Poor Finn has a case of kennel cough, likely from doggie daycare as I had a friend in town and I was hosting and was out of the house all day. He's been taken to the vet and given meds. Just curious if I should cut his exercise in half for a few days to let his system fight the infection? I asked the vet and they just kind of shrugged. Obviously no dog parks or anything, so I will be giving his exercise on walks until he's better.
My dog has a compromised immune system due to lymphoma , and I was reliably informed that exercise helps to boost the immune system which in turn can help to fight infections . I would probably go for middle of the road and say nothing too strenuous which might cause his chest to be irritated , causing a cough, but walks, yes . There are many strains of KC , all being highly infectious so , as a courtesy to other owners , keep him well away from dog walking areas and no contact with other dogs for a week or two . Two years ago , my two were in contact with KC , so I imposed a sort of quarantine for them , just the one walking spot where no one else goes . Most recover quickly so good luck !
It's a horrible illness. Not dangerous, but all that coughing can make your dog vomit. Our boy vomited the entire night, every time he coughed - which was non-stop. We called our bedroom the vomitorium. I don't know why we didn't put down towels over the carpet!!! He's not had it since - which was when he was 1.5 years old. He's now 5 yo. Was vaccinated once against it at 3 months old.
Obi was the same when he had this as a young dog - coughed so much he couldn't keep food down. The vet gave him anti-inflammatories (Metacam) to ease the discomfort that was making him cough, and this helped. Once he wasn't coughing all the time we still went on walks, but on lead only, and for about half an hour, and we just kept well away from other dogs.
Poor boy. I hope he doesn't feel too poorly. Molly had it when she was around 10 months old. The first night was horrendous but after that she improved very quickly. I continued to walk, but drove to out of the way places and kept her on lead.
