Advice Please! Cold/Allergies/Kennel Cough?

[hulahoop]

Hi all,

long-time lurker here, and proud mommy to Clyde, my 7 month old boy. We've been through quite a few health scares, and this forum has been a life-saver to me every time! I've done a search on the topic and found quite a bit out there, but I'm still a bit confused as to what to do and figured I would finally make an account and defer to the experts

So heres my problem: I recently (about a month and a half ago) moved back to New England with Clyde from Florida, where he grew up. It's just started to get really cold up here, which he of course has never been exposed to (he goes to the dog park in the late afternoons usually). As a result, we turned our heater on for the first time in the last few days, and while we vacuumed out the vents as best we could, who knows what all is in there (I live in a 100+ year old house and was subletting our apt over the summer)...

In the last two days Clyde has had a couple coughing fits (like one a day, sounds like the kennel cough videos I looked up), he does it much more frequently at night, when he sleeps on the floor at the foot of my bed. After reading through a bunch of threads, I decided not to take him in yesterday as his nose is running, but its totally clear. I gave him some honey and lemon in his water last night which seemed to help. However, he was snuffling so loud last night that I brought him in bed with me (which helped - so either he's cold or he's a drama queen). He hasn't been coughing today, but his runny nose is definitely worse (although still clear).

He's his usual hell-raising rambunctious self, with the exception of snotty bubbles when he got himself really worked up. I spent the morning revacuuming out the vents in case its allergies (which I am dealing with myself, for all thats worth). Of course, its the holiday weekend and no vets are open for me to call, with the exception of the ER. I'm hesitant to take him there because we were just there about a week ago (for cherry eye, which they popped back in because I caught it in time) - we waited over an hour and for the next 4 days or so after that he had really gross green eye boogies each morning. I'm thinking he was probably exposed to some nasty germs while we sat in the lobby for so long that he would better if I keep him safe and warm at home.

Sorry for the novel, hes my baby and although everyone accuses me of over-reacting, a few times my worrying has saved his life (he has a penchant for swallowing enormous things that he most definitely shouldn't). I will try to call the vets again tomorrow, but in the meantime is there anything I can give him? I'm thinking its either allergies or a doggie cold, but I'd like to do something for his snotty nose because its bothering him and if I keep chasing him around wiping his face I'm afraid it will dry out..


If you made it through all that, well done! Thanks so much in advance!

 

[brutus77]

Sounds like allergies if the snot is clear. I give Brutus benedryl for his allergies. I think it is one tab for every 25 pounds. Just double check on the human meds for dogs thread before you give anything. Brutus is 51 pounds but one tab usually helps him.

 

[2BullyMama]

totally sounds like allerigies to me.... could be the leaves changing, all the plant live dying off gives Banks a run for her money, all she wants to do is sleep (more so than normal) in the fall months. Her eyes are green boogies in them in the morning and during the day clear runny nose...... Benedryl 1mg per pound of pup up to 3x a day. I give Banks 2 pills in the AM and 2 in the PM with her meal -- does not eliminate the issue, but helps them

 

[hulahoop]

Thanks so much for the advice guys! I feel much better - will get him some benadryl at the store tonight. :D

Of course, now I'm definitely being a hypochondriac, and normally I'd think nothing of it: but he came running in to me a few minutes ago after chewing on his bone, went to his bowl and drank a ton of water, and then came back in and promptly puked all over the rug. I haven't given him any allergy meds yet, and hes totally unconcerned. His nose seems to be better as long as hes staying inside - any reason the barf should give me cause for concern?

 

[Samantha Orts]

About 2 or 3 weeks after we brought June home (so she was about 10-11 weeks old) she started a cough on a Thursday night, sounded like she was trying to cough something up but nothing ever came up. I would give her some water and yogurt thinking her throat hurt or something. She would be fine during the day so we didn't think much of it until the following Sunday night she was up about every hour coughing/gagging. I took her to the vet as soon as they opened Monday morning and she had no fever, was eating and drinking fine, but was just sleepy. Her nose was a little runny (clear) but not enough to be worried over. The vet gave me a cough suppressant (can't think of the name but I can look when I get home - but I think she said you could buy it at the drug store, it was like Robitussin) to give every 4-6 hrs as needed and benedryl to help her at night. She wasn't her wild puppy self, would just get a cough attack and lay down. Well Wednesday it wasn't much better, sounded worse actually, and being new puppy parents, we were so worried we took her to the ER vet for another opinion. We were worried it could be pneumonia or kennel cough. X-rays and $250 later... we were sent home with the same advice as the first vet. They said it was just a cough and would go away on its own. Go figure- the next day TOTALLY FINE! But, I was glad we went anyway and were given peace of mind.

Long story short- I think as long as he is eating and drinking normally, not running a fever, and the runny nose is clear, he's probably ok. June did throw up one night during her cough attack after i'd given her some yogurt. I would try some benedryl and see if that helps...

 

[Baxter Tiberius]

There's a simple way to differentiate between allergy cough and kennel cough.

Kennel cough *always* has a "gagging" at the very end of the regular coughing.

They will always look like they're going to throw up. Usually just one big "GHHAKKK!" noise at the end.

If he's not doing that, its likely not Kennel Cough.

If he is doing that, its most likely kennel cough. Treatment is rest and immune boosters. Sometimes antibiotics if it turns into a lung infection.

Most of the time not much is done as its like a humans cold. It can take weeks to clear though. And the dog will continue to "shed" the infection to other dogs for several weeks.

 

[hulahoop]

Thanks all! I'm sure I just saved Clyde lots of stress from an unneeded vet visit, and I def saved some money! This forum is awesome

I'm pretty sure at this point its just allergies. I've been keeping an eye on him, the Benadryl seems to be helping - he hasn't been coughing. Still a bit snotty when he first goes outside, but such is life with a bulldog...

 

[Lokismom]

We just recently had to turn our heat on too and had the same reaction with Loki and his allergies. Benedryl should help the symptoms to "disappear" also look into getting him a sweatshirt or something to wear on the colder days. Loki hates the cold, runny eyes/runny nose a normal winter for us