Boarding Policies Made for the safety of all pets ... First all dogs must have proof of vaccinations for the current year. If you don't have a print out of those please provide a phone number where your vet can be reached and understand it's for the safety of your pet and others that we call and make sure they are up to date... A word on Kennel Cough In the best interest of your dog and others boarding we require a Bordatella (Kennel Cough) even tho this doesn't guarantee immunity , it can shorten the duration of the virus ,and kennel cough is common in areas where large numbers of dogs meet...We clean in detail daily but no matter how hard we try some viruses are airborne and you just can't prevent them all ...But we try really hard as you will see when come and check our kennel out ! Tracheobronchitis is also known as "kennel cough". This is probably a misnomer, since most dogs that get this disease have not been in kennels. Still, when dogs are placed in group situations, they are often exposed to the organisms that cause tracheobronchitis. It is sort of like all the colds that are seen in kindergarteners. There are a number of possible causes of tracheobronchitis but most cases are probably caused by the bacteria Bordetella bronchiseptica. Other causes are canine distemper virus, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus infection and possibly Mycoplasmal organisms. A dry hacking cough is the most common sign of this disease. Most vets assume that a dog has tracheobronchitis when the owner calls on the phone and says "my dog has a bone caught in his throat". The type of cough really does cause many people to assume that there must be something caught in the dog's throat and many dogs retch at the end of the coughing. In some cases, pneumonia may occur as a complication of this disease. It is probably OK to treat this condition by simply using medications to control the cough but most owners are more content if antibiotics are used and most vets therefore put the dogs on an antibiotic for seven to ten days. Hydrocodone or butorphenol cough suppressants work best and every vet seems to have a personal favorite antibiotic for this condition. All of the organisms that cause this disease appear to be pretty contagious so it is not unusual for all the dogs in a household to rapidly become infected. This will go away. Controlling the cough will make your dog more comfortable and allow you to get some sleep! Can My Dog Catch Canine Cough If He's Hot Been In A Boarding Kennel? The germs which cause this disease are extremely infectious and while the dog in the boarding kennel situation is most at risk, many cases of dogs contracting Canine Cough who were never out of their own backyard. This disease is aerosolized (meaning to be spread by coughed droplets in the wind) by coughing and a dog can sometimes become exposed from germs spread by a dog who is some distance away. Also many dogs will carry some of these bacteria and viruses normally in their respiratory tract and can become ill from Canine Cough during periods of stress when these "bad guys" take over. Does tracheobronchitis occur only in kennels? No. Since these viruses can be present anywhere, and can travel for considerable distances through the air, they can affect any dog ... even one which never leaves its own back yard. But tracheobronchitis is more likely to occur when the concentration of dogs is greater such as at a dog show, kennel, veterinarian office and hospitals as well as pet shops. Dogs can also be exposed while running loose or when walked near other dogs, or playing in the park. Isn't My Dog Fully Protected Against Canine Cough By His Yearly 7-Way Vaccination? No. Its true that the regular Distemper/Parvo 7-way vaccination does protect against two of the viruses that can cause Canine Cough (Parainfluenza virus and Adenovirus type II) but it does not contain protection against Bordetella bronchiseptica which is the most threatening of the infectious agents which cause Canine Cough. Is There A Vaccination For Bordetella? Yes. An intranasal vaccination (meaning to squirt some up each nostril) is used to protect against Bordetella or your veterinarian may prefer the injectable vaccine. The vaccine also usually includes protection against Parainfluenza. Is It Possible For My Dog To Get Canine Cough Syndrome Even If He's Vaccinated? Yes it is possible to catch Canine Cough anyway but the chances are much less with vaccination and the severity of illness is greatly reduced if the dog with Canine Cough has received prior vaccination. Why Is The Vaccination Not A 100% Guarantee Against Getting Canine Cough? Because (as mentioned before) Canine Cough is often caused by several. viruses and bacteria; only 3 of which ( Bordetella Parainfluenza and Adeno type II) it is possible to vaccinate against. Most cases of canine kennel cough will spontaneously resolve in 10 days to 3 weeks, but owners can make their dogs more comfortable by minimizing the coughing with a cough suppressant obtained from their veterinarian. The dog should definitely be seen by the veterinarian if the disease persists longer than 2 weeks or the animal begins to show systemic signs, that is, acts depressed, has a fever, has lost its appetite, is not drinking as much water as normal, or is just plain acting sick. How is it cured? Just as in the case of the common cold, tracheobronchitis is not "cured" but must run its course. Many times antibiotics will be prescribed to prevent secondary infection, and sometimes cough suppressants will be prescribed to reduce excessive coughing, but these medications do not attack the disease itself. Generally, 7 to 10 days is required after exposure to an infected animal before a dog develops the characteristic cough. Antibiotics may be prescribed if the disease is systemic, but their usefulness is questionable. If you suspect your dog of having kennel cough he should be isolated from other dogs so that it cannot transmit the disease to healthy ones. However, since an infected dog will not begin coughing for approximately 7 days after it has picked up the disease, any dogs that come in contact with it during that time may already have picked up the disease and should be observed carefully for any signs of this disease. Mike Richards, DVM The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to take the place of your regular veterinarian. Please do not hesitate to contact your regular veterinarian if you have questions regarding your pet. Next a Flea and Tick program is a must ! In order to keep our kennel clean and pest free it takes all boarding animals to be free of fleas and ticks ... It only takes one to make thousands...We offer Frontline spray here at the kennel. If you bring your pet without some type of treatment on them we have to apply a dose of Frontline in order to keep our kennel free of an infestation . A small charge will be added to your boarding ticket . Please let us know if there is reason you don't have your dog on some type of Flea and tick program, such as health reasons ! Last butt not least, De-worming ! Here at K-9 Inn we clean and work hard at keeping things under control and healthy but as one vet has stated you can't get every nook and crack no matter how hard we try...that being said we ask that you understand that de-worming or having your dogs stool checked is important for all that board with us...We use Panacur for our own dogs on a regular basis...Our play yard and concrete runs are disinfected and cleaned multiple times daily ...The dirt play yard is scooped after each exercise and play time group is brought back in . Hopefully all is well but keep in mind no matter how hard we try it's up to others to keep up their end of health care also, for the sake of all the fun your pet can have while staying with us , we ask these things of all who board with us... There are four types of intestinal worms that dogs get on a fairly regular basis. They are roundworms, hookworms, whipworms and tapeworms. Most dogs have roundworms (Toxocara canis, cati or leonina) at some time in their life. This worm can be passed to puppies while they are in the uterus and while they are nursing. Eggs that are passed can develop into infective larvae that are capable of directly infecting another dog. The eggs may also infect an intermediate host, such as earthworms, mice, rats and moles and then when this creature is eaten by the dog develop into adult roundworms in the dog. Roundworms have a strange life cycle, migrating out of the intestine and into the lungs (and other organs) before returning to the intestines. Once infected, a dog may pass millions of worm eggs in the stool. The eggs can live for several months in the environment. They are sensitive to ultraviolet light, so pens which are exposed to direct sunlight do not support the life cycle of the worm as well as more protected pens. Roundworm eggs can be killed by using aqueous iodine solution (Clinics of North America, November 1987) but are not killed by chlorine bleach, although it is supposed to remove the sticky outer coating of the worm, making it easier to cleanse them from infected areas. If your adult dogs are on heartworm prevention medications there is a good chance that they are being dewormed with a medication that can kill roundworms on a monthly basis, which should be sufficient to prevent any real worry over them getting infected, especially since dogs become more resistant to infection with roundworms as they get older. Cleaning up stools daily prevents the spread of the eggs pretty efficiently and is a good practice to prevent infections. Hookworms (Ancylcostoma or Uncinaria) are less common than roundworms but are still a major problem in southern areas of the U.S. (Ancyclostoma) and not too uncommon in the more northern areas (Ancyclostoma and Uncinaria). Hookworms eggs develop into infective larvae which can pass through the skin or be ingested and cause infection. The eggs and infective larvae are susceptible to sunlight and drying. There used to be a product sold that would treat infected dirt pens and kill the hookworm eggs but I have not seen it for at least ten years. The heartworm prevention medications Heartgard Plus (tm), Revolution (tm) and Interceptor (tm) kill hookworms, so dogs on these preventative medications are also being treated for hookworms monthly, which should be sufficient to prevent problems with them, as well. If you are not in a heartworm area monitoring stool samples every few months and treating if you find evidence of infection should be sufficient to prevent major problems from these worms. Cleaning up the stools daily also helps to prevent the spread of hookworms. I do not know how long hookworm larvae live in the environment, but I think they are not as hardy as roundworm eggs and larvae. There is no intermediate host to worry about, either. Whipworms (Trichuris vulpis in dogs) has the most environmentally resistant eggs of all the worms. The eggs of this worm can live for longer than a year in the environment. They are susceptible to drying and sunlight. The Clinics of North America issue recommends treating concrete pens with a horticultural flame gun to kill the eggs, which I suppose might work on dirt, as well. This worm is killed by milbemycin, the ingredient in Interceptor (Rx) heartworm prevention but is not killed by the other monthly preventative medications. Therefore, it is more important to monitor fecal samples for evidence of the worm. The time from infection to the appearance of worm eggs in the stool is over two months, though -- so it can take awhile to know if this worm will become a problem when there is potential contamination of the soil. Whipworms are harder to kill than roundworms and hookworms (or at least fewer medications do it successfully). We use fenbendazole (Panacur Rx) for whipworm therapy but there are other medications that will work. Your vet will have one that he or she likes to use. Tapeworms are usually acquired by eating infected fleas (Dipylidium caninum) or small rodents or rabbits (Taenia species). Good flea control eliminates most problems with tapeworms except in dogs who are allowed to run free or to hunt small animals at times. Even though it may not be possible to rid your yard and pen of the worm eggs easily, there isn't a lot of reason to worry excessively over the worms. In many cases preventative measures are already being taken due to the use of heartworm medications and when this is not the case, checking stool samples and treating in infections and cleaning up the stools on a regular basis should be sufficient to clinically prevent significant problems with worm infestations. Mike Richards, DVM The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to take the place of your regular veterinarian. Please do not hesitate to contact your regular veterinarian if you have questions regarding your pet. |
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