Weird hacking cough

[PlanetTeaTime]

Hi everyone

My dog developed a cough on Wednesday, it was only occasional. They have had a cough before a few months ago and with some detective work it turned out she has been eating a plant in my parents garden and we thought it must have irritated her. It went within a few days.

She hasn't been at my parents home for a week, but she has had this cough since Wednesday and last night it suddenly became a lot worse. It's like a honking cough where it's like she is trying to sick something out of her throat. I feel a bit worried how to be honest.

I'm going to see if the vets can squeeze us in for today but does anyone have a clue what it could be?

For reference she is our first dog, a 2.5 year old "red fox" lab and she does go to a doggy daycare place once a week and mix with other dogs. Other than this she is healthy, well exercised and she's eating normally. Picking up her toys like normal and shoving them in my face, wagging her tail. It's just the cough :-(

Sounds like kennel cough

Sounds like kennel cough. Stay away from other dogs and have a chat with the vet.
A spoonful of honey can be soothing

Could it be kennel cough?

A honking cough is kennel cough, I’m afraid

It was rife in my area a few months ago and one of my dogs picked it up from being in the park, despite being vaccinated

The vet can prescribe steroids and co-codomol to lessen the cough but your dog should get better within a couple of weeks

But FULL isolation from other dogs in the meantime, because it’s super contagious
If you don’t have a big enough garden to keep them out of the parks, you’ll have to do walks at very quiet times, even if that means 5am park visits, im afraid…

And expect a few disturbed nights of your sleep listening to the dog honking all night…

Kennel cough. My two have just had it

Kennel cough is doing the rounds in many places.

Definitely kennel cough - it's everywhere.

Your vet will probably ask you to keep her at home and will administer a prescription over the phone or via video call.

She'll need to be kept in for a couple of weeks and won't be able to go back to daycare for a while either. You also must inform her daycare provider as they will probably have to close for a fortnight to try and stop the spread.

Our puppy had kennel cough a couple of months ago even though he’s vaccinated. Sounded like you describe. The vet said it was very common in our area at that time

Thanks everyone. We have just spoken to the vet and they have said as much. My poor girl :-(

The cough sounds bad, but a fit 2.5 yr old should get through KC just fine. It’s rife in my area and our dog had it at 6 months despite having had the vaccination. There are different strains, like our colds and flu, so vaccinations can’t stop it completely. No matter how clean a doggy daycare is they can only ask clients not to bring their dogs with obvious symptoms and dogs can carry it without those.
Hope your girl recovers quickly

I know someone who lives rurally and her 3 dogs picked it up, they don't mix with other dogs so she has no idea where it came from. It's odd it's so rife at the moment with covid doing the rounds too 🤔

It can live a while on things like sticks that other infected dogs have picked up. It’s ridiculously contagious.

Thanks @Saucery

Feel really bad because I took her to my mums yesterday and she has two dogs, so they will probably have contracted it now :-( luckily they are both fit and healthy

They may or may not get it. My 4 month old had it quite badly, my 2.5 year old coughed maybe twice, and my 7 year old had absolutely nothing at all.

If they're adult dogs there's a good chance they've already been exposed and are immune. Particularly if they're also vaccinated.

I say this more generally, because it caught me out. Its worth being aware that it's not included in the core vaccines, so you have to ask for it seperately. It's a squirt up the nose, not an injection. The reason my 4 month old was so poorly is she wasn't vaccinated. I thought she had been (my other two dogs have it routinely) but covid meant I couldn't go in with her so I didn't know she hadn't had it until too late. Had I gone in I would have spotted and asked for it.

Mine do get it when they get their other vaccinations. In fact we've just had a reminder from the vet to take ours in for kennel cough and other vaccinations.

Try not to worry too much - KC sounds horrendous but a fit and healthy dog should recover just fine.

Kennel cough. If your vet agrees to see you it'll probably be in the car park to minimise contact with other dogs. Please don't walk where other dogs are exercised as what your dog coughs up (frequently a small amount of foam) is infective matter, and please keep on a lead.