
I worry about people choosing not to vaccinate their children too. How must if feel if they get sick or die and you could have prevented it?
We don't get a choice here in NZ as it is mandatory for entry to kennels. Interestingly I think we also have a high rate of human whooping cough.
Anyway, relying on vaccines as a safety net is not enough - the important bit really is choosing a good kennel that pays attention to room, ventilation and hygiene! I am sure you have done that homework thoroughly :)
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