kennel cough vaccine

[MarcoPoloCX]

Just wondering whether to vaccinate against it or not.
I have read that it's not that effective in protecting your dogs against kennel cough and all it takes is a strain or a variant that's different to the key virus.
Most dogs with good immune system will fight it off and places like kennel require you to vaccinate has more to do with limiting their liability.

Kennel cough is caused by a selection of viruses and bacteria. The kennel cough vaccine protects again the most common virus strain and the most common bacteria. It reduces the likelihood of infection. If they good a different viral strain they tend not to be do ill because they don't get the secondary bacterial infection.
I recommend the vaccination of dogs who have 'risky' lifestyles so staying in kennels, attend dog shows, regular attend training or taken shooting. I am in a shooting area and about 8 years ago the season was devastated here as kennel cough ran through every shoot.

It's not so much limiting liability as protecting their business and the health of the dogs in their care. It went round our area a few years ago and the day kennels went from 25 dogs to around 4 per day, as so many got it, including my dog. I always saw it as relatively benign, but it was extremely unpleasant. She is an otherwise fit and healthy dog with a good immune system too. In puppies and older dogs it can be devastating. There's also the sheer hassle of finding alternative arrangements if your dog catches it, whether that's for work or a holiday.
So we vaccinate annually now. It has worked on at least one occasion where it spread around the area again.

One kennels we used didn't require it so we didn't bother. We have only vaccinated our dog once 7 years ago when he went into another kennels which did require it.

Haven't had him vaccinated since, he's now 9, or our other 6 year old dog.

We now have a house sitter though and don't use kennels.

Neither of our dogs have had kennel cough I'm pleased to say, although they mix with a lot of dogs.

my 12 yo dog - had kennel cough once - about 2 years ago. It was slightly distressing for him (and myself as his hacking cough kept me awake at night although he was downstairs) but he still was happy to go for his walks and eat his food as normal.

as he does not go to kennels or mix with lots of other dogs all the time - I can see no reason to vaccinate him - but in differant circumstances I would vaccinate to avoid his catching it and passing it on to other dogs he mixed with.

www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-critical-problems-kennel-cough-vaccine/

I think of it like the flu vaccine, if you have a healthy dog who's not likely to be in an environment where it's more rife than normal (kennels, shows etc.) then there's not a huge point in it as it only protects against certain strains and for a healthy dog it's a fairly minor illness.

If your dog is going to be somewhere that's it's more likely to catch and spread it round or has a reason like an existing health condition that could make it potentially more dangerous then it's worth doing, otherwise it's probably not.

My dog had the vaccination with his first innoculations as a puppy and he still caught kennel cough. I know of 3 other dogs who all had the vaccination and still caught kennel cough, one was only 4 months so had not long had all his jabs.
A vet I know who walks her dogs in my local park said she doesn't bother with it as like previous poster said, they are so many strains of it.

Our vet is now trying to promote the Kennel Cough vaccine as part of the annual schedule even if not going near a kennel. My older dog had the vaccine a couple of times but I'd definitely not give it annually and tbh think dogs are becoming as over-vaccinated as humans.