[pintopiaffe]

I wish I was a dog person the way I'm a horse person...

My two dogs don't leave the farm. Ever. I vaccinate, but minimally as they are both parvo survivors and have problems with vax. I don't do kennel cough, and have never, because we don't GO anywhere, period. Even for vax, I do my own or vet does rabies during farm calls. I know I will need to do a series of it should we start going, but one has panic attacks about the truck soooo....

Malarkey came up with a cough last night. That gacky sort of cough. Not vomitting, though swallowing/mouthing a lot. His breathing at rest sounded 'wet.' He also snores like a freight engine... often his snoring sounds labored, you wake him up, and he's fine. He is overweight and has a really fleshy neck too. So... I can't completely say his breathing is a problem. More that I NOTICED it.

So obviously I laid awake for a LONG time after he coughed--wanted to be SURE it wasn't non-productive vomit after loosing one to bloat. He's in no discomfort, no temp, eating and drinking fine, happy, bright... hasn't done it since the 2x last night. (maybe 6 hrs ago? I didn't sleep until late, late this am, so I dunno time for sure... )

My two questions: Can they get kennel cough with NO exposure? I worked at a kennel when I had my first big dog, and even though he was vax, he got it once. Ug. This reminded me a bit of that.

Question #2: It is Saturday, OF COURSE. Right now where all is FINE (and had I not been home, I wouldn't suspect a problem) I will go to the Vet on Monday. Obviously I'll keep an eye on vitals etc., does anyone think this is an Emergency Clinic thing? I'm obviously a little PTSD after coming home and finding Shenanigan gone...

Thoughts? Ideas?

[CatOnLap]

well, the vet at the emerg clinic argued with me over that a few years ago when our sole lab came down with KC. He never left the farm, didn't see other dogs, lived in the house or was at our heel all the time. They all looked at me as if I was some kind of low life too, for bringing a dog to the vet with KC. Damn, I'd had dogs all my life and never seen a case, a testament to my good management, I figure. How was I supposed to know that my doggie's laryngitis was KC?
Anyway, they "lost" his expensive leather leash when I left him for tests, charged me $250 for xrays and overnight boarding and I never went back to them again.

[Marshfield]

It is quite possibly a Kennel Cough like illness. AKA an upper respiratory infection or infectious tracheobronchitis. The KC vaccine protects against one specific infection sort of like getting the flu vaccine. Even if you've gotten the flu vaccine you're still vulnerable to a whole host of infectious flu-like illnesses.

If you can check in with your vet they may be able to give you a dosage for an OTC cough suppressant to help your dog feel better.

[pintopiaffe]

Hm. Thanks for the info.

If I hadn't been awake for this during the night, I would not know anything was wrong at all. So, for now, I'm waiting until Monday.

He's bright and fine this evening. Not a rattle to be heard. I wonder if he swallowed some horse/cat/dog hair? I got some hay down the wrong tube the other day and was almost wretching trying to cough it up. I forgot the stethoscope in the grain shed... (will let the cats out now if I run for it <grr> not a good night option) I'll grab it tomorrow and have a listen. He's sleeping now right next to me, not snoring, not wheezing, nada....



If he were a HORSE I could be more decisive...

[dalpal]

Glad he's feeling better.

Bordetella isn't full proof anyway...it protects against some strains, not all....same with the Lepto vaccine.

And if the dog contracts KC, he/she is not going to die.....it's no different than a human cold.

One of my dogs contracted it here a couple years back (we had a rescue stay with us, who NEVER showed any signs of KC), when I took him to the vet...they put him on Doxy for a precaution against Pneumonia and gave me a prescrip for a human cough suppressant.....what a wonderful drug..LOL!

He was fine in 10 days.

[WorthTheWait95]

Happened to us one year. We have a pack of 7 dogs so we never board them, I do all their shots myself or our equine vet swings by our house to do their rabies. They never go to kennels or groomers, etc. Somehow one of them came down with it so naturally the other 6 did too. That was a rough couple of weeks staying up all night with hacking dogs. I felt so bad for them! We still aren't sure how they got it. Best we can come up with is one of the neighbor dogs got loose and visited through our fence in the back yard but who knows.

Glad your guy is feeling better. Ours had really, really presistent spasm like coughs for almost a week so if he hasn't been coughing he's probably fine.

[pintopiaffe]

Not One Single Cough nor problem sound since then... A very quiet night--well, except for the snoring. And he was out running and playing too--no heavy breathing, no phlegm, NADA...

What he does do is reverse-sneeze on occasion. I wonder if the reverse sneeze woke me, and the 'coughing' was post that.

Now I'm feeling particularly paranoid, PTSD and munchausen's by proxy...

Though, of course, I am THRILLED he is feeling fine. I was worried about going to work today. A 10 hr day shift... replicating the Sunday I lost Shenanigan. But if he's sick, there's not a symptom to be found...

[dalpal]

Oh, I absolutely HATE the reverse sneeze.

[tradewind]

The KC vaccine is sort of like the flue vaccine, it does not protect against all strains. It does however protect from the most severe ones. KC is the dog version of the human cold. Most get over it, some dogs will need surpportive drugs. KC is very contagious, so if a dog ran through your property with it, you dog could have picked it up that way. Or someone with a dog at home that had it, came to work on your property ect. While this is not common, it does happen. I alwys vaccinate for it, say you take your dog to the vet, and someone elses pet has it and is in the waiting room with you waiting there turn, your dog can get it that way. Just my two cents worth.

[classicsporthorses]

We just had this happen to our oldest Female dog. We have 4 other dogs, they go Nowhere. Only she got the KC, or all the classic sign of it. None of the other dogs got sick. We do not vaccinate for KC.

It took a few weeks, and we thought she was going to cough up a lung a few times and now she's back to her old self. She's at least 14 years old and this is the first time she has ever been sick-we've had her for over 12 years.

I treated her at home with OTC child's cough Suppressent-which believe it or not is very hard to find a cough medicine with ONLY the suppressent in it.

[Watermark Farm]

I thought my dog had kennel cough but it turned out to be heart disease --- congestive heart failure. It sure sounds the same.

On another note, my GOAT had a raspy cough for 3 years that was attributed to a goat lung disease called CAE (by a vet). I found the goat dead recently and a necropsy showed his lungs to be healthy, but his heart terribly diseased.

So...it's good to rule out heart issues as they can cause coughing.

[pintopiaffe]

Monday morning update... we are NOT going to the vet.

Got up at the crack of dawn to call during consult hrs/set up appt... and vet asked: temp? No. Lung sounds? Clear. Capillary refill? Perfect. Gums? Perfect... Eyes? Bright. Behavious? Perfect... Any more coughing? Um... not a one. Did I see the sputum? No...

You can see where this is going.

I'm going to bring a fecal in at some point shortly (due to do the ponies too) and will do physical sooner rather than later (not due until June) but... not going in TODAY unless I want a battery of bloodwork. The heart stuff is interesting. The special dog, their brother, appeared to have every symptom of CHF--only it started *literally* overnight and he died the next morning. But he was never right, from birth. He resembled a child with CP or CF in physical appearance and issues... vets didn't think he'd live a year, not to mention FIVE... so I wouldn't normally connect it. But, that sort of thing IS genetic. Malarkey's had a large abdomen since his trauma/surgery 2 years ago. He's 7 this year, which isn't old, but isn't exactly young for a big dog. (~100lbs give or take). I think I'm going to schedule him with the Holistic Vet. She is $$$, but is a 'real' vet first, and does just about everything else (chiro, accupuncture, homeopathy, reiki) too. He's the one whose swimmer's tail never healed.

Anyawy, regular Vet guessed irritation and PTSD. Probably BOTH on the dog owner's part, rather than the dog... Happy to take my money, if I insisted, but really thinks I'm a crackpot now.

Thanks for the info though. You all kept me pretty sane through Sunday. I guess it'll probably be a while where I'm not questioning my judgement on something like that when I have to work an unusal shift...