Kennel Cough

Kennel cough is a general term for an infectious cough of dogs.

The infecting agent can be bacterial, as in Bordatella infections, or viral, as in Adenovirus and Parainfluenza infections. A dog with kennel cough has a harsh, honking, hard, and often persistant cough that may be associated with gagging up phlegm or even vomiting. Most cases of kennel cough are very mild and many do not require treatment. However, kennel cough can cause significant illness , hospitalization or even death especially in very young puppies, geriatric pets, or dogs with preexisting cardiopulmonary disease such as heart murmurs, chronic bronchitis, COPD, or congestive heart failure.

Boarding facilities, groomers and dog trainers frequently request or require that dogs attending their facilities be vaccinated against Kennel Cough. This is a wise and reasonable request that has significantly cut down on the transmission of this annoying cough at places where dogs gather.

Kennel Cough vaccines can be given as an injection or nose drops.  Generally it needs to be repeated annually, although in some high exposure situations it may be given more frequently. Dogs with preexisting cardiopulmonary disease and dogs with multiple exposures to other dogs are the most important to get vaccinated.  The vaccine is very helpful from a population standpoint but can fail to protect individuals in certain situations on occasion. These failures may be the result of poor timing of the vaccination, a strain of infection passing around that is not covered by the vaccine or immune system problems of the individual.

Kennel Cough is not the same as Canine Influenza or CIRD, which are much rarer, but potentially much more serious causes of cough or cold symptoms in dogs.

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