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Kennel Cough


garyb
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A very good question! The answer varies from a few days to life. A proportion of dogs carry the Bordetella bacteria in their throats naturally and may spread the infection at times of stress even if immune themselves. This is why you get problems in kennels!

 

If you need to mix an infected dog with dogs that have not had the disease get the other dogs vaccinated against kennel cough. The vaccine goes up the nose and starts working as quickly as 3 days. This is the safest option.

 

Whilst the dog is coughing away you can easily carry the bacteria on your clothes and infect other dogs.

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are yours actually vacinated against it Gary as KC isn't in the usual jab, mine had it earlier in the year after mixing with a friends flatcoats not particularly pleasant but in a healthy young dog not usually too harmful. Pretty stressful for both dog and owner especially the first day or two

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Still better to vaccinate! If you missed a couple of days shooting for a £20 vaccine, is it worth it?

 

Some dogs do go on coughing for anywhere up to 6 weeks. I have seen dogs fairly off colour with it, but it's not life threatening.

 

Same family of bacteria that cause whooping cough in children

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My two are NOT vaccinated against it at present...

 

I just had a quick chat with my vet friend, as the dogs are likely to mix over xmas, and she said not to worry - any vaccine they give them will take at least 7 days anyway... even then - theres 2 or 3 types that they can't vaccinate against.

 

The problem dog, has been "clear" for around 1 week now...

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I've been led to believe that they are mostly contagious while they are still showing symptoms so if the dogs been clear for a week theres a good chance you'll be ok. Its horrible and certainly its the first time I've ever had a dog with it as mostly mine aren't socialised to lots of different dogs just typical to pick it up from someone who shows her dogs all over the country every weekend :lol:

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I am a vet! Carrier dogs do exist. There is no simple way of deciding which dogs are carriers. The datasheet for Nobivac KC (the vaccine we use) says:

 

Onset of immunity against Bordetella bronchiseptica has been demonstrated 72 hours after vaccination

 

http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/intervet_s...ents/S3615.html

 

I would vaccinate!

 

There are other things that can cause KC but the Bordetella is the most common and the dog will be protected against influenza from it's normal vaccine anyway.

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  • 11 months later...

realistically it is rare to get it with dogs in our area unless they mix heavily with ones that are showed etc I know I've had it once with a dog in 20 years of ownership and that came from someone's dogs who showed them all over the country every weekend. Its not just a cost issue but the vaccine isn't 100% effective anyway and with a generally non life threatening condition its just another thing for the dog to have an adverse reaction to. Though on the cost side had I spent £20 per dog per year on the vaccine I'd be getting near the grand mark just on stopping one dose of KC and I'd put money on it being a lot more than £20 round here

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