Is your dog at risk from the most widespread infectious disease?

Recent survey work¹ suggests that there may be around 180 new cases of kennel cough each day, making it the country’s most widespread infectious disease of dogs.   And, surprisingly more than half of reported outbreaks² are likely to arise from ordinary day-to-day contact between dogs, and not from kennels as the name implies.

Kennel cough – also known as infectious bronchitis – is a complex respiratory infection caused mainly by the bacteria Bordetella bronchiseptica and the Parainfluenza virus. Every dog is at risk, however healthy, and once your dog has been exposed to infection, it will generally take 3-10 days before symptoms are seen.   It usually causes a dry, retching, ‘honking’-style cough that affects dogs of all ages, can last for weeks and is very hard to treat.   Unfortunately, by the time your dog has started coughing, the disease will have already damaged its respiratory system.  

Repeated retching with a frothy mucus being brought up causes a lot of distress for both the dog and the owner and although most dogs eventually recover it can take several weeks. Some are left with a persistent cough and a small proportion can develop pneumonia with potentially fatal consequences.

Practice vet Jo Malone comments: “As with any serious disease, prevention is always better than cure but a recent YouGov poll commissioned by Intervet / Schering-Plough Animal Health shows that there is a great deal of misunderstanding among dog owners about both the risk and scale of the problem posed by kennel cough.   Seventy-seven percent of dog owners³ think their dog is currently protected yet only 10% of dogs⁴ are vaccinated against kennel cough.   No one who hears a dog with kennel cough will ever forget the experience so it’s our aim to reduce this suffering.”

The Minster Veterinary Practice is taking part in a campaign from April to June to raise awareness of this widespread and distressing disease and encourage owners to have their dogs vaccinated.