Kennel Cough

Dear Dr. Jody:  We have heard that there is a lot of kennel cough going around Cochrane this fall.  What is kennel cough, and how do we protect our dog from catching it?

The official definition of kennel cough, also called infectious canine tracheobronchitis (ICTB), is “any contagious respiratory disease of dogs that is manifested by coughing and is not caused by the canine distemper virus” (The 5-Minute Veterinary Consult p. 704).  As you can see from the very broad and ambiguous definition, there are a lot of possible organisms, including viruses, mycoplasmas, and bacteria, which might be responsible for infecting your dog’s airways and causing kennel cough.  And to complicate things even further, “kennel cough” is a misnomer, since your dog does not have to have boarded at a kennel to contract the disease. 

Because the disease is airborne, transmission of the illness does not require direct physical contact.  Just as transmission of the common cold in humans can occur from contact with contaminated surfaces and airborne droplets of respiratory secretions, kennel cough in dogs can be similarly transmitted with even brief and casual encounters with other infected dogs.

Even the most well-run and spotlessly maintained boarding facilities will experience outbreaks of kennel cough from time to time; since the nature of these facilities dictates that a large number of dogs from random sources are sharing relatively close quarters for indefinite periods.  For this reason, most boarding facilities require their clients’ dogs to be current on all of their vaccinations, including kennel cough.

The kennel cough vaccine, also called Bordetella, does not protect against all of the possible organisms that can cause a contagious cough in dogs.  The vaccine protects against one of the common bacteria (Bordetella bronchiseptica, a close relative of the bacteria that causes whooping cough in children) that is often implicated as a cause of the disease.  Your dog’s annual distemper and parvo 5-way vaccine also protects against some of the more harmful viruses that can cause kennel cough.  Unfortunately, there are countless other bacteria and mycoplasmas for which no vaccine exists. The good news is that most of these remaining infections are self-limiting and not particularly dangerous.

Although rare cases of kennel cough can progress into pneumonia, most dogs do not experience life-threatening symptoms from the illness.  A loud, dry, honking cough is characteristic of the disease.  Sometimes the cough is so severe that dogs cannot get any rest or may even begin vomiting from the incessant coughing.  Many dogs will also experience sneezing, with or without nasal discharge.  Occasionally dogs will suffer from lethargy and poor appetite.  A physical exam by your veterinarian will determine whether your dog requires treatment.  If the illness is believed to be caused by bacteria, your veterinarian might prescribe an antibiotic.  I find that most of my kennel cough patients also benefit from a cough suppressant to give them some relief while their immune systems eventually clear the infection on their own.

It is true that we seem to be seeing a fair amount of kennel cough in Cochrane this fall.  However, there have been numerous times in my career when a client believed their dog to have kennel cough but further investigation revealed that there was more serious underlying lung disease going on.  For this reason, please consult your veterinarian if your dog is experiencing symptoms that you believe are related to kennel cough.  And finally, because kennel cough dogs are highly contagious to other dogs, please ensure that your pet is kept away from other dogs for at least a week following resolution of kennel cough-related symptoms.