Hi! I recently adopted a big guy who is about a year old. He just got diagnosed with kennel cough, but he has spent his whole life in a shelter so I wasn't shocked. I have another dog in the house. We had no way to really quarantine but the vet doesn't want to give the first pup medication until he shows symptoms/is diagnosed. Pup #2 is on medication day 2 now. My question is, when do I clean/sterilize after the kennel cough? Do I do it now since #2 is in medication? Do I wait until #2 is finished medication? Do I wait until #1 is diagnosed or treated? I don't want to keep bleaching everything and have to keep them away for a while EVERY day but I want to make sure all of the germs are gone so my boys can stay healthy! Thanks so much!
Hello, kennel cough is airborne so if your 2 dogs are living closely, no amount of cleaning or bleach will prevent the other dog getting it. Could your original dog not get vaccinated? It does not always cover every kennel cough but maybe worth a go. Also I had 2 dogs and one caught kennel cough in kennels (they were kenned together) the other didn’t and never got it despite sleeping/living together. You may be lucky
The proper term is canine cough, which is important. Your dog does not have to be in a kennel to be infected.
As I stated, I am expecting my first dog to get it. He was vaccinated, and I know they do not always prevent. My question was WHEN to clean not IF I should.
Hi @Holli McLaughlin As @Edp pointed out it is an airborne disease. You are not going to be able to clean the air with bleach. Isolation is the only way you will prevent infection spreading. If they both get it, then both dogs will have antibodies to the specific strain that infected them. I wanted to point out the better term is canine cough because kennel cough misleads. Individuals reading this may think their dogs cannot get it because their dog has never been in a kennel. It can come from anyplace that dogs gather, the park, obedience club, dog show and yes as you point out, a kennel.
