Alfie02 Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hi all, Just feeling bad for my boy and am trying to find something that mite make him more comfortable. So the story is, A while back I started a thread about my 11 year old boy's smelly breath. So from the replies I thought it must be his teeth, so we booked him in at the vets to get his teeth cleaned and at the same time have two suspicious looking lump/warts removed from his leg and head. So he was booked in to have surgery on the Monday and we dropped him in at 8.30 and were told to ring back at about 3 to see when we could pick him up. So we ring at 3 but his surgery had to be delayed cos there was an emergency amputation and they needed the operating theatre, which of course was fine that our boy hadnt been done, we just felt so bad for the poor dog who was loosing his leg. So our boy had his surgery late arvo and stayed over nite. We picked him up in the morning and to our suprise he has his head totally shaved and a large cut with 6 stitches across his head! Poor boy, they thought the little tiny half a centimetre lump could have been skin cancer so left a wide margin. Anyways we had him home over night and he was coughing a bit but we just thought it was from having a tube down his throat or something? But no, he had to go back to the vets today because his bandage on his leg was too tight and making his toes swell, so while this was done we asked about the cough. She said from our discription it sounds like it could be kennel cough even though he is vacinated...he is going back on Friday and the vet will assess him again then for kennel cough and to have his banage off his leg. I feel so bad...this is his second operation in a year (he has cruciate ligament repair earlier this year) and he obviously feels very crappy and he has kennel cough :D Is there anything I can do when he is coughing to help? I have been rubbing his throat but it doesnt really help. Sorry for the long post....just wanted to share and ask for advice :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest belgian.blue Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Manuka honey or raw honey will help soothe his throat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfie02 Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Thanks for that belgian.blue, we have some manuka honey so I will try that now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashaflynn Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hi, sorry for all your boy's troubles. Don't rub his throat ... it will make him cough more. The only thing you can really do is keep him as calm as possible - running around will exacerbate the coughing and give him some Benadryl cough medicine to try and help soothe his throat a little and hopefully ease the coughing a bit. Benadryl is quite safe for dogs - don't know off hand the correct dosage but you can probably google it or I'm sure a search in the Health section of the forums will bring something up. If the KC gets very bad the vet will prescribe Antibiotics but as KC is a virus it's generally not that effective. Unfortunately it's just one of those illnesses that takes time to clear on it's own .. like the common cold for us. Oh .. one other thing to give him .... lots of TLC ... but it sounds like you're doing that already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfie02 Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Thanks ashaflynn :D Oops will defs stop rubbing his throat then, dont want to make it worse! He is a pretty lazy boy so keeping him calm shouldnt be too hard , its just when we come home and he gets excited he coughs alot, so we will have to try and calm him quickly. Will go and research about the Benadryl, great advice thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idigadog Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Make sure you use Benadryl Original Formula. The chemist will have it behind the counter, not on the shelf. When our guys had KC this year (5 weeks of it by the time it went through 10 dogs ) we were making up a mix of Peppermint Tea and Manuka Honey. Make sure you get the highest factor honey that you can buy from the health food shop. We were also loading all of them up on Vitamin C but our vet said that dogs don't absorb it like humans and some primates do so it probably wasn't necessary. Just made us feel better giving it to them :D A couple of our dogs ended up on AB's because they couldn't shake it and we were worried about pneumonia. Just note though that not all AB's get to the source of KC and you will need to get something with Doxycycline in it like Vibravet. Only use AB's if you really need to otherwise most dogs shake it themselves. It's a bit like humans having the flu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huganewf Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Have used Linctol cough mixture from the vets for KC. Calms the coughing down heaps within 24 hours. Hope he's better soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfie02 Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Thanks for the replies guys, it is so great having help from others that have had dogs with KC and I can now at least give him something to help him with his coughing so hopefully he feels better. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
becks Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 the other thing is not to wait in the waiting room at the vets, so you aren't infecting the other dogs in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I'd be more likely to suspect that your boy is coughing due to irritation from the tube he had in his throat during surgery... KC has a longer gestation period than a day or two... Same treatment though if he has a sore throat - the Manuka honey will sooth it for him... T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisovar Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Sounds like an irritation due to the intubation or he was incubating CC before he went in for his procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Our current Foster had Kennel Cough and we gave her Benadryl every 2 hours and it helped a great deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Actually KC incubation can be from 2 - 14 days....most commonly around the 10 day mark. I've got two with KC at the moment. Either the Kelpie picked it up at the Royal and brought it home (but isn't actually ill herself because she started coming into season and was isolated), or the Stafford picked it up at a show the following Sunday and brought it home to his mother (who hasn't left the property for well over 6 months). I'm thinking it is the show. On about the 10th day after the show, he started to get a little bit more quiet and sleepy than he normally is, refused a couple of meals and just wasn't himself. Then on the Sunday night (14 days after the show) he started coughing and so did his mother. Benadryl, honey and plenty of rest and fluid and keeping them quiet and both are on the improve. Gone from that dreadful choking coughing, retch every time they moved to just the occasional raspy cough. It's a nuisance, but thankfully both are very fit and healthy so the risk of them getting secondary infections isn't quite as high as if they were very young, very old or not in good health. I'm not entered for any shows anywhere for the forseeable future and none of the other dogs has caught it so we might be lucky enough to get over it quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I'd be more likely to suspect that your boy is coughing due to irritation from the tube he had in his throat during surgery... KC has a longer gestation period than a day or two...Same treatment though if he has a sore throat - the Manuka honey will sooth it for him... T. My thoughts also. If he has KC, he picked it up before he was at the vets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I'd be more likely to suspect that your boy is coughing due to irritation from the tube he had in his throat during surgery... KC has a longer gestation period than a day or two...Same treatment though if he has a sore throat - the Manuka honey will sooth it for him... T. My thoughts also. If he has KC, he picked it up before he was at the vets. *nods* Try not to walk him much on a collar- use a harness if you have one- the collar presses on his throat JUST where it is irritated The honey and benadryl and rest will help - he'll be fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakway Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Are you sure it's kennel cough ?, or could it be from the irritation of the tube being down his throat during the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfie02 Posted November 11, 2010 Author Share Posted November 11, 2010 Thanks for all the help guys :D . About the tube and irritation rather than it being kennel cough, we asked the vet nurse at our vets if it could be this and she said that it could be but she seemed to be leaning more towards kennel cough from our description of the cough. And also it completly makes sense about the incubation period now, the four dogs next door had kennel cough about two weeks ago but have been better for a while so i thought that my boy couldnt catch it from them any more (even though their only interaction is through a fence as they generally dont get along). I had no idea that he has probably had it in its early stages before he went to the vets but wasnt showing any signs. He is ok today, still coughing but no too bad since he is staying calm, resting and loving all the attention. Thanks again everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fit for a King Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Bear in mind there are many strains of KC so the vaccine may prevent one strain but not a mutated version of it....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Aahhh.. yes he probably caught it from the next door dogs - it is transmitted by breathing on/coughing on another dog, so that is quite feasible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Unfortunately, it can also be passed on from dog to dog via the hands of a human. One of the reasons that even if a dog isn't coughing at a show, it can still be guilty of passing on the bug....via the judge who hasn't washed their hands often enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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