Coughing- what to do??

dakotalynn · 02-26-2010, 10:03 PM

Our 18 month old boxer recently started coughing for no reason at all. It is a dry, hacking cough that seems to come on at random times (she can be sitting still, sleeping or playing) and will just stop and start coughing. She sounds like she is going to throwup!! She is still eating normally, but seems a little less active, but that could be due to the feet of snow that we have. We are not sure what to do to help her, and our vet is not open until the morning..... Any advice???

bruinsBoxers · 02-27-2010, 06:26 AM

It could be a few things .
The most common would be kennel cough . A virus passed through the air . Dogs will cough and hack , sometimes coughing up phlem . Many vets will give antibiotics for this but they will not cure the KC only treat any secondary infection the kc may cause . Kc will usually clear up on it's own within a week or two . If the coughing get really bad and there is greenish / yellow discarge i would take her to the vet .

If she were my dog I would give her some vitC to help boost her immune system . You can give the people kind 1 tablet 1000mg a day .
I give this to mine daily .

dakotalynn · 02-27-2010, 09:05 AM

Thank you for the info. I am going to call the vet if it persists because Dakota was given the vaccination for KC (not something we were very happy about giving her because she had issues after the injections). But that was a few months ago. I just want to see if the vaccine could wear off or if they ever gave her anything. -- Dont really like her vet!! --

Spyglass Sally · 02-27-2010, 11:36 AM

Clinical signs of KC include coughing, gagging, and retching. Buddy had this once and it sounds awful! But fortunately it's not as bad as it sounds. Vaccination is available to decrease the incidence of KC. However, vaccinated pets can still get kennel cough as there are many causes of kennel cough and the vaccine only protects against the 2 most common infectious agents. Most holistic vets will tell you to skip the vaccine - can cause more harm than good.

You really just need to let it run it's course and keep him from other dogs. Vitamins AC & E can help support the immune system as well as herbs such asastragalus, Echinacea, garlic and ginger.

Buddy's cough was so bad sometimes it sounded like he was going to gag. We used a natural syrup called Apitherapy Honey Wild Cherry Bark Syrup by Honey Gardens (from the health food store) to help as an expectorant and with the cough. It contained raw honey, apple cider vinegar, wild cherry bark, ginger root, licorice, and other things that really helped him a lot.

Hope this helps. Sorry you have to go through it though.

bruinsBoxers · 02-27-2010, 02:21 PM

AS has been said Dogs CAN get kennel cough from getting the shot / nasal spray . But if it was a few months ago the I doubt that is where she got it .

The KC shot / spray is not necessary to give . Most times it is required if you are going to board the dog or let them go to doggie daycare .

But just as a routine shot it is definately not necessary .

Spyglass Sally · 02-27-2010, 04:24 PM

Good info, Missi. I totally agree.

KeeperBoy · 02-28-2010, 11:09 AM

Keepers got the vaccine at the shelter and still got KC with us a few months later. What's funny to me is that you need to vaccine every 6 months, and yet from the looks of it, Keepers has much longer immunity from simply getting it once. 4 month after he had it, Boo got it also and he seemed to have caught it but had super minor symptoms. Needless to say, no more vaccine for us. Luckily we don't ever need to board them or do dog daycare.