Cover Your Cough

The first time a person may hear from kennel cough, as I did was when I had traveled to China and had to leave my three mini-Pins in my veterinary care. He knew their history, we thought it should not be a problem. Then came the question, Have they ever been treated for kennel cough?

Since I have never heard what seemed like an odd question. In addition, since it was their veterinarian for many years, why not find out? I discovered that when dogs and cats are in close contact with other animals as a kennel, they may contract the disease. Now I was really worried and quite frankly, overwhelmed.

I care for my pet Min Pins and why should I have to worry that someone else's dog or cat infected with the disease I do not know? The answer to my problem was not as bad as I had imagined. As dogs and cats may develop the infectious disease is simply a matter of inoculating them against the virus / bacteria before they become exposed in situations close.

Many animal lovers are under the false impression that kennel cough is a disease contracted if they live in a kennel on a daily basis. It is not. What it is, is a mixture of bacterial and viral infections such as bronchitis or influenza found in humans. This is not just found in cats and dogs but other animals as well as birds and rabbits.

With these things in mind the main concerns are the care of your pet to enter or come into contact with animals that have the disease. kennel cough is highly contagious and also known as tracheo-bronchitis. This is an upper respiratory tract infection, just as we humans get. He will cross the transfer to other races, if one type of pet is no longer immune to the other.

Prevention is the single best remedy to prevent your pet from contracting the disease. Before I had my animals Board they needed a series of vaccines. The number of shots depends on the manufacturer of the vaccine. Once they get the recommended course of fire, they are still not fully protected against any contamination.

In most cases, it will take 72 hours to two weeks before the animal will receive full protective immunity will not be permitted to travel in a kennel before. So be aware of this if planning on flying in the near future. Your veterinarian will tell you when and how to set up.

Once an animal has been vaccinated against kennel cough is not like a vaccine against measles, where they will do once. Vaccines to this effect will last between six months and one year. Subsequently, a booster dose is recommended to ensure their safety. Again your vet will provide this information.

Ok so I know how to prevent them from doing so but what if they contract it another way before they ever took the shots? How do I know they have and what do I do to treat it? These are the great questions so let's review the basic information first.

Unfortunately for the layman, this is not a simple question to diagnose the disease. It is a severe cough for sure. Most often suffering for pets that have a severe cough. It can be as bad as you think they are about to throw their last meal. If it is persistent then a visit to the vet is most likely justified.

Surely you do not want the animal to suffer more than he already has. Get prompt treatment is the most important aspect of curing the disease. The second most important aspect is having the right drugs given to pets. After diagnosis of the disease such as kennel cough, the treatment requires that there be a dual-action treatment of antibiotics for companion animals. Remember that this is both a virus and a bacterial infection.

So in recapping what we've covered, kennel cough is very common, although highly contagious infection.