I brought some puppies I am training in to the vet for rabies vaccinations. A few days later 4 of 5 came down with kennel cough. We put them on amoxicillin per vet recommendation. They are almost over it now. None of the other dogs vaccinated for Bordetella got it. I usually wait to do the Bordetella vaccine until 18 or 10 weeks as they get so many vaccinations prior to that, I'll never wait again.
My question is about the 4 week old pups we have in the house. I usually have moved them out to the heated kennel by now for more room to set up a potty box, etc. I'm not moving them because of the kennel cough, as I understand the virus can live up to 10 days. How early can I vaccinate pups in the house for Bordetella? My vet says 9 weeks - but a tech said I can give Bordetella at 6 weeks.
Never. Once in a while one of my dogs gets kennel cough. It's the one dog - even though other dogs are exposed I don't have it run through the kennel. I treat with cough syrup and honey to soothe their throat. Also double up on the Vit C and give them a pro biotic daily. It's like a cold - runs its course. With pups you do have to watch for secondary infections. I would run a humidifier in their area and give Vit C and pro biotics to the dam (assuming she's still nursing). There are different strains - doesn't mean if you vaccinate they won't get it. Build a healthy immune system.
I find your response interesting because a goat breeder told me she adds probiotic to food as soon as one of her goats cough (I guess they have a similar disease) and the cough stops. Soon after I added probiotic powder to the coughing pups' food, the cough decreased. I also was giving honey to soothe their throats.
Pups are nursing and eating soaked kibble twice a day - I've added probiotic to their soaked kibble but didn't think of doing this and vitamin C for Mom. Thanks. I'll just keep pups inside longer but I really don't have much room - just a 4ft X 8ft mudroom laundry closet. So far babies haven't caught it, we'll keep praying they won't get it.
I thought I'd update for those researching this in the future. Little puppies eventually got the kennel cough at 5 weeks old. The first 2 just started coughing the same day the nasal bordetella vaccine arrived from Revival. I still gave teh vaccine to all of the 5 week olds. 3 total out of 10 ended up having it very mildly. My vet wanted them on antibiotics, but I didn't put them on as it was so mild. I did give Robitussin DM prior to bedtime so they'd all sleep.
A local vet tech told me another local vet office misdiagnosed kennel cough telling clients "it's just a cold". Those clients all use 2 very high end doggy day care places which really spread it in our area. She said every vet office was reporting several calls a day about kennel cough. A friend's new 8 week old golden got it after his first well puppy visit to the vet.
In the future, I will be giving nasal bordetella prior to any vet visit. According to Revival, it can be given as young as 3 weeks old. It works really quickly. The only thing is I don't like using the nasal vaccine on a future hunting/hunt test pup.
