Hi,
Well last night our Collie gave a few coughs and this morning both dogs were coughing a little (a few coughs until throat is clear then nothing for ages but more when they'd finished wrestling!) so I'm pretty certain we have Kennel cough. I feel very bad as we took Charlie to our local country fair yesterday and obviously saw loads of other dogs, typically he seemed fine so now we've probably infected half the county

Now having read Polly's thread I know you can give them kiddies Benilyn so I've done that this morning but I can't decide whether to go to the vets. I don't want them to be ill unnecessarily but equally don't want them to be given antibiotics for a viral infection. Both dogs are fine other than a slight cough (both wrestling with my sister apparently!), Charlie is nearly 6 months old and Jim is about 6.5 years old.

Any advice greatly appreciated, I know it's my decision in the end but having never had a dog with kennel cough before I'd like some more info to help me decide.
Thank you
Becca

- the vet told me there were 8 different types of infection classed as Kennel Cough - and that the most common is bacterial (IIRC) hence the anti-biotics... however, if they do catch it again, I think i would leave them until they actually appeared unwell before taking them to the vets - as £96 is a lot to fork out on something that should clear up on its own... - but its tricky when you are new at this dog owning malarky... (when it comes to myself and the kids I try to avoid anti-biotics unless absolutely necessary...)

Give both a dose of Selenium to boost their immune systems, every day and keep them in for 3 weeks after they have stopped coughing. Oilbas oil on their bedding will help keep their chest clear at night, but let them cough during the day.

You will also need to ensure you wash your hands before you touch any other dog as it can be passed via your clothes and body.

keep an extra eye on Charlie being that he is young.

Any sign of infection, such as asnotty nose or gooey eys then call the vet.

We took Jasper to the vet at the point where he would not eat, not even soft food and the weight was falling off - he also had green snotty nose and was clearly under the weather. As he got antibiotics we took Poppy to the vet too and she ended up with antibiotics although nowhere near as bad as Jasper (despite him being the one that had had the KC vaccine )

You know your dogs and unless they seem unwell I wouldn't rush to the vets - not just becaise of the financial cost but like Polly says, antibiotics for something that will clear on its own seems silly for the dogs.

Hi, thanks for the advice guys. Well Jim is coughing but fine otherwise and Charlie isn't coughing but gives the odd huff so I will just keep an eye on them both. No snot, runny eyes or acting ill (they destroyed a ragger wrestling yesterday) so fingers crossed.

They're loving the manuka honey and cough syrup, neither can get close enough when the bottle comes out.

We nly went with the ab's for Daisy because we were hoping to make sure it cleared up in time to still be able to get her spayed - which the vet knew was our aim. So I was not impressed when after she was better, they refused to spay!

Anyway, I think the manuka honey and cough syrup with the ice cream and soft food did more good that the tablets.

Our vet said there is over 20 strains of what is know as kennel cough, some are viral some are bacterial, and the vaccine doesn't cover all of them. So it's interesting to hear the differences between the information given by various vets.