Dog Community

kennel cough? airborne?

Posted : 7/13/2006 7:58:55 PM

Hi all...I just started working at a golden retriever rescue kennel. In our isolation unit, we have a few dogs with kennel cough. Is kennel cough spread only through the air or can it be spread by saliva like on a toy or if the dogs go nose to nose?

cakana

Posted : 7/13/2006 9:23:51 PM

I don't know for absolute, but I'm pretty darn sure that it can be spread thru any type of mucous transmission. That could be droplets, saliva, nose to runny nose, etc. It's that way for human colds and kennel cough is basically the dog's version of the human cold.

NicoleS

Posted : 7/14/2006 1:02:22 PM

Kennel Cough is really contagious - when we adopted our dog he had it even with the bordatella vaccine. To get his meds, only my husband could go in, they wouldn't let the dog in the building. So, I think that it is primarily spread through the air, but I'm sure it would also be in saliva or nose-to-nose contact, especially since the dog would also be coughing/sneezing on the toy or other dog. At least it goes away fairly easily with few complications!

miranadobe

Posted : 7/14/2006 3:38:57 PM

generally, transmission comes from contact with the nasal secretions of the infected dog, on whatever surface. So, make sure you sanitize with an anti-viral (Virkon comes to mind, but there's another really pricey one that I can't think of.) It becomes a big problem in kennels, so do everything you can to keep it controlled to just that ward and don't spread it on your clothes, etc.