KENNEL COUGH VACCINES ANYONE (?)

[Elana P]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering how many of you have had your pups vaccinated against Kennel Cough (Infectious tracheobronchitis, a respiratory infection caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica and canine parainfluenza virus) ?

I am one of those folks, who was told that the Kennel Cough Vaccine would be a good idea for my guys, and I paid for the shots.

Well, in November my little Katy came down with a bad cough and became quite ill. Her condition was diagnosed as an Upper Respiratory Infection, and she was put on Antibiotics for 10 days, and Anti-inflammatories, and eventually got better.

Last Friday, Charlie started with a weird cough, that sounded like he had something stuck in his throat (in fact I'd thought he'd swallowed something that scratched the inside of his throat). By Monday, he was sounding like a smoker with a two pack a day habit and a runny nose. By Tuesday, we were at the Vet's.

An Upper Respiratory Infection, with a slight fever, that was on it's way to becoming pneumonia. Antibiotics for 10 days, and Anti-inflammatories.

Overnight I woke up to my old boy Danny, coughing like a 90 year old with COPD, and the following morning, Katy was coughing so hard that her eyes were just about popping out of her poor little head.

Sooooo, what's going on?
Is the Kennel Cough Vaccine good for anything at all, or is it just a waste of money?

Also, I was wondering if anyone else has come across this apparantly highly contagious and fairly virulent form of URI's?

What is interesting, is that due to the extremely cold temperatures we've been having for the last couple of weeks, we really haven't been out on many walks, or around any other dogs.

So where on earth is this coming from?

 

[Hector]

My dogs got the vaccine after being exposed to dogs with either kennel cough or some strain of very bad canine flu after my rescue partner brought in a very sick, emaciated dog into her place. Her dogs all got sick. All coughed. One even got pneumonia. My friend told me incubation period is about 7-10 days if I remember correctly. Hector did not cough until like 14-15 days after exposure and this was after vaccines. My small dog never coughed. So I really don't know...

 

[Elana P]

My dogs got the vaccine after being exposed to dogs with either kennel cough or some strain of very bad canine flu after my rescue partner brought in a very sick, emaciated dog into her place. Her dogs all got sick. All coughed. One even got pneumonia. My friend told me incubation period is about 7-10 days if I remember correctly. Hector did not cough until like 14-15 days after exposure and this was after vaccines. My small dog never coughed. So I really don't know...

 

[Elana P]

Thank you for your response.

 

[scorning]

When I got Finn a couple years ago, my older dog was vaccinated against kennel cough but Finn was not. Finn came down with kennel cough and so did my older dog, really bad cases. I no longer vaccinate against kennel cough. In general I just do minimal vaccines, so the smallest combo shot my vet offers for puppies, for the 3 rounds of shots, the government mandated rabies, and nothing else. I titer instead of doing boosters.

 

[dpenning]

The only time i bother with the kennel cough vaccine is if i have to board my dogs and it is required. I don't know if it could be like the flu vaccine for humans, they only guess the right strain for the year 50% of the time or something.

 

[Boxergirl]

I don't board my dogs, and I haven't found any good training classes around here lately so no. I don't do that vaccine.

 

[Elana P]

Thanks for responses, I appreciate the feedback.

From what I've read just in the last few hours here, it would appear that the Kennel Cough Vaccine, only really covers Bordetela bronchiseptica, to some extent, and not any of the other god knows how many strains of URI's that are out there.

I also came across this, which I found interesting reading., and others may as well.

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-critical-problems-kennel-cough-vaccine/

 

[maryl]

The last I understood, the "kennel cough" vaccines only protected against 13- 15 strains of the virus. There are at least 21 or more strains of the virus that have been identified.

 

[Oscar'sMom]

I don't vaccinate Oscar against kennel cough. We don't board and are not really around dogs we don't know well. I think it's unnecessary but we also try to do minimal vaccines for both humans and dogs

 

[Smokeycat]

From what I was told when Kryten had a very bad cold (URI) is that just like a human cold proximity can make infection and reinvention rates rise. The fact that the cold (and it has been ridiculously cold for way longer than normal) has kept everyone inside together could explain why all of them came down hard. I can't remember what breeds your older dog's are but shorter muzzles also make symptoms more pronounced.

 

[Elana P]

From what I was told when Kryten had a very bad cold (URI) is that just like a human cold proximity can make infection and reinvention rates rise. The fact that the cold (and it has been ridiculously cold for way longer than normal) has kept everyone inside together could explain why all of them came down hard. I can't remember what breeds your older dog's are but shorter muzzles also make symptoms more pronounced.

 

[Elana P]

This is Danny (12 years old)
And below, is Katy (almost 6 years old)

From what I was told when Kryten had a very bad cold (URI) is that just like a human cold proximity can make infection and reinvention rates rise. The fact that the cold (and it has been ridiculously cold for way longer than normal) has kept everyone inside together could explain why all of them came down hard. I can't remember what breeds your older dog's are but shorter muzzles also make symptoms more pronounced.

 

[Elana P]

That actually makes sense, just can't figure out how Charlie picked it up in the first place, seeing as we have been shut in as well, due to the weather.

Danny, doesn't have a short nose, but Katy does.

 

[maryl]

You can bring some viruses in on your clothes/shoes and kennel cough is very contagious.

 

[Elana P]

You can bring some viruses in on your clothes/shoes and kennel cough is very contagious.

 

[Elana P]

Vaccinated against Kennel Cough.

 

[DennasMom]

We get the KC/Bordatella vaccine only as required when Denna goes boarding. That comes down to at least once a year, sometimes more (I think what we get is a 6-month shot).

She did come down with a cough after a stay at the boarding facility... it was a very light case and it never slowed her down... it cleared itself within the week. Not sure if the vaccine helped lessen the severity or not. I'm just glad she was able to fight it off without too much downtime.

There have been a number of stories about a new canine flu going around this year. We avoided visiting parks frequented by lots of dogs during the height of the outbreak. I think it's passed now... but haven't checked... I'll have to remember to do that if we want to visit the big off-leash dog park here (which we only do on a random infrequent basis).

I consider the KC vaccine like a human flu shot - it will help for the strains it's tuned to... but there are lots of other viruses out there that will bypass it. Sounds like you found a "new" one. Hope you guys recover quick! Being sick (human or canine) sucks.

 

[Elana P]

We get the KC/Bordatella vaccine only as required when Denna goes boarding. That comes down to at least once a year, sometimes more (I think what we get is a 6-month shot).

She did come down with a cough after a stay at the boarding facility... it was a very light case and it never slowed her down... it cleared itself within the week. Not sure if the vaccine helped lessen the severity or not. I'm just glad she was able to fight it off without too much downtime.

There have been a number of stories about a new canine flu going around this year. We avoided visiting parks frequented by lots of dogs during the height of the outbreak. I think it's passed now... but haven't checked... I'll have to remember to do that if we want to visit the big off-leash dog park here (which we only do on a random infrequent basis).

I consider the KC vaccine like a human flu shot - it will help for the strains it's tuned to... but there are lots of other viruses out there that will bypass it. Sounds like you found a "new" one. Hope you guys recover quick! Being sick (human or canine) sucks.

 

[Elana P]

Thanks for the get better wishes

I've heared about this new canine flu as well, read about it somewhere, but not too much information about it really.

Charlie, appears to be doing much better.
The other two still coughing now and again, especially the little one (who I'm suspecting has a bit of a trachea issue as well) for whom it's the second time around with some sort of an upper resp infection in something like two and a half months.

What I find extremely strange, is that we never vaccinated against kennel cough, until recently, and we never had any issues with URI's in the past, ever. Just makes me wonder, if there are some new viruses out there, or if there's actually something in these vaccines that triggers this.

Not sure what to think.