Kennel Cough: How It Spreads and How to Stop It

Kennel cough is the everyday name for infectious tracheobronchitis, an inflammation of the windpipe and airways caused by several organisms, often working together. It spreads readily wherever dogs meet.

The reassuring part is that in most healthy adult dogs it is thoroughly unpleasant rather than dangerous. The cough tends to sound a great deal worse than the illness actually is.

What it sounds like

A dry, harsh, honking cough, often in fits, frequently ending in a retch or a gag that brings up white foam. Owners regularly describe it as the dog having something stuck in its throat, and many arrive at the clinic expecting a bone to be removed.

It is typically worse with excitement, exercise or pressure on the neck from a collar, and often worse at night.

The dog is usually otherwise well: eating, bright, playing between coughing fits. That combination, dramatic cough and normal behaviour, is characteristic.

How it spreads

Through the air from coughing dogs, through direct contact, and on shared bowls, bedding and hands. Anywhere dogs gather is a transmission point: boarding kennels, grooming parlours, training classes, veterinary waiting rooms, parks.

Dogs are infectious before they look ill and for a period after they seem recovered, which is why outbreaks run through a group.

How long it lasts

Usually one to three weeks in an uncomplicated case. The cough often lingers a little after the dog is otherwise fine.

Keep an affected dog away from other dogs for at least a fortnight after coughing stops. This is the part most people skip, and it is why the infection keeps circulating in a neighbourhood.

When it is not mild

See a vet promptly for any of these:

• Puppies, where it can progress to pneumonia quickly
• Elderly dogs, or any dog with existing heart or airway disease
• Flat-faced breeds, whose airways cope poorly with any additional inflammation
• Fever, lethargy or loss of appetite, which suggest it has moved beyond the airways
• A wet, productive-sounding cough rather than a dry honk
• Laboured or fast breathing, or blue-tinged gums, which is an emergency
• Longer than three weeks, or worsening rather than improving

Other things that cause coughing

Not every cough is kennel cough, and the alternatives matter:

• Heart disease, particularly a soft cough in an older dog that is worse at night or after lying down
• Lungworm and migrating roundworm larvae
• Collapsing trachea, common in small breeds, giving a honking cough that sounds similar
• Something genuinely stuck, which is sudden, distressed and unmistakable
• Dust and smoke irritation, worse in dry, dusty conditions

A vet listens to the chest, checks the heart and considers age and breed, which is why a cough lasting more than a few days is worth having examined rather than assumed.

Treatment

Most healthy adult dogs need supportive care rather than drugs: rest, no exercise while coughing, humid air, and a harness instead of a collar so nothing presses on the windpipe.

Antibiotics are not automatically appropriate, since much of it is viral, and vets reserve them for cases with fever, thick discharge or signs of bacterial involvement. Cough suppressants are sometimes used, but not where the cough is clearing material from the airways.

Do not give human cough medicine. Several contain ingredients unsafe for dogs, and some contain xylitol.

The vaccine

A vaccine exists, usually against Bordetella, given by injection or as drops into the nose. It reduces severity rather than guaranteeing immunity, partly because several organisms cause the same picture.

It is worth discussing if your dog boards, is groomed regularly, attends training classes, meets many dogs, or is in a high-risk group. Many boarding kennels require it, often a set period before arrival, so it is worth asking well ahead rather than the week before travel.

Limiting spread

• Keep a coughing dog at home, and warn anyone whose dog it recently met
• Call the clinic before arriving so they can bring you in without crossing the waiting room
• Do not share bowls or bedding between dogs
• Wash hands between animals
• Wait a full two weeks after coughing stops before returning to group settings

Kennel cough sits in an awkward place: alarming enough to worry owners, mild enough that most cases would resolve without a visit, which makes it exactly the sort of thing people decide to watch. The trouble is that the cases where waiting is dangerous, the puppy, the flat-faced dog, the older dog with a heart murmur, sound identical from across the room.

Consultations are covered on Skeepy Pet HMO plans at any vet clinic in Nigeria, which means a cough can be listened to by someone with a stethoscope rather than assessed by whoever is most optimistic in the house.