Kennel cough can it be fatal

Dogs suffering from the disease are typically sick for between one and three weeks but symptoms can sometimes linger for up to six weeks. You should speak to your daytime vet about whether you need to safeguard your dog from the illness and about the vaccine cost. It may be required if your dog is due to stay in kennels. Other prevention advice is based mainly on common sense.

Need Help? Hello Are you worried about your Pet? Video Vet Consultation Video chat with a vet in minutes. Book a Video Consultation. Pet Emergency Clinic Visit a Clinic in your local area today. Find an emergency vet. In one study , 7 out of 8 patients with confirmed kennel cough had a significant preexisting medical condition, such as lung disease or autoimmune neutropenia. Humans who do acquire kennel cough may develop pneumonia or an upper respiratory tract infection.

Some serious complications of pneumonia may include:. People with underlying medical conditions are most at risk. The best way to protect against kennel cough is to make sure your pet is up to date on vaccinations.

Many illnesses cannot be transferred from animal to human, but your pet can still infect you with salmonella, ringworm, E. However, experts say this human-to-animal…. If you have severe asthma, living with pets can be challenging, especially if their dander triggers your symptoms. Find out how you can make living…. Boils are caused by bacteria building up in a hair follicle and pushing up to the surface of the skin.

Recurring boils happen for a number of reasons…. Certain E. The hot shower can provide steam therapy and also help to decrease irritation. Try to reduce the amount of exercise your dog gets on a daily basis while they are recovering from kennel cough—this can help with healing and reduce coughing spells. While your dog is home recovering from kennel cough, make sure to avoid irritants such as household cleaners, cigarette smoke, and dust.

If you take your dog outside, consider using a harness instead of a collar. Home Dog Care Center. Kennel Cough in Dogs: Symptoms and Treatments. Published: June 30, Help us make PetMD better Was this article helpful? Yes No. Share this article. What did you find helpful?

Treatment may also require multiple vet visits, multiple tests, and medications which are time consuming and financially significant for many pet owners. For pet care facilities boarding, day play, etc. The consequences of an outbreak can be much more devastating. Pet care facilities that experience an outbreak of kennel cough may need to temporarily shut down. This means lost revenue, decreased customer satisfaction, and a damaged business reputation.

Clients, repeat business, and referrals are lost. Although the kennel cough outbreak may not be any fault of the facility itself, the effects can greatly handicap both the business and its income stream.

For animal shelters or rescues, kennel cough can spread throughout the facility and be a significant expense for the organization. The condition can also increase the length of stay of a pet within the facility which impacts labor and sheltering costs, negatively impacting the number of pets the organization can help. While not always able to prevent situations like this, minimizing the frequency is important to the reputation and success of the facility.

Prevention of kennel cough, along with other infectious diseases, depends on everyone doing their part. The following explains how it can be done. There are ways you can protect your animal care facility by being proactive in the prevention of kennel cough and other infectious diseases. All of these methods are critical. All should be used.

Understand issues in your area. Strong partnerships with local veterinarians, regular monitoring of animal-related media, and partnerships with other pet businesses will help alert you to any issues that may be on the rise in your area. Based on this information, a facility may decide to require different vaccinations, implement different pet evaluation protocols or, at a minimum, educate staff of what to look for in the event a pet should get sick.

Have vaccination protocols that meet the needs of your business and surrounding geographic area. Consult with your local veterinarians for vaccine information. Ensure pets are vaccinated before intake and educate owners on why this is important. Staff education. It is critical that animal care businesses train all staff members on disease recognition and protocols for handling ill pets.

Often, kennel attendants and daycare staff will be the first to recognize an issue in a pet. Education on proper sanitation and disease prevention is also critical as staff can easily transmit illness from one pet to the next.

Disease protocols. Animal care facilities should have written protocols on how to handle a pet that is showing signs of illness. Immediate isolation of a dog that is showing symptoms is the very first step to keeping the disease contained and limit the chances of an outbreak in your facility.

Sanitation and disinfection protocols. Proper sanitation techniques are key in preventing and containing illness. Because airborne transmission is the primary transmission route for kennel cough, sanitizing the air is a critical part of disease prevention.

Air disinfection includes:. Because kennel cough as well as other diseases can survive for up to 48 hours on surfaces, it is important to clean and disinfect counters, tables, floors, walls, cages, bowls, toys, and other surfaces on a regular basis and between handling different pets.

Surface disinfection also applies to human hands and clothing that can likewise serve as a source of transmission. Associates must be trained on how to clean and on protection protocols for prevention of disease spread. Even the order in which one cleans can impact the spread of disease. While UV systems have been around for some time they have a long history in human healthcare environments , there is still limited knowledge of their benefit in pet care.

While disinfecting surfaces and washing hands are all an important part of prevention, as discussed above, airborne transmission is the primary way kennel cough is spread. Infectious pathogens can survive on dust particles and dander for extended periods of time.