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Two dogs in one home, one has kennel cough


Indydog

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Our 3 year has a minor case of kennel cough. She got it from her off leash playgroup with the dog walkers. We took her to the vet and she is on the appropriate meds. She’ll be fine but I’m just really worried about my 11 year old. Our 3 year was with our 11 year for the first 12 hrs. We didn’t know it was kennel cough till we got an email from the dog walker saying there was an outbreak. Both dogs are now separated at different ends of the house. Is there anything else I can do for my older dog? Should I do any disinfecting for areas that’s already contaminated? And when can they interact again? Its kind of pain in the butt right now when we are not home. My wife is taking my 11 yr to work her while the 3 year is at home by herself.

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I would imagine the 11 year old has already been exposed. When mine caught it at a trial, it ended up going through the entire pack, even though I separated the sick from the healthy at the first sign of a problem. If the 11-y.o. is healthy then it's not likely that she'll (he'll?) be any worse off than the younger dog. Mine were aged 3 to 12 or so at the time I had an outbreak. The only dog put on antibiotics was my older dog who has heart problems. Usually kennel cough is self-limiting.

 

J.

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Nearly every foster dog we get from shelters has kennel cough. We usually quarantine them for a week or two when they arrive, but more so because we are concerned that they may have other things much worse than kennel cough. But, sometimes we aren't able to quarantine as long as we would like. In that case, we just do our vest to try and keep the dog with KC from interacting directly with the other dogs. My dogs have yet to catch KC from a foster dog (and I don't vaccinate my dogs for KC). I have had one puppy pass it to another puppy, but that's because it is pretty tough to keep two puppies that want to play all the time away from one another. The only time my dogs caught KC was when a couple of my dogs brought it home from daycare. In that case, all of my dogs were exposed before we realized it and it did make it's way through my pack. Interestingly, the older dogs had an easier time with it than the younger ones. My oldest (he was about 9 at the time) only coughed for about a day. The youngest one coughed for about a week or more.

 

If I were you, I wouldn't be too concerned. Do your best to keep them from swapping spit until the one with KC stops coughing. But, Julie is correct. Your older one probably was exposed before your younger one was diagnosed. Most dogs, especially if they are otherwise healthy, do not have much of an issue with KC. And, in my case, the older ones tolerated it better than the younger ones.

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Yep, ditto Mary and Julie. I wouldn't be too overly concerned, just do your best, but chances are the older dog was already exposed. She may or may not start coughing, either way. Last time it ran through my house, I think I only had three dogs at the time, two got it and one did not. I think it just depends. On what, I have no idea, though. :)

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Ditto. Despite quarantine and even some vaccines on some of my guys (as in the ones that go out in high dog traffic areas) I still have times when a new foster brings it home.

My own personal guys may or may not cough for a day. The youngsters more than the goldies.

But others than it being highly annoying to me (I have a thing about sneezing and hacking) it has always worked itself out.

I would still keep a close eye on your older dog and maybe support her immune system with some natural supplements.

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Thanks for the advice all. I agree that Indy (he) has already been exposed to it. Indy is getting older and I'm just very cautious about his health. He is my first dog and my first BC so he means everything to me. Do you guys know how long the virus can be active/live for from a contaminated surface (ie spit up on a rug)?

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