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Canine cough - sometimes known as kennel cough Although dogs are vaccinated against canine cough, sometimes they will come home with it or develop it after they get home. It is a highly contagious disease and infections usually develop as an outbreak. The disease is airborne and dogs can sometimes be carriers without ever developing it themselves, making it very difficult to detect until a dog starts to cough. Typically the incubation period is a week to ten days and dogs can infect other dogs before they actually start coughing themselves. They can also pass it on for a period after they stop coughing. Because the disease is so contagious boarding establishments are often affected during an outbreak as are off leash play areas, the beach and dog clubs and classes where the disease is often spread. Canine cough vaccinations are similar to human flu vaccinations. We vaccinate specifically against two organisms, bordatella bronchiseptica and parainfluenza. These are the two most contagious and the dogs affected by them can become seriously ill, especially older dogs and puppies. However like human flu there are other viruses and bacteria out there that can cause respiratory tract infections (around 17 in total) and the C5 vaccination provides absolutely no protection against these bugs. It is these other bugs that cause canine cough to develop despite your dog having a current C5 vaccination. If your dog comes back from kennels with canine cough, it does not mean that we have been careless. During an outbreak it is almost impossible to contain these very contagious bugs in a kennel situation, no matter how rigorous our cleaning and disinfection routines are. Most times systematic control of the coughing itself is all that is needed and antibiotics are rarely necessary to control secondary infection. It is also important that you keep your dog away from other dogs for at least a week after coughing stops to minimise the risk that your dog will pass it on to others. In the event of an outbreak we cancel all incoming bookings to give us two clear days with no dogs in order to clear all the bugs. We take the best possible care of the dogs still with us at that time. As it is likely that all dogs with us will be incubating the disease it is not practical to send those unaffected elsewhere as they risk also infecting the new kennel. Cat flu
Cat flu has been prevalent in Western Australia for the past two years and, like canine cough, is an upper respiratory tract infection typically showing as runny eyes and nose and frequent sneezing. The most common causes are Feline Herpes Virus (FHV), Feline Calicivirus (FCV), Feline Reovirus, Bordatella Bronchiseptica and Feline Chlamydophila. The F3 vaccination covers both FVC and FHV but there can still be infection at times of stress. Like canine cough the disease can be carried by nasal, eye and mouth discharges which can be carried in the atmosphere. To minimise the risk of an outbreak we conduct a thorough disinfection routine daily and isolate any cats that are showing signs of infection. Since cat flu became prevelant we have built a special isolation in a separate area to enable this. In the event of an outbreak we cancel all incoming bookings leaving our cattery empty for at least two days to prevent further infection. |
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