The kennel cough it is a very contagious disease that especially affects the health of dogs that live in groups.
However, it is not a serious disease and can be resolved easily and without consequences. On the other hand, it is very easy to contract kennel cough and it spreads very quickly, therefore, especially among puppies and older dogs. Watch out for symptoms.
What is kennel cough?
Dog cough is also known as canine infectious tracheobronchitis and it is a disease that affects the respiratory tract in a superficial form.
As for men it is sort of cold snapwhich can inflame the throat after a cold bath, a sudden change in temperature, or contact with a dog that has contracted the virus.
Symptoms
It comes in the form of dry cough, continuous and insistent, which makes the throat inflamed and worse after a run, a walk or if the dog becomes agitated. It usually has no other consequences and the infection passes very quickly.
However, if the dog is old or very young, it is necessary to have a special eye and much more attention, to avoid other diseases and complications, especially the lungs.
What to do to prevent?
To ward off other pathologies it will be necessary take an x-ray. In fact, if it is only tracheitis, there will be no problems in the lungs and it will be quite simple to calm the cough and remove the inflammation from the trachea.
Kennel cough: incubation and contagion
Unlike other more serious diseases, there is no period incubation of kennel cough, but being transmitted by air, when a sick dog coughs or sneezes, it contracts quickly and manifests itself immediately.
Indeed, the cough begins after cold snap or infection and increases in intensity if the dog continues to be prone to cold or lives with other dogs who have kennel cough.
Since there is no incubation time, it is easy to recognize it immediately and intervene promptly, above all to understand if it is actually just tracheitis or if the cough was the signal of something more serious for the health of our canine friend.
However, a sudden and dry cough hardly indicates a pathology other than tracheitis, precisely because it appears suddenly and is often resolved with the administration of a trivial anti-inflammatory and a few sessions of aerosol based on physiological solution.
Kennel cough: how to cure it?
Kennel cough involves a simple therapy. First, contact your vet to make sure that it is only the trachea that is affected and that the cough is not due to a lung problem.
The doctor will surely administer an anti-inflammatory intravenously which will immediately calm the inflammation. After that, aerosol therapy is recommended every day, for 30 minutes, for at least a week.
To do it without too much difficulty (dogs don’t like to stay still with a mask on their face) you can put the dog temporarily in the carrier or in the kennel and cover any open spots with a tarp.
The tube is left inside so that it can deliver air and physiological solution into the closed environment and still have an effect.
The kennel cough vaccine
Vaccinating a dog against whooping cough is not mandatory, indeed it is only necessary if it is a puppy and lives outdoors with other dogs or in a kennel. For all other cases, especially if the animal lives in an apartment, the vaccine may be completely useless.
Cold shocks, viruses and sudden changes in temperature are impossible to avoid and, despite the vaccine, the dog could still be affected and have an inflamed throat.
The vaccine is a remedy only against contagion airborne caused by sneezing, coughing or contact with another sick animal, but it will not be used to prevent all other causes that cause tracheitis, heavy or light, whether it is for the health of our animals.
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Article reviewed by:
Francesco Reina
Veterinary assistant