Advice please!!...

[MaxG]

Hi all,

Poor Max is off to the vets at 1.15pm today - pretty sure he's got some form of 'kennel cough'! 

I know it's a 'cover all' kind of term & means he could have picked it up from more or less any other dog we've met lately, as he's never been in kennels! I'm kicking myself now that we didn't get him vaccinated but we asked the vet & she said that it wasn't worth it unless we thought he'd be at risk or would have to go into kennels at short notice. 

He was fine yesterday but woke up this morning & started coughing - at the moment, it's mostly when he exerts himself or gets excited. It's a horrendous sound - like a honking/dry hacking & he sometimes wretches too, bless him. 

The first time he did it, I thought he had something stuck in his throat & tried checking him, but he wasn't keen! After he'd done it several more times, I went in panicking mad woman mode & called the vet!! She said she's almost positive that's what he's got & told us to bring him in today. 

He's feeling very sorry for himself & is mostly sleeping - when he starts coughing, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself - I feel so helpless!! Poor baby!! 

I'm assuming he'll have maybe an injection & a course of antibiotics? How long does it normally last? If we've caught it this early, will that be better for him? Do we have to keep him in for the next week or so? God knows how we'll manage that!! Is there anything else we can give him to help him? I've read about 'baby Benylin' but I'm not sure how I'd get him to take that?! 

We're supposed to be going out for a couple of hours tonight - should we still go? Will he be ok to be left for 4 hours per day next week when I'm at work?? 

I know I'm panicking & over-reacting, but, well, that's just the way I am when it comes to Max - can't seem to help it!!! 

Any words of wisdom out there? 

Thank you!!! 

Kath.


 

[*Jay*]

First of all, don't panic The vets will probably give him treatment of some sort - the normal treatment given out at our vets is Pardale (anti-inflammatory) and Oxycare (antibiotic). Whenever we have had the dreaded 'cough', it has lasted about a week but Vegas did have a horrible bout 18 months ago that lasted 4 weeks I didn't keep my dogs in but we did stay away from training classes and areas heavily populated with dogs. It is highly infectious but whenever one of mine have come down with it, the others have been fine but I kept them away as well just in case they were incubating it. The benylin does help and I'm lucky that my dogs will take anything so they are quite happy to take it from a syringe. Dorwest Herbs garlic & fenugreek is also meant to be very good - just something to bear in mind for future reference. He will be fine being left this evening and when you go to work next week

[Elisa]

Poor Max 

First of all don't panic.  Kennel Cough is airborne, so if there is a dog in your area that has it, Max probably picked it up from a walk.  Bailey had it once, and his cough was definitely worse in the morning on wakening up.  He sounded like an old man that had smoked all his life 

I gave him Benylin and got a syringe from the chemist, and squirted it down the back of his throat.  I took him to the vet, but as it was quite mild, Bailey didn't get anything and it just cleared up on it's own.  If I remember rightly, it took a while to clear (about 10-14 days), and we were advised to keep him away from other dogs.

Good luck at the vets 

[MaxG]

Thanks ladies!!!!!!!!!! Poor little thing is sleeping at the moment - perfecting his 'woe is me' look too!!!! 

[MaxG]

Well we're back from the vets & 50 quid lighter - Max had a good checkover & she gave us 3 days of anti-inflammatories & 5 days of antibiotics & told us he should be fine in a few days - phew! 

She advised us to keep him away from other dogs as much as poss for a week or so & take him back if he's still coughing after his tabs are finished. 

She also told us not to exercise him for 48 hours as apparently if he keeps coughing & running around, he could force the infection further down into his lungs & make it worse & longer lasting - ??!! Poor little thing is NOT impressed - we drove him round to the vets instead of walking, in case we met other dogs & he leapt into the car,  soooooooooooo excited, thinking he was having his usual weekend jaunt to the woods!! 

[happydog]

Aaaaawww poor Max  . Hope he's better soon.

Well we're back from the vets & 50 quid lighter

Bet he's worth every penny though 

[MaxG]

Aaaaawww poor Max  . Hope he's better soon.

Well we're back from the vets & 50 quid lighter

Bet he's worth every penny though 

Oh yes!!!! Definately!!!!  It just sometimes makes me wince when we fork out such big amounts for a few seconds of their time, that's all - we were in & out in less than 5 minutes I think!! Ah well, hey ho - that's the way it is.

 I went one step further afterwards & left 'sick boy' at home with 'dad' while I nipped into town to get him some Benylin & ended up going into the petshop on the way back to the car - oops - hee hee - hubby wasn't overly impressed when he spotted the bag!!!!! 

[happydog]

I nipped into town to get him some Benylin & ended up going into the petshop on the way back to the car - oops - hee hee - hubby wasn't overly impressed when he spotted the bag!!!!! 

  Why? There wasn't another cocker in it was there? 

[Hel]

Well we're back from the vets & 50 quid lighter - Max had a good checkover & she gave us 3 days of anti-inflammatories & 5 days of antibiotics & told us he should be fine in a few days - phew! 

I wish vets would not dole out antibiotics for kennel cough.  Kennel cough is equivalent to a cold or flu in humans and is a viral infection.  Dogs only need anitbiotics if the kennel cough results in a bacterial infection - just like humans with cold/flu.  Vets seem to be doing what GPs did for years, until the medical community realised that giving out antibiotics for anything means that antibiotics don't work when they need to work.

Junior Benylin is one of the best treatments for kennel cough.  Unless your dog is very young, old or has a throat problem (my old 16 yo yorkie has a kennel cough vac every year, because it could be serious for her as she has a typical yorkie throat problem), kennel cough is harmless and there is no need for antibiotics.

I really get annoyed (can you tell?) when vets either take advantage of their clients or simply don't know about kennel cough.  Doing rescue work, kennel cough is common in rescue dogs, but your own dogs get immune to it. My dogs have never got it, despite spending a night in a room with a dog with it.

[Ben's mum]

I agree with Hel, the first time Ben had kennel cough I rushed to the vet, who was probably rubbing his hands with glee when he saw me come through the door looking worried.  He had an injection for goodness knows what and antibiotics and a bill for £60. 

Now like the others i keep Benilyn in, and give him that, I would'nt take Ben to the vet unless it was getting worse or not clearing up after a few days.

Bens mum

[MaxG]

Blimey - didn't realise that antibiotics might not be needed - just assumed we should get him to the vet ASAP & get it treated - good to know for next time though, although I'm hoping there won't be one!!!    The vet did give us one good tip about getting Max to take the Benylin though - he hates syringes etc so she said to soak a piece of bread or biccie or something like that with the required dose & give it to him as a treat  - he's a greedy bu$$er for things like that, so fingers crossed!!

[MaxG]

I nipped into town to get him some Benylin & ended up going into the petshop on the way back to the car - oops - hee hee - hubby wasn't overly impressed when he spotted the bag!!!!! 

  Why? There wasn't another cocker in it was there? 

  I wish!!!!!!!!!!! Hubby is despairing of me when it comes to buying stuff for Max - I'm such a sucker for treats & toys & new snazzy bowls & collars/leads etc - shouldn't really be allowed in pet shops on my own - can't be trusted!!!!    I was quite restrained today I thought - just a few of his fave treats. Mind you, that was partly because it was only the small local petshop & he's got all their toys etc already!!!!!! 

[debbie321]

Ben had Kennel cough last year (and that was after the squirty up the nose jobby for kennelling  purposes) and he said that antibiotics wouldn't help and that it would get better on it's own.  He did however have a dreadful tummy bug at the same time so had the antibiotics for an inflamed intestine anyway.  The kennel cough did seem to react to the antibiotics and cleared up within a week?

i would still carry on your day to day living but still give the antibiotics as prescribed 

[Penel]

Most of my dogs have had kennel cough at one point or another - and only one of them needed antibiotics as his had turned into secondary infection when he was in the rescue kennels....
I give them Weleda Cough Elixir www.weleda.co.uk  go to Remedy Finder, then Coughs, and it's there - the ingredients are fab - extremely natural - Benylin is full of sugar and chemicals - sorry I totally disagree with giving it to dogs.  I also give the others the kennel cough nosode, to stop them catching it - have had superb results with this method.

[MaxG]

Thanks Penel - gonna check that stuff out!!