kennel cough what is it

[Dad4duchess]

Hi
I'm sure someone has asked this before but what is kennel cough?
I know it is bad but don't know what it is :-?

[Gordonmom]

Kennel cough is an upper respiratory infection in dogs. It is most commonly caused by the bacteria Bordetella broncheseptica or canine adenoviruses or parainfluenzae viruses.

It is characterized by a dry hacking cough. This cough sort of sound like your dog is choking on a chicken bone.

Your dog can get immunized for Bordetella, but kennel cough can be caused by so many types of viruses, that he can still get kennel cough.
Since kennel cough is usually caused by a virus, antibiotics are useless in treating it. It usually is self-limiting, and lasts about a week. A veterinarian will put a dog on antibiotics to prevent what is called a secondary infection, which means that the virus will cause damage to the lining of the bronchia, and bacterial will invade and colonize and cause disease. So the antibiotics are for this second, bacterial infection.

Kennel cough sounds worse than it actually is, and I have never heard of a dog dying from it, unless the dog does get a secondary infection, and it is left untreated.

[Guest Anonymous]

If you have other dogs it can be contagious!!

[Carolk9s]

Good answer Gordonmom, I think you pretty much covered it. When I brought Candy home from the SPCA to foster her, she had kennel cough. Didn't start hacking until the following night, took her to my vet and he confirmed it. Poor girl was so run down I was pretty worried about her. She did recover, she was on a cough suppressant, an antibiotic and was finally getting fed properly.
I was somewhat concerned about my two adult dogs, but neither was affected by it. They were NOT up to date on their bordatella vacs and like Gordonmom said, even with the vac there are multi strains so the vac may not help.
Here in Richmond, bordatella vac is recommended twice a year but even then the 'protection' it offers varies during the 6 month period. Mine do get that vac once a year, Jesse has not had ANY shots for almost two years now as he is older. He will get his rabies shot when it's due and of course stays on heartworm disease prevention but his days of getting the whole cocktail of vacs are over.