Hey folks, My 7 month old has kennel cough (vet confirmed this afternoon). Poor thing hasn't been able to get any sleep all day as she keeps coughing and retching. It's breaking my heart The vet hs given some antibiotics and recommended A child dosage of cough medicine (who knew?!) but does anyone know a good way I can help her sleep or relieve her symptoms?
Poor little girlie, so sorry I hope she gets better soon. Sorry I don't have any help but I think a few forum pups have had this recently so hopefully someone will be along soon to help you. xx
It's quite a few years since a dog of mine had kennel cough but I don't think there's much you can do to help apart from giving the antibiotics and cough medicine and providing fresh water for drinking - oh and cuddles and fussing as and when she wants it. Fingers crossed that she is a little better tomorrow
Patience. And avoiding any pressure around the neck. Not using a collar and lead. Harness if needed. But best to keep away from other dogs so I guess that is probably pretty useless information.....
Thanks all, giving lots of love, she has water but whenever she takes on more than a sip she brings it up again when she retches. Just offering a little and often now and the odd ice cube. Really hope the coughing stops soon :-/ how long does the cough usually last? On the plus side, our puppy class trainer will be proud because if we can't take her out for two weeks she's going to need something to occupy her- any other ideas to keep her (and me) sane are welcome.
Difficult to say how long the cough will last as it depends upon the dog and how bad a case of kennel cough. My dog was over the worst in a couple of days. For things to do to keep her occupied gave a look on the thread for things to do with a dog on restricted exercise which was started by Julie T last spring. Sorry can't attach a link as I'm on my phone not the tablet
http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/things-to-do-for-dogs-on-restricted-exercise.10654/ Link now attached for some ideas
Pongo had kennel cough (I think about the same age). We gave him runny honey, and I do think it helped. Dip a big spoon in it and let it run off so it just coats the back of the spoon, then let her lick it off a tiny bit at a time so it can soothe her throat. It is not a miracle cure but it really did seem to help Pongo, AND he absolutely adored it so he felt he was getting a treat too. Can't be a bad thing, it must have raised his spirits a little! It is heart-breaking hearing them cough, isn't it? Even though you know that once she is over it she'll forget all about it. Big hugs from here.
Sorry to hear your puppy has kennel cough. Snowie had kennel cough when he was 1.5 years old. He coughed non-stop for two days solid, night and day, not a moment's sleep, it was really awful! He also vomited every time he coughed -- we called our bedroom The Vomitorium! If your dog sleeps with you in your bedroom, I recommend putting down towels to protect your carpets (newspaper print might rub off onto your carpets). I wish we'd thought of the towels!! Needed to call in the professionals to wash our carpets! Snowie also got antibiotics. I wasn't keen because you don't always know exactly what caused the kennel cough and it seems antibiotics are thrown at everything willy-nilly, but the vet convinced us that it would speed up the recovery and prevent a secondary bacterial infection. He recovered fully after about a week (if memory serves correctly) but that awful non-stop cough thankfully stopped after two days (I think! It's been 2.5 years.). Incidentally he'd been vaccinated against kennel cough at 3 months, required by the doggy daycare. Subsequently I've read that a kennel cough vaccination does not prevent all kennel cough due to the various strains of virus that can cause kennel cough. We have not vaccinated him again against kennel cough (he is now 4 years old) and he's never had it since that one episode. At the time he got kennel cough, he was generally in a poor state (had tapeworm), so I think he had low immunity in general and was susceptible. I am pretty sure he caught it at the vet's office -- he'd been in there twice in the week leading up to getting kennel cough. I often used to pop into the vet's office if we were walking past, to weigh him, buy treats, etc, but since then I don't take him in unnecessarily because logically a vet's office has sick dogs! Good luck!! Wishing your pup a very speedy recovery.
Yup, very little sleep was had last night- I wish I'd thought of towels before going to bed but fortunately only one puddle of foam on the carpet and I managed to get to it almost straight away. MF our situation is the same, she was vaccinated 3 months ago, the vet did think it was odd but said it must be a different strain. We think she got it from the local park as apparently there are quite a few dogs with it in the area at the moment. Why would you take your dog to the park if they have kennel cough?? I'm just hopeful she wasn't contagious before the cough started as she is a puppy that like to say hello to EVERY dog she meets Poor thing is currently staring at the door, then me, then the door, then me with a little whimper now and then so I know she means it! Best recharge the kongs, we're in for a long day....
Oh gosh, this does bring back memories. Miserable, poor girl (and poor you!). Hope it gets better soon (Pongo was on the mend after two days).
When mine had kennel cough . I Mixed runny honey with a little bit of warm water, it seem to help and they really liked it. In Fact poppy got better before Onyx and I am sure that she used to false a little cough out so that she could lick the spoon. I also read extra Vitamin C Helps Its a rotten time i hope she feels better soon.
Yes, I had the same suspicion about Pongo. I let him get away with it because I felt so sorry for him!
Thanks so much for advice, I think the honey in warm water has really helped. She's been a bit better today so hopefully is over the worst of it.
Poor girl - kennel cough is horrible. (Molly had it at about 10 months of age). Hope she's over the worst and will soon be better.
