How long does a dog with Kennel cough have to be on antibiotics before it can be exposed to other dogs?
donyafs asked:
My friend just rescued a dog from a shelter. The dog is very sweet and unfortunately has Kennel cough. She has been on 2 kinds of medicine since Tuesday. I believe one is an antibiotic. Is it safe to introduce her to my dog? Is she still contagious? My dog gets yearly vaccines, I’m just not sure if his boardatella is up to date because I don’t board him.
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My friend just rescued a dog from a shelter. The dog is very sweet and unfortunately has Kennel cough. She has been on 2 kinds of medicine since Tuesday. I believe one is an antibiotic. Is it safe to introduce her to my dog? Is she still contagious? My dog gets yearly vaccines, I’m just not sure if his boardatella is up to date because I don’t board him.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
If she is still on an antibiotic now, she is not safe to bring your dog around..
June 28th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Bordetella (kennel cough) is a virus, not a bacteria. The reason they put her on antibiotics is to prevent secondary infection, because all the coughing irritates the tissues and leaves her more vulnerable to another infection. Even if your dog is given the bordetella vaccine yearly I would wait until the dog hasn’t been coughing at all for at least a week before I introduced them, because there are different strains of bordetella, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Kennel Cough usually lasts 2-3 weeks, so it will probably be awhile before they can meet, depending on how far along the infection is. Make sure you introduce your dog’s slowly and in neutral territory, not your back yard. Maybe take them for a walk with lots of treats. Even sweet dogs can fight if they don’t know each other.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:43 am
When the dog is completely off antibiotics. Until then, she should not be around other dogs.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:14 am
I would wait until the kennel cough is completely cleared up before introducing the dogs.
The antibiotics the dog is on don’t treat kennel cough. Kennel cough is a virus, antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. The reason why most dogs with kennel cough are put on antibiotics is to prevent bacterial infections and pnuemonia, which they are more prone to when they have kennel cough.
In short, the dog is still contagious even though its on antibiotics.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I would definitely wait a while before introducing her to your dog. The natural course of kennel cough is about 10-14 days, so it’s best to wait until a week or so after she has stopped coughing.
Although it’s true that the main reason for antibiotics is to prevent secondary bacterial infection, I’m not sure why the people above are trying to tell you that kennel cough is a virus… The main components of kennel cough are Canine Parainfluenza (a virus) and Bordatella bronchiseptica (a bacteria). Both those bugs are very commonly involved, which is why we vaccinate against both of them.
Like amysamida said, there are different strains out there, so even if your dog is vaccinated it’s not necessarily protective. I have seen eight dogs with kennel cough in the last week, and seven of those were in fully vaccinated dogs.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
If your dog has not had a Bordatella vaccine then yes your friends dog is VERY contagious to your dog. So please keep them apart until after the antibiotics are completely gone and your friends dog has been rechecked by her vet and given the thumbs up. Also consider getting the Bordatella vaccine yearly for your dog even if you don’t board, some strains of Kennel Cough can be really hard to cure. It’s very inexpensive and can be given at the same time as the rest of the vaccines. As a volunteer for a rescue group I keep all my doggies vaccinated for kennel cough as well as the routine vaccines. You can never be too careful!