The classic sign of kennel cough is a dry, honking cough, possibly with a little gagging. The coughing can irritate the respiratory tract. If the illness is complicated by a bacterial or viral infection, the dog may have a fever, congestion, nasal discharge, lethargy, and a lack of appetite. A diagnosis from your veterinarian is money well spent in these cases.

How Long Is Kennel Cough Contagious?

Everyone wants a nice black and white answer to how long kennel cough is contagious, but there simply isn’t one. Part of the problem is that kennel cough can be caused by a variety of bacteria and viruses (that’s also why it’s been renamed “canine infectious respiratory disease” or CIRD). Each cause has a different course of illness.

Kennel cough is very contagious. One sneeze or cough can spread illness via droplets directly or by coating the environment, including blankets, dishes, and toys. One sick dog can potentially infect an entire kennel, shelter, or daycare.  If your unvaccinated dog has been exposed to a dog with active kennel cough, the odds are that your dog will get ill. Even vaccinated dogs may get kennel cough but, as with the human flu vaccine, symptoms tend to be milder, and recovery is faster.

Kennel Cough and Antibiotics

Most cases of kennel cough are not treated with antibiotics. If your dog’s case is purely viral, antibiotics will have no effect. If your veterinarian suspects the bacteria Bordetella bronchiseptica is involved, an antibiotic makes sense.

In these cases, doxycycline is the most likely antibiotic to be prescribed. Once your dog starts an appropriately prescribed antibiotic, you should see clinical improvement in 24 to 72 hours. Theoretically, contagiousness should decrease by then, too, but I would still hold to the “no cough for a week” standard before allowing your dog near other dogs.

A pure, viral kennel cough is non-productive and dry. If your dog’s cough changes to a “wet” cough, as in coughs up discharge or has quite a bit of nasal discharge, he probably has a secondary infection and may progress to pneumonia. Difficulty breathing and a fever are signs that pneumonia may be involved. If a secondary infection like this has set in, an antibiotic such as doxycycline may come into play.

Healing from Kennel Cough

As your dog’s system fights off the virus or bacterial cause, he still needs time for tissue healing. Often his respiratory tract is inflamed or irritated from the coughing. This is why your veterinarian recommends keeping him quiet and using a harness as opposed to a collar while he is ill. The worst case of kennel cough I have had was a young Golden Retriever who coughed for six weeks. I suspect his exercise was not restricted as I had instructed the owner, so he simply kept irritating his trachea and coughing.

Most of the recommended care is supportive. The use of nebulizers or vaporizers, even just shutting your dog in the bathroom while you shower, can help irritated tissues. While many dogs don’t require cough medications, you can discuss the use of an antitussive such as guaifenesin (Mucinex) or simply use a small bit of honey, which can help dogs with a severe cough.

If your dog appears to be ill, or getting worse, he may need veterinary attention. Cases that move on to pneumonia may require hospitalization with IV fluids and supplemental oxygen.

Prevent Kennel Cough

The best solution is to vaccinate your dog for at least Bordetella and parainfluenza, adding canine influenza if there is an outbreak in your area or your dog goes to dog activities with dogs from all over (sports events, training classes, and dog shows). Outdoor events have lower risk than big indoor events, just as in places people get COVID.

Remember, while some dogs with kennel cough sound horrible but most recover with home care. Be courteous to fellow dog lovers, and if your dog is coughing, keep him home.

The post How Long Is Kennel Cough Contagious? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Some dogs with pneumonia may cough, bringing up some discharge. Others will have rapid or painful breathing but lie quietly and not really cough unless they get up and are active. Nasal discharge, generally thick and often pus-like, may be noticed. Most of these dogs seem to feel sick, lying around and not eating or drinking well. Fortunately, the survival

Causes of Dog Pneumonia

The causes of pneumonia are numerous, with some more serious than others. How does a dog even get pneumonia?

There are four categories of pneumonia:

• Bacterial
• Viral
• Fungal
• Aspiration

Almost always, the dog must have inhaled a pathogen or infectious agent. He might have inhaled some droplets when another dog sneezed or coughed nearby and released viral particles or bacteria. Walking in the woods, he may have snorted in some fungal spores. While vomiting, he may have inhaled some food particles.

Less commonly, your dog may breathe in smoke or other toxic fumes. All these possible causes interfere with the normal exchange of carbon dioxide for oxygen in your dog’s lungs. The alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs may fill with fluid, pus, or inflammatory cells and interfere with oxygen movement.

Diagnosis of Pneumonia

The suspected cause of the pneumonia will influence treatment and prognosis. Your veterinarian will start with diagnostic procedures. Initially, auscultation (listening to your dog’s chest with a stethoscope) will give your veterinarian an idea of the problem. A complete history will provide possible exposures to various pathogens. Pneumonias often have multiple causes, such as bacteria acting with viruses to cause the illness.

The next step is usually X-rays. Some pneumonias will have a characteristic appearance on a film. Throat or nasal swabs may be taken and sometimes a tracheal wash (flushing some sterile fluid into the trachea and then drawing it back up) will be done. These lab techniques may identify bacteria or fungi and provide material for cultures, so your veterinarian can prescribe the most efficacious antibiotics.

Treatment of Dog Pneumonia

Treatment will depend on the pneumonia severity. Very ill dogs will need to be hospitalized, given intravenous (IV) fluids and supplemental oxygen, along with specific medications to battle the pathogen responsible.

Dogs who are still eating and drinking may be sent home with restrictions on activity. Nebulization can help, either with a nebulizer or simply keeping your dog in the bathroom while you shower. The warm steam helps to loosen debris in the lungs, making it easier for your dog to cough it up.

Coupage can help. In this nursing technique, which can be done at home, you use a cupped hand to lightly rap on your dog’s chest. This can help to loosen debris. Ask your veterinarian to show you how to do this.

Overall, about 80% of all dogs with pneumonia survive. Puppies, elderly dogs, and dogs with other chronic health conditions have a lower survival rate. Fungal pneumonias are notoriously difficult to treat and have a worse prognosis than bacterial pneumonia.

The post Does My Dog Have Pneumonia? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Many, if not most, cases of kennel cough are primarily viral. Doxycycline is an antibiotic, which means it only treats bacterial infection—and only susceptible bacterial infections at that, like bartonella. Giving your dog doxycycline for kennel cough will not help and may contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Doxycycline Side Effects

In some illnesses, doxycycline is by far the best antibiotic choice, and your veterinarian will prescribe it. Most side effects are related to the gastrointestinal tract. Even if given with food, doxy may cause vomiting, diarrhea, or anorexia (not wanting to eat) in a dog. Liver enzymes may increase. Doxycycline should only be used with caution for a dog with any sort of liver problem.

Note: Avoid doxy for growing puppies and pregnant dogs as well due to effects on developing bones and teeth.

Almost all medications have some interactions with other drugs, and doxy is no different. Doxycycline can interfere with antacids and phenobarbital, which is given for seizures. If your dog is on these medications, your veterinarian will help you with a dosing schedule that can work around these problems.

Help For Kennel Cough

Back to your coughing dog! Most cases of “kennel cough” or canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC) will have multiple pathogenic agents involved. The most common are Bordetella bronchiseptica (a bacteria), parainfluenza virus, herpesvirus, adenovirus, and mycoplasma.

Dogs with uncomplicated kennel cough tend to have a dry, “honking” cough. They usually sound much worse than they feel. The cough is exacerbated by exercise, anything pulling or pushing on their trachea like a leash and collar, and sometimes eating and drinking. Your dog may be tired and not eat well.

A pure, viral kennel cough is non-productive and dry. If your dog’s cough changes to a “wet” cough, as in coughs up discharge or has quite a bit of nasal discharge, he probably has a secondary infection and may progress to pneumonia. Difficulty breathing and a fever are signs that pneumonia may be involved. If a secondary infection like this has set in, an antibiotic such as doxycycline may come into play.

Dogs with a cough are generally diagnosed by a physical exam that includes listening carefully to the dog’s chest with a stethoscope. Your veterinarian will rule out any sort of cardiac condition and may recommend X-rays if there is concern about pneumonia, a heart problem, or cancer.

Treating Kennel Cough

Treating a dog with kennel cough often consists mainly of nursing care. There are no canine anti-viral medications for canine coughs. Antitussives (cough medications) such as butorphanol may be prescribed by your veterinarian if your dog is exhausted from coughing and needs to rest. Setting up a humidifier for the room your dog tends to hang out in and keeping him in the bathroom while you shower can ease the cough.

Encourage your dog to eat and drink. Since his sense of smell may be altered. In these cases, smelly food choices can help. The liquid from a can of tuna mixed with some water can be enticing. We all laugh about chicken soup, but low-sodium chicken with rice or low-sodium chicken noodle soup may hit the spot for your dog.

If you normally walk your dog in a collar, consider switching to a harness during this time. Be sure the harness does not put pressure on the trachea. Limit your dog to leash walks, no running with playmates (plus, remember, kennel cough is highly contagious), or playing fetch. Avoid any regular training classes, boarding, or daycare routines until the cough is cleared. You don’t want your dog to be the “Kennel Cough Kid” who spreads the problem! Most dogs will show improvement within a week and be fine after two weeks with just home care.

If your dog appears to be ill, or getting worse, he may need veterinary attention. Cases that move on to pneumonia may require hospitalization with IV fluids and supplemental oxygen.

Controlling Kennel Cough

Kennel cough is spread via droplets expelled when coughing. Dogs can pick up the virus through sniffing an infected dog and from contaminated surfaces, including food and water bowls as well as toys. That means you need to practice great hygiene at home, especially if you have multiple dogs. Realistically, the other dogs will have been exposed and, unless they have immunity through a vaccination, they may end up coughing too. Think of your family sharing a cold.

The best way to avoid cases of kennel cough is to use preventive vaccinations. The kennel cough (Bordetella) vaccine is considered lifestyle vaccination choice, meaning a non-core vaccine that is recommended depending upon your dog’s activities. If your dog stays at home most of the time—no training classes, sports competitions, grooming appointments, or daycare visits—he probably does not need a kennel cough vaccine. If he participates in any of these activities, you need to discuss a vaccination with your veterinarian.

Versions of vaccines for CIRDC vary. Parainfluenza and adenovirus type 2 are both generally included in your dog’s routine distemper/parvo vaccinations. Bordetella, or kennel cough, is generally given separately.

For the Bordetella vaccine, three versions are available:

1. This vaccine may include parainfluenza and adenovirus, or it may be straight Bordetella. The plus to this vaccine is that it provides local immunity, catching the pathogen right as it enters your dog’s system. It can be tricky to give as many dogs resent being held so still and fight getting drops in their nose. Many a veterinarian and vet technician have gotten a dose of this vaccine themselves when a dog sneezes it back in their faces!
2. This involves using a plastic syringe to put the vaccine inside your dog’s mouth, usually via a cheek from the side. This puts the vaccine near the pharynx, so the local immune system also catches the bacteria as it enters your dog’s respiratory system. Currently, this vaccine is pure Bordetella.
3. The vaccine is injected into the dog under the skin.

All these vaccines should be boostered annually for dogs with likely exposures. None have the complete coverage like a rabies vaccine. Some vaccinated dogs will still get a cough, but generally symptoms are milder and recovery is faster.

The post Doxycycline Is Not Best for Kennel Cough appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Symptoms of Pneumonia in Dogs

Signs of pneumonia in dogs include:

• Loss of appetite
• Lethargy
• Exercise intolerance
• Trouble breathing
• Rapid breathing
• Cough
• Weakness
• Fever
• Bluish-colored gums and tongue (cyanosis)
• Possible nasal discharge
• Possible weight loss

Causes of pneumonia in dogs include:

• Infectious agents (bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic)
• Aspiration (food, liquid, regurgitated stomach contents)
• Inhalation (smoke, chemical agents)

Things that predispose a dog to aspiration pneumonia include:

• Brachycephalic breeds
• Vomiting
• Sedation
• Anesthetic procedures involving endotracheal intubation
• Larynx diseases like laryngeal paralysis
• Esophageal neuromuscular diseases
• Force feeding or forcing liquids
• Gaseous distension of the stomach or “bloat”

Treating Pneumonia in Dogs

Treatment for pneumonia varies according to cause and severity, but almost always includes antibiotics.  How long to treat a dog with pneumonia is not set in stone. Some believe dogs should be treated for four to six weeks. Others start with two weeks and decide whether longer treatment is needed based on follow-up chest X-rays and bloodwork.

How long it takes a dog to get over pneumonia varies depending on the dog’s general health, nutritional status, and age. Older dogs or immune-compromised dogs generally take longer to fully recover, perhaps even months. Younger, otherwise healthy dogs generally recover more quickly, over the course of a couple of weeks.

The post How Does a Dog Get Pneumonia? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

The virus commonly attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and nervous systems in dogs of all ages and spreads via sneezing and through shared food and water bowls. Wildlife, from foxes to coyotes to raccoons and skunks may suffer from and spread this virus.

An effective distemper vaccine is normally part of the DHPP shot that includes distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, and the parvovirus.

Symptoms of Distemper in Dogs

Symptoms of distemper in dogs are usually respiratory, but the first thing most dog owners notice is an eye discharge, which can range from watery to purulent. As the distemper virus progresses, symptoms may include:

• Nasal discharge
• Coughing
• Lethargy
• Lack of appetite (secondary to a fever)
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

As it progresses, the virus tends to move to the nervous system. Affected dogs may circle, have a head tilt and muscle tremors, and most progress to seizures and/or paralysis.

Many infected dogs drool and show strange compulsive chewing motions that can make some owners concerned about rabies. Many dogs shed the virus for prolonged periods.

Distemper Recovery for Dogs

Treatment for distemper is largely supportive, addressing the symptoms, since this is a viral disease. Antibiotics may be needed for secondary bacterial infections. Dogs who survive may be marked by permanent neurologic damage. This can range from a head tilt to seizures. Another sign of previous infection can be a keratotic buildup on the paws, which is known as “hard pad.”

Preventing Distemper

This horrible can be avoided. The distemper vaccine is remarkably effective. Puppies require a series of vaccines to compensate for the interference of maternal antibodies with the development of normal immunity. Currently most vaccines are licensed for use every three years after the initial booster at one year. Some owners will choose to do yearly titers in place of booster vaccines.

Even if your dog is vaccinated, it is best to avoid training classes, day cares, boarding kennels, and dog parks that do not require proof of distemper immunity (via titers or current vaccination).

The post What Is Distemper in Dogs? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Dogs with mild kennel cough sound terrible but feel reasonably OK. They tend to have a good appetite, want to be active (which, unfortunately, makes them cough more), and generally don’t act sick. These dogs can usually be treated at home.

In more severe cases, kennel cough symptoms may progress toward pneumonia and include lethargy, fever, and a loss of appetite. These coughing dogs need to see a veterinarian.

Do You Think Your Dog Has a Cold?

If your you see your dog coughing and he has a heart condition or a wet cough, the dog’s cough shouldn’t be treated at home without veterinary approval. It could be a cold or flu, which means the coughing dog needs to see a veterinarian. Symptoms include:

• Purulent (pus) nasal discharge
• Soft, wet cough
• Increased respiratory rate (count how many times his chest rises in a minute – normal is 15 to 30 times)
• Open-mouth breathing
• Labored breathing

Your coughing dog could be diagnosed with bronchitis, and if so, he will likely receive medication from your veterinarian, possible including a cough suppressant.

Caring for Kennel Cough at Home

At-home care for kennel cough means easing the symptoms:

• Limit exercise (exercise will increase the coughing)
• Walk him in a harness, not a collar (if he pulls in a collar, the pressure on his trachea will make him cough more)
• Let him share your shower – close your dog in the bathroom with you and let it get steamy, as this will help humidify his respiratory tract and provide some pain relief from the dry cough
• Run a humidifier in his favorite room

Home Remedies for a Mild Dog Cough

Some foods may speed up your kennel-cough dog’s healing, such as adding a small amount of honey to his food. And, yes, chicken soup can help. Use homemade soup as a low-salt alternative to canned soup. Low-sodium chicken bouillon is another good option.

Hydration and rest will help your dog through mild kennel cough. If your dog needs cough medication, check with your veterinarian for the best options and correct dose for your dog.

Also, quarantine your dog, as kennel cough is contagious (there’s a vaccine for it!). There are many causes of kennel cough, and you don’t want your dog to be one of them, spreading kennel cough at daycare, classes, or the dog park.

The post Home Remedies for a Dog Cough or Cold appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

For an in-depth report on kennel cough, read “Kennel Cough Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention,” by CJ Puotinen.

1. Keep your pup in a warm, dry, low-stress environment.

2. Encourage your dog or puppy to drink. If the weather is cold, offer lukewarm water, or “spike” the water with a tiny bit of chicken broth – not enough to make him drink the whole bowl in one sitting; just enough to get him interested in drinking if he hadn’t been previously.

3. Most dogs recover without treatment; puppies (especially those who have come from a crowded, stressful shelter environment) may benefit from antibiotics, as they are more likely to develop a secondary bacterial infection and pneumonia.

4. Keep infected and exposed pets at home (other dogs in home have usually already been exposed by the time symptoms appear, so isolating infected dog from your others provides no benefit).

5. Keep coughing dog or puppy away from smoke (cigarettes, vape, fireplace, campfires, etc.).

6. Use a harness (rather than a collar) for a few weeks, to reduce coughing brought on by pressure on the irritated trachea.

7. We get that this is difficult with puppies, but try to minimize excitement; activity can irritate the airways.

8. Ask your vet for a recommendation of an over-the-counter or prescription cough suppressant for your dog if the coughing interferes with either your sleep or his.

9. Monitor clinical signs and bring him to your veterinarian if condition worsens.

The post 9 Things To Do if Your Puppy Has Kennel Cough appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Recently, I adopted a pup from my local shelter. The little guy was about 10 weeks old, had just been neutered, and was ready to get out and about and get socialized! I was looking forward to starting this process, because he was such a calm pup . . . or was he? I started to wonder if Tico’s lack of energy might be due to illness.

Sure enough, within a day or two of coming home with me he started coughing and developed a slightly elevated temperature. Diagnosis: Canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRD), also known as infectious canine tracheobronchitis (ITB), and far more commonly known as “kennel cough.”

For my pup’s “uncomplicated” form of kennel cough, the diagnosis was made based on his history of recent exposure to the disease in the shelter environment and his characteristic clinical sign of a honk-like paroxysmal cough. These coughing “fits” can occur in spasms of 10 to 15 or even 20 coughs in a row.

Typically, clinical signs of infection will appear three to 10 days after exposure; he was right on target at five days. As with the human’s common cold, the disease is often self-limiting. Kennel cough may resolve without treatment in a week or two, or it can worsen and require veterinary attention in order to help the puppy or dog bounce back.

Dogs with the uncomplicated form of kennel cough tend to be otherwise healthy and continue to eat, drink, and play. Their lungs will usually sound normal, but some may experience lethargy and have a slight fever like my young pup. Others may experience nasal discharge and sneezing; still others exhibit only a persistent cough – sometimes dry and hacking, or soft and wet. Excitement, exercise, and changes in temperature or humidity can induce coughing, as can pressure on the trachea, such as from a collar.

A small percentage of infected dogs may have no symptoms at all yet still shed the virus and spread the disease.

But here I had a pup who was still in the critical period of socialization. I knew I had to keep him isolated, but his socialization window was closing fast. Besides, I had already paid for a puppy class that was due to begin in three weeks.

Kennel Cough: Virus or Infection? Both?

CIRD may be associated with an infection from a single virus, bacteria, or it may have a multi-agent etiology. Both the viral and bacterial causes present with similar clinical signs so they are commonly grouped as “kennel cough.”

Very often, a viral pathogen is its primary agent, infecting the epithelium within the upper respiratory tract and causing damage to the tissues. This, in turn, predisposes the dog to invasion by bacterial, fungal, parasitic, or other virulent organisms. This can result in a secondary infection, causing further damage and clinical signs such as inflammation in the nasal passages (rhinitis), trachea (tracheitis), bronchial tubes (bronchitis), and the smallest airways in the lungs, the bronchioles (bronchiolitis).

The inflammatory response results from the disease replicating inside the cells of the respiratory tract, from the nasal lining to the terminal airways.

The two most common forms of infectious agents are bacterial: Bordetella bronchiseptica and several species of Mycoplasma (including Mycoplasma pneumonia), gram-negative bacteria that lack a cell wall. Identified in 1910, B. bronchiseptica is closely related to Bordetella pertussis – the pathogen in humans that causes pertussis (whooping cough), which also has a very distinctive cough as a clinical sign. B. bronchiseptica can infect a number of animals, including dogs, pigs, rabbits, cats, horses, and even seals, causing a range of pathologies. There are at least 15 different species of the bacteria known to infect canines.

The most common viral pathogens that can cause “kennel cough” include canine distemper virus, canine para-influenza virus type 2, canine respiratory coronavirus, canine adenovirus type 2 and canine herpes virus. Other pathogen possibilities include canine pneumovirus, canine bocavirus, canine hepacivirus, and Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Titer tests check for all of these viruses.

While there are no genetic factors or breed predilections with CIRD, it is theorized that brachycephalic breeds could be at a higher risk factor for more severe infection. Their short and narrow respiratory tracts, combined with longer soft palates that may obstruct their respiratory tract, may contribute to the retention of pathogens in the airway, causing re-infection.

Vaccinations for Kennel Cough

Given the number of possible causative agents, the CIRD complex, almost by definition, is not a vaccine-preventable condition. That said, the Bordetella vaccine is often required by facilities prior to boarding and daycare. There are three forms of the vaccine: injectable, oral, and intranasal. One recent study found the intranasal vaccine (when compared to the oral vaccine) conferred superior clinical immunity (though both resulted in significant disease sparing).

NOTE: Vaccination prior to potential exposure can prevent infection to the specific strains of Bordetella present in the vaccine, and may help reduce the severity of related infections, but protection against all the other pathogens that can cause CIRD is not guaranteed. Just as the human flu vaccine can’t protect a person from all flu strains, neither can the Bordetella vaccine protect against all CIRD pathogens.

How Do Dogs Get Kennel Cough?

CIRD is highly contagious, infectious, and is transmitted through direct and indirect contact between animals, through contact with aerosolized respiratory secretions (coughing and sneezing) from infected dogs, and through contact with contaminated objects – just like a cold at a daycare center!

Any situation that brings dogs together increases the risk of the dispersion of this communicable disease; accordingly, it tends to spread among dogs housed in kennels and shelters. Dog owners whose dogs are coughing or showing other signs of respiratory disease should not expose their dog to other dogs or take them to places where other dogs congregate (dog parks, training classes, boarding facilities, etc.).

That said, some dogs have been known to become infected following well-pet visits to a veterinarian, doggie daycare, or training class. A dog or puppy can be infected and shed a virus (that can infect other dogs) before his owner has noticed any symptoms! Some infected dogs never show signs of illness, even as they infect other dogs and puppies.

If infection spreads within a kennel or facility, it can be controlled. All items that have come into contact with an infected dog should be cleaned and disinfected after exposure. Generally, ridding a facility of the virus requires evacuating the premises for one to two weeks and disinfecting with commonly used chemicals, such as sodium hypochlorite (a.k.a. liquid bleach at 1:30 dilution), chlorhexidine, or benzalkonium. Though it can hurt financially, boarding kennels that have experienced an outbreak of kennel cough may be able to close long enough to stop new infections. But few if any shelters can completely close for a week or more, and while most will do the best they can do to disinfect their facilities without closing, agents that cause kennel cough can almost always be found in shelters.

When I brought my “calm” but not yet outwardly symptomatic pup home, he was already infected. My sister (who works at the shelter I adopted him from) had taken him to her own home before mine, and he was mostly likely shedding the disease while around her two dogs.

However, neither of my sister’s dogs developed the disease. They were adults (two and four years of age), and had come from the same shelter as my pup; it’s possible that they are immune to the causative agent of Tico’s infection, having been infected with it as puppies from that shelter years prior! Typically, healthy dogs in a home will only develop mild, if any, signs of CIRD after exposure to an infected dog.

CIRD affects dogs of all ages. Puppies less than three months old are more susceptible and the disease tends to be most severe in puppies who are six weeks to six months of age. In very young puppies, maternal antibodies (provided the mother has them herself) should protect the puppies until they are about three to four weeks of age.

Other high-risk dogs are those who are immunosuppressed, dogs without a history of vaccination or disease exposure, pups who lack maternal immunity (did not receive colostrum in the days after birth, or whose mothers had neither a history of vaccination or disease exposure), and dogs who have coexisting subclinical airway disease (such as a congenital anomaly, chronic bronchitis, or bronchiectasis – a chronic condition where the walls of the bronchi are thickened from inflammation and infection).

It is suspected that the disease presents in a seasonal pattern with a higher incidence in cold months due to pathogens surviving longer in cold and wet environments.

How to Treat Kennel Cough at Home

Adult dogs can, and probably most often do, recover from kennel cough with no treatment at all. Strong, healthy puppies raised in homes, too, often recover uneventfully and without treatment. But some puppies and dogs need a little help, even with a relatively uncomplicated form of the disease.

The medications of choice for the initial treatment of the uncomplicated form of CIRD are amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and doxycycline (usually for a three-week period); patients should respond to treatment in 10-14 days. My pup ceased coughing within two weeks, clearing the requirement set by the class instructor of being cough-free for a week prior.

As the cough can be quite loud and bothersome – for humans and dogs – a cough suppressant may be prescribed by your veterinarian. Restriction of exercise and prevention of excitement may shorten the course of the disease due to the reduction of irritation.

What else can you give a dog for coughing?

Many natural remedies are available to help dogs fight kennel cough. See, “Kennel Cough Treatment and Prevention for Dogs,” for holistic kennel cough treatment options.

If the dog continues to cough for more than 14 days, the diagnosis of uncomplicated disease might need to be reevaluated. In otherwise healthy dogs, parasitic bronchitis, irritant tracheobronchitis, tracheal foreign body, and tracheal collapse may need to be ruled out.

Complications from Kennel Cough

The complicated, or severe, form of CIRD tends to manifest in dogs in the at-risk category. In addition to the clinical signs apparent with the uncomplicated form, the dog may also exhibit a fluctuating fever; inappetence or anorexia; exercise intolerance; dyspnea (difficult or labored breathing); increased intensity of normal lung sounds, with crackling or wheezing, often presenting with pneumonia. In these cases, CIRD can be life-threatening, especially in very young puppies and those who have had a rough start in life (like many puppies who are brought to shelters at a too-early age, with already compromised health).

In severe cases, thoracic radiographs may show lung patterns typical of bacterial or viral pneumonia; a complete blood panel may indicate early mild leukopenia (5,000-6,000 cells d/L) suggesting a viral cause, and neutrophilic leukocytosis (a high number of immature white blood cells, indicating an infection or inflammation) is frequently found in cases of severe pneumonia.

With suspected severe disease cases, a tracheal wash or tracheobronchial lavage may be performed to gather a sample at the site of infection; then the sample can be cultured in order to identify the pathogen and devise an effective, targeted treatment plan.

Medications of choice for severe disease are first generation cephalosporin with gentamicin, amikacin, or enrofloxacin. These are usually effective with antimicrobial therapy continuing 10 days beyond radiographic resolution of the disease.

Be aware that cough suppressants are contraindicated in patients with pneumonia. Fluid administration may be indicated for complicated disease and/or pneumonia, and the puppy should be on enforced rest for at least the duration of radiographic evidence of pneumonia. Radiography should be repeated at least 14 days beyond resolution of all clinical signs; the typical course of severe disease is two to six weeks.

Though rare, dogs can die from CIRD, but those cases are usually a result of severe pneumonia affecting multiple lung nodes.

Knowing that my puppy’s infection was most likely due to the prevalent mycoplasma at his shelter of origin, I opted to ask my veterinarian to consider prescribing a course of antibiotics, with the hope that Tico would be cleared in time to attend class. Happily, my veterinarian agreed this was a good plan, and Tico recovered fully in time to participate in puppy kindergarten.

Can Humans Get Kennel Cough?

Most of us who have worked in shelters joke about having kennel cough any time we have a cold. The vast majority of the time, it’s just that – a joke. It’s rare, but immunocompromised humans CAN be infected with Bordetella bronchiseptica. If someone in your family is immunocompromised, please check with that person’s physician before bringing home a sick puppy (or one who was recently exposed to the illness an at animal shelter).

And be aware that B. bronchiseptica can be transmitted between dogs and cats! Epidemiological studies have shown that cats who have contact with dogs with recent respiratory disease were found to be at risk for B. bronchiseptica infection, and if infected, can develop upper respiratory tract infections.

The post The Many Causes of Kennel Cough appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

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Linda Arndt

GreatDaneLady.com

Stephen Blake, DVM

San Diego, CA
thepetwhisperer.com

Wendy C. Brooks, DVM

VeterinaryPartner.com

Bruce Fife, ND

Coconut Research Center
Colorado Springs, CO
coconutresearchcenter.org

Stacey Hershman, DVM, PC

Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
naturalvetforpets.com

Faith Thanas

Aromadog
Leicester, MA
aromadog.com

Marina Zacharias

Natural Rearing
Jacksonville, OR
naturalrearing.com

BOOKS

The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat by Juliette de Bairacli Levy
Faber & Faber, 1992

Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals by Kristen Leigh Bell
Findhorn Press, 2002

Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy by Suzanne Catty
Healing Arts Press, 2001

The post Kennel Cough Resources appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

As canine illnesses go, kennel cough has something of a split personality. Usually, it’s “self-limiting,” which means affected dogs generally recover without any interventions whatsoever, leaving the victim none the worse for wear. But every so often, a dog develops serious complications, necessitating hospitalization and extreme measures. Given that, plus the condition’s highly contagious nature, means that most boarding facilities and even veterinarians sometimes treat it with the kind of alarm usually reserved for an ebola outbreak.

Kennel cough is a generic name for a group of pathogens that produce a contagious upper-respiratory infection in dogs. Sometimes referred to as bordetella (one of the bacteria that can cause it), kennel cough is also called canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRD) as well as canine infectious tracheobronchitis. The abundance of names reflects the fact that kennel cough is really a loosely defined confederacy of viruses as well as bacteria, any of which can produce a cough that lasts from several days to weeks – and sometimes much longer, if complications such as pneumonia arise.

Kennel cough is spread through respiratory secretions, and since few dogs have learned the kindergarten trick of sneezing into the inside of their elbows, it can spread widely and quickly. As its name suggests, places where large numbers of dogs congregate can be a hotbed for spreading the disease, from boarding kennels to dog runs. Most dogs show symptoms within three to 10 days of exposure. In addition to the trademark gagging cough, infected dogs may exhibit sneezing, nasal discharge, and mild lethargy. Healthy adult dogs generally don’t otherwise act sick or stop eating, and likely will continue to play and be active, though physical exertion may trigger more hacking episodes.

In dogs who are very young, very old, highly stressed (for example, in a shelter), or immunocompromised, or who have an underlying condition, kennel cough can advance to the lower-respiratory tract and cause pneumonia, which is life threatening.

If this sounds like a wide range of symptoms, it may be because the illness actually is a range of illnesses, and caused by a variety of infectious organisms, bacterial and viral. (For the difference between kennel cough and canine influenza, as well as the newly identified circovirus, see sidebar.)

When she was a veterinary student more than 35 years ago, holistic veterinarian Christina Chambreau of Sparks, Maryland, did an externship at the National Institutes of Health’s foxhound breeding colony.

“My job for the summer was to do throat cultures on every coughing dog – and lots of them were coughing,” she remembers. “And every dog I cultured had a different combination of bacteria.”

At the same time, Chambreau worked part-time at a number of different veterinary clinics. “Each one had a completely different conventional treatment protocol – one used Prednisone, another used antibiotics, another said, ‘They’ll just get better.’ When you see multiple treatment protocols like that, it means none of them are ideal.”

Is it any wonder this condition is called the kennel cough complex?

Kennel Cough Vaccinations

For many conventional veterinarians, the reflexive answer to preventing kennel cough is to vaccinate for it.

Holistic veterinarian Marcie Fallek, who practices in both New York City and Fairfield, Connecticut, is not a fan of the vaccine, pointing out that it is short-lived and may not be adequately protective, as there is no way to cover all the pathogens that can cause kennel cough.

“It seems to cause disease more than prevent it,” she says, adding that facilities that insist on vaccinating new boarders on site are operating largely on reflex – and fear. And in reality, they aren’t doing a thing to protect their other clients.

“It takes several days, if not a week, for the kennel cough vaccine to be effective,” she explains. “So when you give it on the spot like that, it doesn’t protect the other dogs. If it’s going to give any protection, which is minimal, it’s only going to be the animal that receives it.”

Using this logic, some owners have persuaded boarding and day-care facilities to accept a signed waiver in lieu of a vaccine, agreeing not to hold them responsible should their dog contract the disease.

Veterinarian Jean Dodds of Garden Grove, California, says she “rarely” recommends vaccinating for kennel cough, because generally speaking kennel cough is “not a serious problem and the vaccines are not 100 percent efficacious.” But if an owner does decide to vaccinate, she does not recommend using the injectable form; instead, she recommends the intranasal vaccine, which is squirted up the dog’s nose, or the oral form, which is taken by mouth.

Intranasal vaccines for bordetella activate interferon, a pathogen-fighting protein, in the dog’s body, an action that does not result from injectable forms of the vaccine. “The interferon also helps cross-protect against other respiratory organisms,” says Dr. Dodds.

If you want to or need to vaccinate your dog for bordetella, it might make the most sense to ask your veterinarian for the intranasal bordetella vaccine that also contains a vaccine for CAV-2, a strain of canine adenovirus that affects the respiratory tract. A dog who is immunized against that form of adenovirus is also protected against the far more serious CAV-1, or infectious canine hepatitis, which can be life threatening. This might be unexpectedly welcome news to those who use minimal vaccination protocols that do not include canine hepatitis (including the popular one recommended by Dr. Dodds).

Dr. Dodds notes that, as with every vaccine, there are some dogs who react adversely to the kennel-cough vaccine, especially those with “a hypersensitivity-like response” in which the body responds to an immune challenge so severely that it can be life threatening. If your dog has had an adverse reaction to a kennel-cough vaccine, he should not be given any more of those vaccines for any reason.

For her part, Dr. Fallek recommends using a kennel-cough nosode, a homeopathic remedy that contains the energetic imprint of the disorder; while sometimes referred to as “homeopathic vaccines,” nosodes work differently, rebalancing the body rather than prompting it to mount an immunological attack. “Kennel-cough nosodes are not 100 percent protective, but neither are vaccines,” she points out. Dr. Fallek recommends that those who wish to use the nosode to protect a dog who will be in a high-risk environment start dosing the dog several days before the expected risk, giving the remedy once or twice a day with a 30C potency for a maximum of five days. 

When it comes to preventing kennel cough, the best defense is, well, a good defense.

“The bottom line is, the healthier you can get your dog, the better,” Dr. Chambreau says. “You want to build the immune system so she fights it off herself.”

The basic building blocks of good health are just that – basic. Make sure your dog receives the best-quality food and water possible. Avoid and limit exposure to toxins. And pay attention to the early-warning signs that the body gives when it is beginning to weaken, but before disease manifests.

“These are little things your vet won’t think are wrong,” Dr. Chambreau says, including goopy discharge that accumulates in the corners of the eye, slight waxiness in the ears, a little red line in the gums, minor behavioral problems, and a slight overall odor that necessitates baths every couple of weeks. She recommends keeping a daily journal so you can see patterns in your dog’s well-being emerge over time.

“Any holistic treatment that builds the immune system will usually take care of kennel cough,” adds Dr. Chambreau, who is a staunch believer in what she calls “R&R” – a flower essence remedy called Rescue Remedy and reiki, a healing “life force energy” practice. “You take one course in how to do reiki, and you can start offering it to your dogs every day on a regular basis,” says Dr. Chambreau. And while Rescue Remedy and flower essences in general won’t cure kennel cough or any other disease, many dog owners report that these gentle plant distillations can center emotions and help alleviate anxiety or distress about kennel cough, as much for you as your dog!

Another thing you can add to your preventive toolbox is the thymus thump. During the early part of a dog’s life, the thymus programs the T-cells that are so central to the functioning of the immune system. “By tapping the thymus, you reactivate it,” Dr. Chambreau explains.

To find your dog’s thymus, run your hand down her throat, and below the throat feel for the firm, bony protuberance that is the sternum. Gently thump that area with your hand several times a day, or whenever you remember.

Quite an array of supplements, herbs, and tonics are reputed to help strengthen the immune system; the most commonly cited include coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, aloe vera juice, and whole food supplements.

Melissa Oloff of Canterbury, Connecticut, keeps her Ridgeback Coco on an immune-boosting regimen of Vitamin C and probiotics daily, as well as an echinacea capsule several times a week. When the doggie daycare that Coco attends had an outbreak of kennel cough, Oloff increased the frequency of administering echinacea, giving her dog a dose every day during the week when Coco was exposed. “She was fine, no symptoms,” Oloff says. “The kennel had to send home 50 percent of their dogs.”

Kennel Cough Treatment Plans

As Dr. Chambreau noted when she first began in veterinary medicine, conventional treatment for kennel cough varies, from simply keeping the dog quiet and avoiding drafts and strenuous exercise, to administering antibiotics (which are useless if the pathogen involved is a virus and not a bacterium). Some veterinarians may recommend a cough suppressant, but others, such as Dr. Fallek, contend that cough suppressants further weaken the immune system.

Dr. Fallek is trained in homeopathy, and she finds kennel cough relatively easy to treat with this energy-based modality. Though a dog’s individual symptoms should be used to select the correct remedy, one that Dr. Fallek finds works in many cases is Bryonia, which is indicated for coughs that are made worse by movement.

Dr. Chambreau, who is also a homeopath, notes that kennel cough often can be stopped in its tracks if the homeopathic remedy Aconite is administered at the very beginning. “If you find there is a remedy that works for you [the dog owner], then you might use that,” she says. “Often people and their animals need the same remedy.”

When kennel cough is a concern in Dr. Dodd’s facility (a canine blood bank, utilizing retired racing Greyhounds who are available for adoption!), Dr. Dodds brews a tea made of the herb mullein, which is used for calming the respiratory tract and treating lung ailments.

While mullein is not an endangered plant – the ultimate volunteer, it can get a roothold anywhere, including sidewalk cracks – some popular herbs are. Dr. Chambreau suggests substituting marshmallow root for slippery elm, which is being overharvested because of the popularity of its medicinal bark. As a bonus, marshmallow is the gentler of the two, while still providing soothing relief to inflamed mucous membranes. For throat soothing, Dr. Chambreau suggests aloe vera and raw honey.

Relationship between Canine Influenza & Circovirus

No matter what modality they use, Dr. Chambreau encourages owners to do their homework. No treatment is without its risks, and working with a trained practitioner is the best way to ensure that your healing intentions come to fruition.

If you spend any time on the Internet, you’ve come across frantic references to canine influenza and circovirus. There seems to be an inverse relationship between the hysteria that mention of these two viruses induces, and what people actually know about them. Let’s take the oldest one first.

Canine influenza – specifically, canine influenza virus subtype H3N8 – first surfaced in a Greyhound kennel in Florida in 2004. A mutated version of a horse flu that “jumped species,” dog flu is highly contagious and produces symptoms that are similar to kennel cough – cough and runny nose. Dogs may also have a thick nasal discharge, which is usually caused by a secondary bacterial infection. But one thing that sets it apart, Dr. Dodds says, is the presence of a fever.

Like kennel cough, “canine influenza is generally not a disease of much clinical significance, despite the fact that it is a highly contagious virus,” says Dr. Dodds. For that reason, the canine influenza vaccine is not recommended for routine use, “except when animals may be exposed to high-risk situations such as crowded competitive show events, in which case it should be given prophylactically beforehand – two doses, three weeks apart.”

Dogs are at the greatest risk of complications if they become infected with the flu at a time when they are already coping with another stressor, such as intestinal parasites, malnourishment, or another infection. 
“The only other dangerous scenario with this virus is when the dog has an upper or lower respiratory infection with streptococcus,” Dr. Dodds says. According to Ron Schultz of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in that scenario, two to three percent of dogs infected with canine influenza and strep can die from the co-infection.

The latest panic-inducing virus is canine circovirus. Last fall, media reports about dogs who contracted some sort of lethal virus in Ohio, and then later, in Michigan, were thought to have suffered from circovirus. However, investigators later concluded that while some of the affected dogs were infected with circovirus, it was not the primary cause of their illness. In an update published in November, Thomas Mullaney, interim director of the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health at Michigan State University in Lansing, said, “Based on our current evidence, dog circovirus is not cause for panic.” 
It is, however, cause for greater investigation. “I don’t think we really understand circovirus,” Dr. Dodds says. “It’s like giardia; it’s everywhere. What we don’t know is why it causes a major clinical problem in some dogs and not others.” There is also no vaccine for circovirus at this time.

Circovirus symptoms are more diffuse than those of kennel cough or canine influenza. They include vomiting, diarrhea (possibly bloody), and lethargy, though some dogs exhibit a respiratory component, such as coughing.

Researchers have been able to identify circovirus in lab samples from cases as far back as 2007. “The virus went undetected in dogs for several years and probably longer,” Mullaney wrote. “This supports the theory that dog circovirus exists as a subclinical infection, or as a co-infection with other well-recognized pathogens.”

Bottom line? Like kennel cough and canine influenza, circovirus isn’t a major problem for most dogs, but for some it will be. The best way to ensure that yours isn’t in the latter group is to keep her immune system robust and ready to meet the next challenge.

The Holistic Toolbox for Treating Kennel Cough

I’ve had dogs for most of my adult life, and I’ve dealt with kennel cough more times than I can count – though less and less as the years go by and I learn how to rear dogs with immune systems that can shrug it off. Like anything, how we choose to protect and treat our dogs is an evolution and a journey. Here’s where mine has taken me.

Early on in my life with dogs, I vaccinated for kennel cough. Until, that is, one of my fully vaccinated dogs picked it up at a show. Despite being put on antibiotics, he developed pneumonia, and though he recovered, his hospitalization left me with a whopper of a vet bill. I drew two conclusions from that experience: One, I needed pet insurance. And, two, maybe the vaccine wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. 

From that point on, I didn’t vaccinate for kennel cough (along with a lot of other things, but that’s a different story). I found that my young dogs tended to develop the most severe symptoms when they first encountered kennel cough, usually at a dog show. By contrast, my oldsters, with their wise and still vibrant immune systems, didn’t even sniffle.

After some trial and error, I came across what has become my go-to modality any time I hear that telltale hacking: the homeopathic remedy Drosera. Any time I administer it, the coughing stops in its tracks, and asymptomatic dogs in the household stay that way.

That said, I’ve talked to holistically minded folks who have had zero success with Drosera. One homeopath told me it has never worked for her, even though it is considered a potential remedy for kennel cough. Perhaps there is just something about me and my home that dovetails with Drosera energetically. Whatever it is, it has never failed me -with one exception.

Several months ago, I had a litter of puppies that was off to a shaky start. The dam had a Caesarian section, and the litter was less than half the size of a typical one for my girls: only four puppies, one of which faded hours after she was born. Less than a week later, Cocoa started hacking: It was kennel cough, picked up in those few hours at the vet’s office.

Trusty Drosera to the rescue: I dosed Cocoa, and her coughing stopped within hours. I dosed her babies, too, and, because I had never had puppies this young exposed to kennel cough – and none of my mentors or fellow breeders had, either – I started them on antibiotics.

(I feel a little self-conscious and even defensive about admitting here that I used antibiotics prophylactically, ven though I believe the decision to have been a correct, potentially even life-saving one; the small litter size and fading puppy suggested to me the possibility of a low-grade infection. But it says something about how militant “holistic medicine” enthusiasts can be when a conventional modality is chosen as a first course of action; sometimes we fall into the same reflexive judging that we complain about with an allopathic approach! And that’s not “wholism.”)

Several days later, the large male (who was so big and vigorous that we had dubbed him “Chubsy”) began making odd noises, which got worse if he moved around. Despite all my precautions, he had contracted kennel cough, and the noise I was hearing – sort of a snore, really – was a “stertor,” caused by a partial obstruction of the airway above the larynx.
Thankfully, Chubsy was still active and eating, and a quick vet visit showed his lungs to be clear. I consulted my copy of Boericke’s materia medica (a homeopathic encyclopedia) for other remedies that might help him fight off the kennel cough. But he didn’t improve.

After several days, I decided to switch to another modality I was comfortable with, essential oils, which shouldn’t be used in conjunction with homeopathic remedies because they antidote them.

I have had success staving off colds with Thieves Essential Oil. A proprietary blend of therapeutic-grade oils from Young Living, it’s named for the four grave-robbers of medieval legend who avoided contracting the plague from the cadavers they pilfered by swathing themselves in oils (that turn out to have antimicrobial properties). The oil is a wonderful immune booster; when colds and viruses make their wintertime rounds, I do family foot rubs of Thieves diluted in almond oil to keep us sniffle-free.

Mindful that essential oils can be very powerful, I used a diffuser to disperse the oil in the puppies’ room, for short periods several times a day. I watched the puppies and their mother closely for any negative reactions.

To the contrary: Chubsy improved almost immediately, and within a few days, all signs of the infection – including that sleep-anea-like stertor – had disappeared. 
Thanks to that experience, I have another addition to my toolbox if kennel cough crosses my dogs’ paths again.

Denise Flaim of Revodana Ridgebacks in Long Island, New York, shares her home with three Ridgebacks, 10-year-old triplets, and a very patient husband.

The post Preventing and Treating Kennel Cough appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Kennel cough symptoms (also known as infectious tracheobronchitis) appear extreme, with a dry, hacking cough accompanied by frequent, intense gagging. Despite its appearance, a typical case of kennel cough is not life-threatening, and it tends to run its course in a few days to a week or so. But it is a disease that is frustrating for pets and caretakers alike.

Kennel cough should be expected whenever your dog suddenly develops the characteristic cough 5 to 10 days after exposure to other dogs – especially to dogs from a kennel (especially a shelter) environment. Usually the kennel cough symptoms diminish during the first five days, but the disease may persist for up to 10-20 days. Kennel cough is almost always more annoying (to dog and her caretaker) than it is a serious event.

Anyone who’s heard it will recognize the dry, hacking, something’s-stuck-in-my-throat dog coughing that won’t quit. It’s the signature symptom of canine infectious tracheobronchitis, also known as Bordetellosis, Bordetella, and most commonly as kennel cough. Whatever you call it, tracheobronchitis is one of the world’s most widespread canine diseases.

Like the common cold in humans, tracheobronchitis is highly contagious, rarely fatal, and runs its course in a few days. Fortunately, there are several ways to help make canine patients more comfortable, speed recovery, and prevent future infections.

Tracheobronchitis is called kennel cough because of its association with boarding kennels, animal shelters, veterinary waiting rooms, grooming salons, and other areas where dogs congregate in close quarters. The coughing can strike dogs of any age but is most common in puppies, whose immune systems are still developing, and adult dogs with conditions that impair immune function.

Although often referred to as Bordetella, tracheobronchitis isn’t caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria alone. Several infectious agents contribute to the condition, primarily parainfluenza. Other viruses that may be involved include canine adenovirus, reovirus, and the canine herpes virus.

When Bordetella and parainfluenza combine to cause tracheobronchitis, kennel cough symptoms appear within a week of exposure (usually after three to four days) and continue for about 10 days. Even after symptoms disappear, the recovering patient remains contagious, shedding Bordetella bacteria for up to 14 weeks.

In mild cases, dogs with kennel cough remain active and alert, with good appetite. In more severe cases, symptoms may progress toward pneumonia and include lethargy, fever, and a loss of appetite.

The main symptom of tracheobronchitis—its cough—has been described as unproductive, throat-clearing, goose-honking, hacking, dry, harsh, gut-wrenching, gagging, wheezing, and croup-like, not to mention annoying to the dogs who can’t stop coughing and the humans they live with. Vigorous exercise triggers it, but even resting dogs may cough every few minutes throughout the day.

The dog’s cough is caused by irritation and damage to the lining of the trachea and upper bronchi. In the trachea, exposed nerve endings are aggravated by the passage of air over damaged tissue as the dog inhales and exhales.

Just as the virus that causes the common cold is carried by water vapor, dust, and air, the bacteria and viruses that cause tracheobronchitis spread in all directions. When inhaled by a susceptible dog, they attach to the lining of upper airway passages whose warm, moist conditions allow them to reproduce and eventually damage the cells they infect.

Learn more about how dogs catch kennel cough by reading, “The Many Causes of Kennel Cough,” (January, 2017) at Whole Dog Journal.

Kennel Cough Risk Factors for Dogs

Some people catch frequent colds and others never get sick. Some dogs are susceptible to tracheobronchitis and others never get it, even after repeated exposure.

According to Wendy C. Brooks, DVM, Educational Director of VeterinaryPartner.com, “The normal respiratory tract has substantial safeguards against invading infectious agents. The most important of these is probably what is called the mucocillary escalator.”

Cilia are tiny hairlike structures that protrude from the cells that line the respiratory tract. They are covered with a protective coat of mucus, and they beat in a coordinated fashion. As viruses, bacteria, and other debris become trapped in the sticky mucus, the cilia move everything up (hence the escalator analogy) toward the throat, where it can be coughed up or swallowed.

Conditions that damage the mucocillary escalator and cause dog coughing include shipping stress, crowding stress, heavy dust exposure, exposure to cigarette smoke, viruses, and poor ventilation. “Without this protective mechanism,” says Dr. Brooks, “invading bacteria, especially Bordetella bronchiseptica, may simply march down the airways unimpeded.”

Poorly ventilated, crowded conditions increase the odds of contracting tracheobronchitis, but dogs can catch the disease almost anywhere. All they need is exposure to a dog who has an active infection or is recovering from one—or to the viruses and bacteria an infected dog left behind.

Kennel Cough Treatment

Most veterinarians treat tracheobronchitis the way physicians treat the common cold. They let it run its course while keeping the patient comfortable. Some veterinarians routinely prescribe antibiotics, which are effective against bacteria, thus addressing part of the infection. But because antibiotics have no effect on viruses, this treatment is not a cure, and most vets save antibiotics for more serious conditions, such as the secondary infections that sometimes develop in dogs with tracheobronchitis.

For partial relief of symptoms and to help the dog feel more comfortable, some owners use cough medicine for dogs. Minor cases are often treated with nonprescription cough remedies such as Robitussin (dextromethorphan). Cough medicine for dogs, like Robotussin, is recommended for chronic, dry, unproductive coughing, and should not be used for moist or productive coughs. Note: Products that contain acetaminophen or caffeine should not be given to dogs.

Prescription cough suppressants and most antibiotics for dogs should be reserved for cases in which a fever develops, symptoms last longer than a few days, or the cough becomes more severe.

Some veterinarians may recommend a cough medicine for dogs, but others contend that cough suppressants further weaken the immune system and should only be given to dogs under severe circumstances.

Your Dog Could Have Pneumonia – or Something Else

Tracheobronchitis usually clears up on its own without complications. If it doesn’t, there may be a secondary bacterial infection (such as pneumonia), or the problem may be due to something entirely else entirely. Dogs cough for many reasons.

For example, dogs can create their own tracheal irritation by pulling on the leash. A body harness with a leash attachment in front of the chest or on the back instead of the collar can prevent this cough-inducing problem.

Dogs with heart disease, including congestive heart failure and heartworm infestations, often cough after exercise or excitement. Heartworm disease is endemic in some parts of the country, and less common in others, but is a possibility in any area where mosquitoes are common. Congestive heart failure, which occurs when the heart’s valves leak, is most common in middle-aged or older dogs, including small breeds.

Dog coughing due to tracheal collapse can be triggered by drinking water.

Diseases of the larynx or esophagus can cause dog coughing after eating. A damaged larynx may not close properly, allowing swallowed food to enter the trachea. Paralysis of the larynx is more common in large breed dogs.

An abnormally dilated esophagus may allow food to pool, then pass back up to the mouth and down into the lungs, causing infection and coughing. Tracheal collapse is most common in middle-aged and older, overweight small-breed dogs.

The cough resulting from canine tracheobronchitis is usually dry. A moist cough sounds that way because of accumulated fluid in the lungs or airways. The fluid can be water, blood, or pus. Hunting dogs and dogs who spend most of their time outdoors may inhale seeds, pollen, grasses, or other foreign matter that travels through the nose to the lung, causing pyothorax, an infection that produces a large amount of pus.

Dogs of any age can develop allergic lung disease from exposure to dust, pollen, or smoke.

While lung cancer is unusual in dogs, it too can cause coughing. Short-nosed breeds exposed to second-hand smoke and any dog exposed to asbestos may be at risk.

Pneumonia and other secondary bacterial infections can develop in pet store puppies with tracheobronchitis and in older dogs with weak immune systems or other illnesses.

Any dog who doesn’t recover quickly from what appears to be canine tracheobronchitis should receive a thorough veterinary exam. To help your veterinarian reach an accurate diagnosis, keep track of your dog’s coughing symptoms, noting on a calendar or notebook the date of each symptom and its description.

It’s Not Dog Flu

Three years ago, canine flu seemed to be an epidemic affecting dogs of every description (see “Fending Off the Flu,” Whole Dog Journal, December 2005).

The dog coughing produced by the canine flu virus is soft and moist, and it’s usually accompanied by a high fever and nasal discharge, none of which are symptoms of tracheobronchitis.

Fortunately, of the strategies that help prevent and treat tracheobronchitis work for canine flu as well as other infectious diseases. The herbs, supplements, and treatments described below can help your dog stay healthy when exposed to many different viruses and bacteria.

Kennel Cough Vaccinations

Most boarding facilities require proof of Bordetella vaccination for dogs who will be visiting. However, because there are many strains of Bordetella, and because no vaccine protects every patient, some immunized dogs contract tracheobronchitis despite being vaccinated. Veterinary recommendations range from vaccinating a dog every four months to not at all.

“There are two kinds of Bordetella vaccine,” says Stacey Hershman, DVM, a holistic veterinarian in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. “The intranasal vaccine is highly effective and very safe since it is not systemic but goes down the nose into the throat. I do not recommend the injectable vaccine since it can cause negative side effects like lethargy, fever, vomiting, or diarrhea.

“I never vaccinate animals more than once a year for kennel cough, and then only if they are going to a boarding kennel. Kennel cough is not fatal in adult dogs, who usually board, therefore it would be over-vaccinating in my opinion to do it more than once a year. Healthy, strong immune systems are resistant and do not catch it, which is another reason not to vaccinate unless the dog is going to a kennel that requires it.”

No matter what your dog’s vaccination status, a few natural kennel cough preventives can’t hurt, especially whenever your dog is exposed to dogs with active or recent infections.

Honey and Coconut Oil for Kennel Cough Treatment

The single treatment for canine tracheobronchitis that conventional veterinarians, holistic vets, and caregivers of every description agree on is honey. Honey soothes the throat, but it does far more than that.

As noted in “Bee Products Have a Special Meaning for Dogs” (September 2007), all honey has disinfecting properties. One of the most expensive honeys sold in the United States and around the world is manuka honey from New Zealand, where bees harvest nectar from the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium). Twenty years of research at the University of Waikato show that manuka honey has impressive antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal properties. While all honeys share these properties, they are especially pronounced in manuka honey.

Most dogs enjoy honey’s sweet taste, so it’s easy to feed from a spoon or, if the honey is thick, you can roll it into a treat-sized ball. Honey can be fed by itself, mixed with powdered herbs for additional benefit, or added to herbal teas that double as cough syrups.

There is no specific recommended dose, as both larger and smaller doses are safe and effective, but for most dogs ½ to 1 teaspoon of honey three or four times per day works well.

In recent years, coconut oil has become a popular supplement for people and pets (see “Crazy about Coconut Oil,” October 2005). Because its medium-chain fatty acids kill harmful bacteria, viruses, yeast, fungi, and parasites, its advocates call it an all-purpose infection fighter. As coconut oil expert and book author Bruce Fife, ND, explains, “Taking coconut oil daily is like a daily inoculation. It will help prevent your dog from becoming infected.”

The recommended maintenance dose is 1 teaspoon coconut oil per 10 pounds of body weight per day in divided doses, always starting with smaller amounts and increasing gradually. When your dog has been exposed to tracheobronchitis or any other infection, the dose can be doubled. The only adverse effects of a too-high dose of coconut oil are loose, greasy stools and a temporary feeling of fatigue (thought to result from detoxification). Most dogs adjust easily to a coconut oil regimen, and because they’re usually fond of the taste, coconut oil can be fed from a spoon or added to your dog’s food.

Honey and coconut oil work well together. Combine these two infection fighters for both the treatment and prevention of tracheobronchitis and other contagious diseases.

Herbs for Canine Tracheobronchitis

Most natural foods markets and pet supply stores sell herbal products that help coughing dogs.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra or G. uralensis) is a favorite of herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levy. In her book The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat, which describes her “Natural Rearing” approach to pet care, Levy recommends making a strong infusion (steeped tea) by combining 1 tablespoon dried licorice root with 2 cups cold water, bringing it to a boil, removing it from heat, and letting it stand until room temperature. Add 1 teaspoon honey to each tablespoon of licorice tea and give 2 tablespoons to the dog before meals. Small dogs and puppies can take less and large dogs more, but precise measurements aren’t necessary. Refrigerate leftover tea for up to five days.

Levy also recommends as cough remedies teas made of sage leaves (Salvia officinalis), blackberry leaves (Rubus spp.), elder blossom (Sambucus nigra), and thyme (Thymus vulgaris). “Sage is the best,” she writes.

Apitherapy Honey Wild Cherry Bark Syrup from Honey Gardens in Vermont, sold in natural foods markets, contains raw honey, apple cider vinegar, wild cherry bark (Prunus virginiana or P. serotina), elecampane root (Inula helenium), propolis (a bee product), rosehips (Rosa spp.), ginger root (Zingiber officinale), licorice root, slippery elm bark (Ulmus fulva), and the essential oils of lemon, peppermint, and eucalyptus.

All of these ingredients are traditionally used to support upper respiratory health and soothe sore throats. The human adult dose is 1 teaspoon every other hour while symptoms persist. Adjust the dose for your dog’s weight, and to make the product more palatable, try mixing it with honey and/or coconut oil or add it to a small amount of interesting food.

Tossa K, an herbal product from Amber Technology, contains infection-fighting olive leaf (Olea Europaea), mustard seed (Brassica spp.), black seed (Nigella sativa), and pau d’arco (Tabebuia impetiginosa).

Described as an antimicrobial that aids upper respiratory infections, Tossa K is given orally four times per day for up to 10 days. The recommended dose for most dogs, based on weight, is 15 drops at a time. According to the manufacturer, this product is designed to stimulate immunity, rid the lungs of congestion, kill viruses and bacteria, soothe digestion, rid the body of free radicals, and protect pets who are exposed to illness.

Australian herbalist Robert McDowell’s favorite treatment for tracheobronchitis is a blend of rosehips, garlic (Allium sativum), fenugreek (Trigonella fornum), marshmallow, elecampane, coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), kelp (Laminaria digitata), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and mullein (Verbascum thapsus), which he makes in a base of apple cider vinegar.

“All this sounds like a lot,” he says, “but the old-fashioned way of treating chest and respiratory infections works well. These herbs provide important minerals and vitamin C, and they act as healing tonics, expectorants, and lymphatic supplements. The result is an herbal mix that gets rid of the cough, and by continuing for several weeks after the cough has gone, it builds up the immunity. I recommend that it be kept on hand and given to the whole kennel at any signs of cough showing up, at which time all dogs should be given a short course. One dog recovered quickly when given this blend after six prescriptions for antibiotics failed.”

Dr. Christina Chambreau is a staunch believer in what she calls “R&R” – a flower essence remedy called Rescue Remedy and reiki, a healing “life force energy” practice. Dr. Chambreau recommends taking just one course in reiki to learn how to perform reiki on your dog on a regular basis. And while Rescue Remedy and flower essences in general won’t cure kennel cough or any other disease, many dog owners report that these plant distillations can center your dog’s emotions and help alleviate distress.

Juliette de Baircli Levy’s famous Natural Rearing (NR) Herbal Compounds tablets contain garlic, rue (Ruta graveolens), sage, thyme, eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), and vegetable charcoal.

Levy recommends giving dogs 3 to 6 tablets daily to help fight and prevent disease. “These tablets maintain health and promote a cure in the sick,” she explains. “Use them daily for prevention, especially before and after your animal is exposed to any public place where other animals have been.”

Holistic health consultant Marina Zacharias recommends Bioprin, a Chinese blend of 21 herbs.

“This formula is the best for any type of viral infection,” she says, “as well as helping the overall immune system, and it acts like a natural anti-inflammatory. Combined with the kennel cough nosode (a homeopathic remedy designed to help increase the body’s defense against the infection), Bioprin usually brings quick relief, often within one to three days.

“Most of the people I work with have multiple-dog households, so we give the remedies to everyone preventatively whenever we know there has been exposure or when one of the household members has contracted the infection. The results are great as no one else in the house gets sick.”

Note: While mullein is not an endangered plant, plenty of popular holistic herbs are. Dr. Chambreau suggests substituting marshmallow root for slippery elm, which is being overharvested because of the popularity of its medicinal bark. As a bonus, marshmallow is the gentler of the two, while still providing soothing relief to inflamed mucous membranes. For throat soothing, Dr. Chambreau suggests aloe vera and raw honey.

Herbal Diffusers and Cleaning the Air

When Faith Thanas, an aromatherapist who lives in Leicester, Massachusetts, adopted a Doberman Pinscher from Louisiana one year after Hurricane Katrina, Sasha arrived in a van carrying 20 rescued dogs. A few days later, she started coughing.

To help soothe Sasha’s throat, Thanas mixed a blend of essential oils to spray in the air around the dog. She started with Ravensare (Cinnamonum camphora), one of the “must have” essential oils listed by Kristen Leigh Bell in her book Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals. As Bell explains, this gentle and tolerable antiviral, antibacterial essential oil supports the immune system and has tonifying effects.

Thanas then added Eucalyptus radiata, the gentlest of the many eucalyptus varieties available. It is known for its antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and expectorant properties. Bell writes, “Due to its gentleness, it is very appropriate for use in blends for animals for congestion, and it makes an excellent room air cleaner, deodorizer, and flea repellent.”

Eucalyptus globulus, the next ingredient, is the eucalyptus commonly found in chest rubs, cough drops, and cough syrups. It has a fresh antiseptic fragrance and, when inhaled, acts as a decongestant.

Thanas added Spike Lavender (Lavendula latifolia) for its powerful antibacterial properties.

After diluting the essential oils, Thanas used a spray bottle to mist the air around Sasha. “The results were instantaneous,” she recalls. “She stopped coughing, she was able to breathe, and she was so much more comfortable.”

Thanas wasted no time adding Cough Drop! to her AromaDog line of aromatherapy pet products. She describes it as an all-natural cough suppressant that works quickly, helps open breathing passages, acts as an expectorant (antitussive), soothes the chest and respiratory system (balsamic), reduces swelling (antihistamine), helps reduce excess mucus secretion (anticatarrh), and acts as an immune system stimulant.

“The bottle should be shaken well for at least three seconds before use,” she says.” Repeat the application every three hours. In households with other animals, or in boarding kennels, spraying the air, bedding, and other surfaces can help keep the illness from spreading.”

Another way to disperse essential oils into the air is with a diffuser. Aromatherapy supply companies, such as Aromatherapeutix, sell different models. A nebulizing diffuser consists of a nebulizer (glass receptacle) attached to the hose of a small air compressor. Drops of essential oil placed in the nebulizer are atomized into tiny droplets that are sprayed into the air.

Bell notes that disinfecting essential oils dispersed by a nebulizing diffuser effectively clean the air, deodorize the room, and help clear up and prevent contagious illnesses.

A new type of ultrasonic cold mist diffuser runs silently (unlike nebulizing diffusers with their noisy air compressors) and can be set for constant or intermittent dispersal. To use, simply fill the unit with water, add a few drops of essential oil, and turn it on. Buttons on the unit control the frequency and duration of misting. Simpler models, such as the SpaMist diffuser, run constantly. Ultrasonic diffusers have become popular accessories for aromatherapists and those who use essential oils.

Any blend of disinfecting essential oils, such as Ravensare, Eucalyptus radiata, or Spike Lavender, can be dispersed into the air with a diffuser.

Canine nutritional consultant Linda Arndt has a favorite remedy for clearing the air and helping dogs recover from and avoid respiratory infections. The Nzymes product Ox-E-Drops (not to be confused with Oxy Drops, an eye drop from a different manufacturer) contains sodium clorite, which breaks down to form chlorine dioxide, a microbiocide.

To use in a warm steam vaporizer (an inexpensive appliance sold in pharmacies), mix 1 teaspoon Ox-E-Drops Concentrate with one gallon of water. For severe cases, use up to 1 tablespoon. In a small bathroom, other enclosed room, or in a crate covered by a sheet, direct the vapors toward the dog’s head, keeping the vaporizer far enough away so that its hot steam doesn’t pose a safety hazard.

“Allow your pet to breathe the vapors for 15 to 20 minutes each hour for four to five hours,” says Arndt. “Repeat the procedure for two to three days until symptoms improve.”

Thieves Essential Oil is also effective in staving off canine colds. A proprietary blend of therapeutic-grade oils from Young Living, Thieves Oil gets its name from the four grave-robbers of medieval legend who avoided contracting the plague from the cadavers they pilfered by swathing themselves in oils (that turn out to have antimicrobial properties). The oil is a wonderful immune booster; when colds and viruses make their wintertime rounds, give yourself and your dogs foot rubs of Thieves diluted in almond oil to keep everyone sniffle-free.

Water Tonics for Kennel Cough

Ox-E-drops can be added to drinking water as well as sprayed in the air. “Use 1 drop per 20 pounds of body weight, diluted in 1 to 3 teaspoons of water,” says Arndt, “and give this amount three times per day for all types of illness or respiratory problems.”

Faith Thanas at AromaDog created Lickity Spritzer, a blend of colloidal silver and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) hydrosol, to help keep dogs healthy while traveling as well as at home. Colloidal silver, a suspension of submicroscopic metallic silver particles in a colloidal base, is promoted as an all-purpose disinfectant and infection-fighter.

In her book Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy, Suzanne Catty writes that the hydrosol (distilled flower water) of lemon balm makes a good prophylactic in flu and allergy season and has both immune-stimulating and infection-fighting properties.

“Together,” says Thanas, “these two super-power ingredients knock out the potential for infection from bacteria, fungi, and viruses, stimulating the immune system and emotionally calming your pet. Lickity Spritzer purifies your pet’s yucky water bowl so it becomes a clean source of good health. This product is great for dogs or cats and multiple pet households.”

Special Immune Support Supplements for Dogs

According to San Diego veterinarian Stephen R. Blake, DVM, the most important defense against any infection, whether fungal, viral, or bacterial, is the gastrointestinal system.

Dr. Blake’s favorite supplement for immune support is bovine colostrum from New Zealand, where all cattle are pasture-fed and organically raised. Colostrum is the “first milk” a cow produces after giving birth, and it contains all the immune support a calf needs to avoid infection. Cows produce colostrum in greater quantities than their calves can consume, so the excess is collected for supplement use.

“I recommend a dose of 500 mg colostrum per 25 pounds of body weight once or twice a day, depending on the dog’s risk factor,” says Dr. Blake.

Other supplements that support the gastrointestinal tract include probiotics, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and other “friendly” or “beneficial” bacteria, which help make up the body’s first line of defense against viruses and other pathogens.

Probiotics are especially important for dogs who have been treated with antibiotics, as antibiotics destroy these beneficial microbes. Several probiotic supplements have been developed for dogs and are sold in pet supply stores or veterinary clinics. And don’t neglect vitamin C. Consider giving your dog 500 mg vitamin C three times per day, or half that amount for small dogs, in addition to the animal’s usual supplements for as long as the infection lasts.

The Best Defense

Controlling your dog’s exposure to other animals is one way to help prevent tracheobronchitis, canine flu, and other contagious diseases. Another is to disinfect the air and surfaces around her.

These are common sense precautions. But your dog’s best defense against infection is a strong immune system, which you can boost with nutrition, exercise, and supplements like those mentioned here. And if your dog ever contracts a respiratory infection, you’ll know how to use simple remedies to turn it around in record time.

The best treatment for kennel cough is preventative. Strengthen your dog’s health from the ground up. That means the best quality food possible and clean water, avoiding exposure to toxins, and paying attention to early signals that your dog’s immune system is weakening.

Signs of a weakened immune system start off seeming negligible. “These are little things your vet won’t think are wrong,” Dr. Chambreau says. Goopy eye discharge, waxy ears, a little red line in the gums, minor behavioral problems, and a slight overall odor that necessitates baths every couple of weeks are some examples. Dr. Chambreau recommends keeping a daily journal so you can see patterns in your dog’s well-being emerge over time.

C.J. Puotinen is a frequent Whole Dog Journal contributor and freelance writer living in New York. She is also author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care and many books on holistic health care and herbal remedies for humans.

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