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Kennel cough

NorthernRedneck

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
Anyone have any home remedies I can try for Hershey. He's got kennel cough. Had it for two days now. Dry heaves, fever, runny nose. Online articles recommend vitamin c. Others recommend a children's aspirin. What's your take on this?????
 
Whatever the vet recommends, time, and patience. I've had two dogs with it and they both got over it. Then get the bordatella vaccine every year.
 
The cause is viral, so there is no remedy, except time.. NO ASPRIN!! It bothers you more than it bothers the dog...
 
So essentially, just let it run its course. Nothing much to do. He seems better today then last night. He was steadily hacking and coughing last night. He slept upstairs last night by the back door(always sleeps on his bed in our room. He started coughing around 5am so loud it woke everyone up in the house.
 
Who diagnosed this as Kennel Cough? Has he been boarded recently or been in an enclosed are with a lot of other dogs? How old is this dog? When was the last time that he had been tested for parasites and had vaccines?
 
No vet in this area. So he hasn't been officially diagnosed with anything. All his shots are up to date. He's showing all the signs of kennel cough though. Close to the same symptoms humans get when a cold. He has been in contact with other dogs though since the neighbor has three dogs that keep coming over to shit in my yard.
 
It could also be heart worm, if you live in an area where it is prevalent. It is transmitted by mosquito bites from one animal to another. Around here, we give the dog heart worm preventative once a month, and have the dogs checked once a year...
 
Groomer, heartworms would be my worry also. The good news is that in most breeds they can be treated even after they have them.
Don't remember the name of the drug, but one drug will kill them only at the egg or larval stage, thus not poisoning the dog with a massive die off of the adults.
Bad news, if he is already infected it will have shortened his life span.
As soon as possible get him checked.
 
pirate_girl said:
Brian, here is a link.
However, if I were Hershey's Mama, I'd be taking him to a vet, no matter how far away it is.

http://dogs.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Home_Treatment_for_Kennel_Cough
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I looked at that link earlier today. The video of the dog coughing is nearly exactly the same thing Hershey is doing. As the others have said, it could also be heartworm but I have my doubts since junkman says it is transmitted by mosquitos and we haven't seen a mosquito here yet in 2010. If he keeps it up, I may end up taking him to the vet in the city.
 
groomerguyNWO said:
I looked at that link earlier today. The video of the dog coughing is nearly exactly the same thing Hershey is doing. As the others have said, it could also be heartworm but I have my doubts since junkman says it is transmitted by mosquitos and we haven't seen a mosquito here yet in 2010. If he keeps it up, I may end up taking him to the vet in the city.
Click to expand...

Well Brian, Gretchen is on heartworm protection year round.
That's what my vet recommended because he said it doesn't really matter about it being a seasonal thing.
Better safe than sorry.

Hugs to Hershey!
I hope you decide on the right thing and he gets all better. :smile:
 
Yes, I'd certainly take him to a Vet, poor thing... but, everyone's right groomerguy, it will run it's course, whatever you give him, and that is generally a couple of weeks.

Let us know how he goes on tho... Good luck!
 
groomerguyNWO said:
I looked at that link earlier today. The video of the dog coughing is nearly exactly the same thing Hershey is doing. As the others have said, it could also be heart worm but I have my doubts since Junkman says it is transmitted by mosquito's and we haven't seen a mosquito here yet in 2010. If he keeps it up, I may end up taking him to the vet in the city.
Click to expand...


It wouldn't be a mosquito from this year that would have infected him, it is last years crop of mosquito's. The gestation period to develop heart worm is about 6 months after exposure. Since I retired 10 years ago, I haven't kept up with the latest treatment methods, however, back then low dose arsenic or Ivermectin was the treatment of choice, depending on the stage of the disease. You needed to keep the dog very quiet, not allow any exercise, because as the arsenic would kill the worms off, they would start to travel in the blood stream. If the dog became active, where the heart rate would be elevated, a greater amount of the dead worms might start traveling in the blood, and they would back up in the other organs, shutting them down and leading to the death of the dog as a result. Here is a website that will give you some good information about after care, but it is not a substitute for proper medical treatment by a licensed Veternarian... The one thing that is important is to get the animal to a veternarian as quickly as possible, because once they start to show the outward signs of infection, it is more difficult to treat effectively. I had a dog that became infected because she wasn't on preventative prior to my getting her. I treated her and she recovered, and later on she tested positive a second time. I treated her again, and she went on to live a long and happy life. Preventative and testing are a must today, if you want to keep any dog or cat. Heartworm is a growing problem in the animal world, and it has been diagnosed already in other animals. At one time, it wasn't seen in cats, but only dogs. Now it is being found in seals...
More reading... http://www.avma.org/animal_health/brochures/heartworm/heartworm_brochure.asp
 
Looks like I lucked out. The vet is only in town about once every 6 weeks for two days. Turns out he was in town today and could schedule Hershey in. He confirmed it was most likely Kennel cough and advised me to treat it just like a cold. Hershey's actually doing better today without any medication. Tonight, he's pretty much back to his normal self snoring away in the bedroom right now. He hasn't been coughing much today except for when we put him outside to use the facilities.
 
groomerguyNWO said:
Looks like I lucked out. The vet is only in town about once every 6 weeks for two days. Turns out he was in town today and could schedule Hershey in. He confirmed it was most likely Kennel cough and advised me to treat it just like a cold. Hershey's actually doing better today without any medication. Tonight, he's pretty much back to his normal self snoring away in the bedroom right now. He hasn't been coughing much today except for when we put him outside to use the facilities.
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:biggrin: that's good news!
 
I know Buddy, my best friend, has had kennel cough twice. Once when we first rescued him from the shelter. The second was after being at the groomer for a few hours. He can't have his normal shots, he has AIHA. Vaccinations could set his AIHA off again. When he had it, we cleaned up diarrhea for days. When he coughed, he pooped.

Glad Hershey is doing better.
 
Hershey is back to his old self again...must have been some sort of bug he caught. Only last a couple days.


Can you say Animal house???

A friend of ours works with the local adopt-a pet program looking for permanent homes for unwanted animals. Since we don't have a shelter where I live, she works with people to set up foster homes for animals until she can find them a permanent home. Well, somehow we ended up with another cat at our place for a couple days. A permanent home was found but they can't take her for another couple days so we've got a guest cat staying at our house. It's very friendly though. We almost considered keeping it ourselves but decided that one cat was enough.

The story gets better. We were filling up at a gas station today when we noticed someone putting up a sign "Free puppies" The puppies looked like miniature Hershey's. We had considered getting Hershey a friend for a while now. We did it. Hershey now has a little brother named "Harley".
 

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