Kennel Cough in Dogs

Being a dog owner seems to come with certain responsibilities. Among the most difficult of these is detecting certain diseases which your dog contract in the course of its life. One of the most common dog illnesses which you need to look out for is Kennel Cough. Because this illness is very contagious, you will need to isolate the infected dog from any other pets that you may have.

Kennel Cough can affect any number of animals, including rabbits, cats, hamsters, and all sorts of other mammals. They can be infected by your dog and vice versa, which is why you need to isolate infected pets, otherwise they will end up infecting other animals they come in contact with.

Aside from isolating your dog, you should also consider washing any blankets that he may have used so that the disease doesn’t spread to furniture. This also applies to your dog’s feeding bowls, chew toys or sleeping baskets.

One of the main characteristics of Kennel Cough in Dogs is that it spreads via air-borne bacteria. This is particularly true in an enclosed environment. Places like Kennels, parks and dog pounds are all places where Kennel Cough bacteria can thrive.

Kennel Cough symptoms generally manifest within a week. At this point, the dog will begin coughing like it has something stuck inside its throat. However, the dog will not become feverish quite yet. The dog may cough up a lot of phlegm after several rounds of cough.
If the Kennel Cough is not serious, the color of the phlegm will be light, and the disease will only last about a week or so. On the other hand, if the symptoms were to last longer than 3 weeks and the phlegm has a dark color then he will need to be brought to the vet, otherwise the infection will become increasingly more fatal to dog health.

Healthy dogs have better chances at resisting the disease and expelling it from their system very quickly. In other words, the best way to fight Kennel cough is to keep your dog healthy with a good diet and plenty of exercise. In the event that your dog does develop kennel cough, you can always try good old fashion natural remedies. If that doesn’t work then veterinary medication is always an option.

The best way to prevent Kennel Cough in dogs is to build up its immune system. The most common preventive vaccine for Kennel Cough is the bordatella vaccine. However, this vaccine may cause a lot of unpredictable effects in your dog health, including debility, vomiting, hives, or even death.

Despite vaccines however, it is possible to use natural pet remedies to prevent the kennel cough, most of which you can create with ordinary ingredients that you may have around your house. Doing so, will allow you to take of your dog’s Kennel Cough without resorting to medication.

Discovering Kennel Cough

Just when you thought that humans are the only breathing social organisms exposed highly to bacteria and viruses; canines also have to suffer a great deal, sometimes, much in the same way that humans do. If humans experience and suffer from fever and flu, dogs also have high chances to experience the same problem.

Coughing is also a common issue among people, young or old. But when it comes to domestic dogs, it is called kennel cough. This is a common problem in the world of dog health, but why the name? Why is it called kennel cough? Should it not be called canine cough instead? The name itself originated from how dogs in the same kennel can quickly acquire an infection. When this happens, inflammation on the upper respiratory system occurs to the dog concerned. As for other dogs inside the kennel, they also can easily catch the same virus and bacteria simply by air. Sneezing and coughing emits bad bacteria and can easily transfer to other dogs within the same area.

If your dog starts to show any signs of coughing without phlegm, hacking, retching, sneezing and snorting for several days, it could already indicate kennel cough because these are common symptoms of an infected respiratory system. In some cases, a dog can experience fever and the worst case scenario, is when kennel cough develops to something bigger and a more serious problem called pneumonia.

The idea is simple, though not too many dog lovers know it. Keep dogs where they stay clean and boarding kennels in particular, need to be hygienic too. Any activities that also require for dogs to interact with other dogs in places such as parks or training schools call for a vaccination alert. Doing precautionary measures in your dog health, even way before an infection starts to develop or symptoms to occur, is all worth it to save a dog owner from experiencing all the headaches and late night sleep disturbances if issue such as this ever happens.

The simplest way a dog lovers can do to prevent any type of virus and bacteria that can harm their dog health, is to disinfect kennels in a regular basis. Also, the importance of dog vaccine against parainfluenza, distemper and other type of bacteria is paramount. If these steps were not successful in preventing the early stages of bacterial and viral development in a dog, a cough suppressant is the next best choice. On the one hand, if there is no exact diagnosis yet, antibiotics remain undefeated in curing bacteria-related illnesses.