Kennel cough; worried, is this normal?

[Nakisha]

Hey everyone.

Last tuesday, Rhodi suddenly coughed heavily and spit up fume. It was worse in the morning and seemed to get a little better during the day.

The next day, it wasn’t over and I wasn’t willing to take risks; we went to the vet right away.

She found it to be kennel cough and gave us Amoxoral (penicilline) for 10 days, two pills a day.

But I’m worried; the coughing is getting less, but I find him to have trouble breathing now and then. It’s a little better when he’s asleep, but still… I decided to make a (very dark) vid of it, so you guys can hear (you can easily hear it) and see what I mean. His belly is moving up-and-down along with the sound. It almost seems he’s pumping for breath…

It’s been like this for a few days; at first, I decided to see how it would develop, (since I read it’s not unusual for Kennel cough) but I’m not feeling to happy with it. Is this really normal?? Odd thing is… It seems the lungs are pretty clear. Can it be it comes from the troath and nose?

[img width=468 height=382]http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab262/Hekaya/Video/th_002.jpg[/img]

Either way, we’ll be calling the vet tomorrow again of course… I’d just be glad with any input. I’m worried about my baby… 🙁

Please help…

Edit: Over all, he’s doing OK. He seems to have trouble breathing sometimes during what’s seen on vid, and he will pant if it gets too bad.
He still plays, although he’s out of breath much sooner and will want to go inside after 10-15 minutes. He drinks and eats soft foods, nothing else…

[Nakisha]

I want to add that it’s 1:36 AM and I’ll be off… but Rhodi is sleeping quite quietly. His breathing is still a little hoarse, but it sounds better when he sleeps. I hope it’ll get better soon… I’ll keep you all posted.

[kizkiznobite]

sounds like normal KC to me….respiratory tract infection …..so breathing will be like you describe…sounds quieter when asleep because the tract is more relaxed….nothing to do but wait it out….benylin (or other cough suppressant) and honey down the throat and olibas oil on bedding….keep them both in …and isolate from other dogs for at least 2 weeks after the last cough….

get well soon lado and stop causing mum so much worry  :ok:

[Nakisha]

Oh, thank you so much!!!  :happy: I’m so thrilled with your answer, it gives me a little more peace… It’s so terrible to see your dog like this…

He’s refusing to take the pills since yesterday, so we litterally placed it in his troath and kept his mouth shut until he swallowed. Not the nicest way, but they háve to go in. We only got half a pill into him yesterday and one whole one the day before that (the other came out… poor thing…)… and he should get two a day.

EDIT: Called the vet. They also agreed the breathing is normal for KC. So relief number 2. If the pills can’t stay in for any reason, we should get him shots. That would be difficult, considering they’re not close to our home and we don’t own a car ourselves, but if it has to be done, we’ll do it. Hopefully, the pills will stay in from now on. 🙂

[kizkiznobite]

how to deliver pills without stress….. :ok:

catching game…catch the treat…small bits of cheese, raw meet, small meat ball, chunk of spam etc….

take 8 bits (for a novice)…..chuck treat …dog catches clap hands with yeahcleverboy mucho excitment….do it with the first 4…..(having added pill to number 5)….do it with next one….and then do real fast follow up with 6, , 7 and 8 keeping the motivation and excitement going….

tip…dont let dog see you put pill in  😀

have a toy ready to play after all treats gone for a couple of mins

if you have a 2nd or 3rd or 4th dog…do enough no pill treats to include them in game to up the competiton anti….  😉

me…? dont give a healthy dog that is not an oldie or pup anti bi’s with something as simple as KC…let the immune system deal with it….makes them stronger and more tolerant of bugs for the future  😉

and stop re-enforcing distress …yep i know you are…i have cyber eyes  😉 😉  ;D  ;D

if ami sneezes and i say you got a poorly pawpaw she lifts foot and limps  …. ::) Pain in bum  ::)

it just like us having a heavy cold hun…he will be fine…youisaworrywort ….

[Nakisha]

Thank you SO much!!!  :ok:
I’m really happy with all the tips. Yep, I admit… I stress too much…

Rhodi actually managed to play a little longer today. I didn’t feed him when he expected and gave him the food with the second pill a few hours later; he was so hungry he didn’t even notice. 😀

I agree, most infections can be taken out by the body itself. I have to say though… it’s the second time he has KC, and compared with the first time, it’s really bad. Never seen it this bad….

Well, at least no worries for the two ”lost” pills now… 🙂

[kizkiznobite]

2 types of KC…so he either now having the one he hadnt had last time or his immune system is on the weak side or he is naturally immunocompromised to it….

[Diesel73]

Hug Rhodi  :-* , djeez, you sound bad man  :-\ . Take your meds nicely and let mam be able to sleep for a whole night ha?

quote :

it just like us having a heavy cold hun…he will be fine…youisaworrywort ….

Which seems to be a commen side affect for Belgaboys owners  ::)  😛  😀 hahaha.

[Val]

One more tip especially if Branco goes down with it being a Brachycephalic Breed if you take some warm water and a large bit of cotton wool soak the cotton wool in the water and stick it over the eyes the water goes down the eye ducts and helps clear the nose
Val

[Nakisha]

Thank you so much Val, I should try that!  :ok: I also worried lots about Branco at first.  :help: Seeing how tough this KC is on my ”Belgian boy”, as Diesel puts it so nicely, I already feared how it’d be for Mr. flatnose.

Luckily, up until now, he’s free from it and seems to escape this nasty virus(?).
If he indeed starts, your tip might be just the thing to keep him breathing well… Thanks so much!!!  :happy:

[Nakisha]

Just an update… forgive me if I sound too negative, I just don’t feel too happy at this point.

The good part is; the coughing is very slowly getting better. He still coughs but there’s a difference; it’s not as hard and loud anymore.
The pills are getting and stáying in at this point (knock on wood) and that’s a good thing.

But as for his breathing, it still doesn’t make me happy. He seemed to have a better day yesterday and I could hear a change, it sounded like the ”slime” in the troath and nose was coming loose.

But today I feel bummed. I honestly think he has far too much trouble breathing normally. He sounds terrible (still that constant wheezing, followed by panting, wheezing, panting, ect…) and even though I see it’s better when he sleeps, it’s simply heartbreaking to watch.

I know it’s part of the KC and that he’ll need to get over this himself, I know it’ll get better. I just wish I knew WHEN. He has pills ’till saturday, I honestly thought (it’s been 8 days since it started) that there would be signs of healing now….

I just really feel for him. The way he looks at me, the way he sounds…

*sighs*

::EVENING EDIT:: I took his temperature, that’s normal. It’s a relief.
He didn’t want to eat solid food since a few days (only soft foods) but we had fries tonight and he happily ate a few (harly-any-salt) fries. (YAY!! Finally eating something that ain’t ”lick-it-up-soft”…)
He took his pill easily in his meal again and even ate a little of his normal (solid) dogfood.

I’m extremely happy with that; it means there’s a teeny bit of progress after all. 😀
I just hope his breathing will be better soon… so he’ll feel his old self again.

[kizkiznobite]

when we rescued falkor from the pound…he was obv incubating KC…he had a major 2 ops and his various other injuries tended to, needed a blood transfusion, weighed only 18 kilo, his immune system as you can imagine was shot to hell and back…he coughed and wheezed for 24 hours had a bit of a temp for 2 days and then was fine….our now gone over the bridge holliesocks….healthy well looked after 5 year old never been to vet dog since we got her caught it…she seemed so ill for 3 weeks and at one point we thought we were going to lose her….she had trouble eating because she couldnt breathe well enough to swallow without becoming exhausted….it took 3 months for her to fully recover…it just one of those sort of bugs….if you need to fill him up with some fast to eat food try adding some couscouse or semolina or raw oats to his meat/eggs (not sure if you feed raw but wee meatballs made with mince and oats is good) are you using the olibas oil on his bedding? …it really does help…also tealights/candles/oil burner with olibas or eucalyptus oil in will ‘clean’ the air….or even better some dried sage to burn off…

he will be fine am sure…keep spooning the honey down his throat…it really really does sound worse than it is….

[Nakisha]

Thank you so much… Bev is it…?
I’m gonna try it all!!! Everything to make him feel better….

I don’t feed him raw (I don’t really dare… I fear to give him everything in the wrong balance..), but we should have some good meat to feed him. 🙂 He’ll probably like that!!

He doesn’t have a real bed of his own, he likes to sleep on the couch or on the floor. Still, I have a plaid over the couch, so I could use the oil on that. 😀

I’m so sorry to hear how your own dogs have been through such bad times… Does give me hope on Rhodi’s matter, but it must have been terrible…  :'(

[Nakisha]

After the worries of yesterday, today is a relief. 😀

He’s feeling better, it’s visible. His breathing is better compared to yesterday and he has a little more energy. We didn’t allow him to play too much today, we kept him calm and he didn’t mind much. He hasn’t eaten much in a few days and we don’t want him to overdo it. 😉

It’s not GOOD yet, he still wheezes from time to time… but it’s the step forward I was so desperatly hoping for.  :ok: Not the constant wheezing that worried me so much. Let’s hope it’ll go up from here on.  😀

Since he still doesn’t eat his normal dry food (can’t blame him… that’s gotta be hard with his troath) I went out and bought that frozen-meat stuff… those burgers from Rodi.
Got a complete dinner and one with just meat. We tried a few flavours from Rodi before and I remember him not being really fond of one of those… but I couldn’t remember which one… so I just took the meat-type as well to be sure.
I gave the meat tonight and he gobbled it up happily!  :ok: Branco also loved it, so I sure know how to spoil them in the future…  ;D

We are out of oil (urgh) and I didn’t notice until I was back from the store. Stupid… Well, better luck tomorrow….

[Diesel73]

There you go Rhodiboy  :-* , …… *Wodan says; get well, but don’t act àll better yet. milk it man, MILK IT! Mam’s go absolutely stupid over her boyo that is sicko  >:D *

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