Should Your Dog Stay Home from Fluffy Doggy Daycare & Boarding?

The Answer is YES!

If you notice the following symptoms from your pup, please give us a call and have your pup stay at home. Your pup may have Kennel Cough. Fluffy Doggy will require your dog to be separated from other dogs for 2-3 weeks.

  1. Dry hacking cough is the most common symptom
  2. Cough may sound like honking
  3. Retching
  4. Watery nasal discharge
  5. In mild cases, dogs would likely be active and eating normally
  6. More coughing upon waking up or after activity
Even in the most hygienic, well-ventilated, spacious dog boarding kennels, the possibility of a dog catching kennel cough is still COMMON. Because Canine cough is a respiratory disease and is transmitted airborne, dogs can get infected from ANYWHERE!Canine cough can be acquired from your neighbor’s dog, from an outdoor dog park, or while sitting with your dog on a sidewalk restaurant patio. Your vaccinated dog can STILL pick up kennel cough even after receiving the Bordetella vaccine!

life-threatening cases of Kennel Cough are extremely rare and a vast majority of dogs that acquire the infection will recover on their own with no medication

How Is It Transmitted?

Much like the common cold, the bacteria that causes kennel cough floats through the air after being expelled by a cough. Other dogs in the same space may inhale the air containing infectious agents, and boom! They have kennel cough. The reason this disease seems so common and is commonly called “Kennel” cough, is that wherever there are numbers of dogs confined together in an enclosed environment such as a kennel, animal shelter, or indoor dog show, the disease is much more likely to be spread. The same is true with the “colds” spread from human to human… they are much more likely to occur in a populated, enclosed environment such as an airplane, elevator, or office. All it takes for contagion to occur is a single source (infected dog), an enclosed environment, and susceptible individuals in close proximity to the source of the infection. Infected dogs can spread the organisms for days to weeks even after seeming to have fully recovered!

How Is It Treated?

Many dogs that contract kennel cough will display only minor signs of coughing that may last seven to ten days and will not require any medication at all. The majority of dogs with the disease continue to eat, sleep, play and act normally… except for that annoying, dry, non-productive coughing that seems so persistent. Treatment is generally limited to symptomatic relief of the coughing with non-prescription, and occasionally prescription, cough suppressants. If the dog is running a fever or there seems to be a persistent and severe cough, antibiotics are occasionally utilized to assist the dog in recovering.