[ffdemoss]

Ok, I have a 10 week old basset puppy. At 8 weeks she started a little cough. I took her to the vet and they prescribed Clavamox for one week. Well, after a week the cough was still there. I went back and the vet gave me another round of Clavamox and then told me if it didn't get better I would have to see a specialists. Well, in 3 days I am out of medication and she still has a pretty pronounced cough during the night. She is fine during the day (or atleast when I am home) but she will wake up in the middle of the night sounding like she has been smoking for 30 yrs. Any ideas before I go back to the vet on Wednesday? Other than this she is fine...eats well, no fever and likes to play. Thanks.

[ April 03, 2006, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: ffdemoss ]

 

[Oscar&Murphy's Mom]

I'm not trying to give medical advice, but it sounds like kennel cough to me (Bordetella virus). My new puppy Murphy (11 weeks old) just got diagnosed with this about a week ago. He has to be on antibiotics for 10 days minimum, but were going to have him on them for 14 just to be safe. One pill, twice a day. And they gave us an anti-inflammatory in case he has any coughing episodes. He has to be quarantined till he's off the antibiotics, and then vaccinated once the 14 days of drugs is over. Then there is a 2 week incubation period for the vaccination to take full effect.

So go right to your vet, or specialist, and if you have any other dogs, you might want to get them checked out too.

This is very contagious to dogs who have not been vaccinated for Bordetella. And its not a mandatory vaccination, its optional, so not many dogs are vaccinated for it.

I hope this helps

 

[Valerie and George]

I'm with Amy. I'd be thinking kennel cough, too. It's not serious if you jump right on it and get treatment, though it looks bad, but you don't want to put it off, either.

 

[ffdemoss]

How do they check for kennel cough? Blood draw? The vet did not do a blood draw at either visit. After reding through the internet before the first vet visit I too thought kennel cough and was surprised when he said respiratory infection.

 

[Valerie and George]

When George had kennel cough, the vet recognized the symptoms without doing any tests, as I recall -- but it was a couple of years ago, so I may not remember accurately. Does he spit up when he coughs? George spit up white slimy stuff (sorry! but he did) about one out of three coughing episodes.

 

[ffdemoss]

I have only seen her spit up once...most of the time she swallows what ever she has coughed up. She was perfectly fine last night till about 4:30am when she woke me up coughing really bad. I think I will take her back to the vet Thursday when all of her pills are gone. Thanks for your help.