If your dogs are strong, young, and healthy - and haven't been sujected to a huge amount of stress lately, no form of kennel cough should be a serious problem. The canine influenza virus IS quite serious however - and the kennel you go to should know the difference. If they have been exposed to the latter, they really shouldn't be operating until they are cleared by the state veterinary health inspector (or whatever goes by that name in your state).
Kennel cough is not a cold. It's more like the flu in humans. Your dog can get a case that just makes them feel kinda lousy for a couple of days, and cough like a fiend from hades for about two weeks. Or it can turn into something really, really serious.
One key point about KC is that it dramatically lowers a dog's immunity and opens him or her up to opportunistic bugs - anything from yeast infections, to eye and skin infections, to mange, to secondary bacterial respiratory infections like pneumonia. This is what makes it so very dangerous for at-risk dogs - dogs that are under stress of training, shows, traveling, rescue dogs, puppies, senior dogs, dogs that are already ill, and dogs that have compromised immune systems.
The short answer is that if it IS "just" regular kennel cough, and your dogs don't fall into any of the above groups, it's not terrible enough a risk to avoid boarding at the good place in favor of the place with the evil tempered dog. [
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Becca Shouse: Irena Farm, Semora, NC
Cord, Ted, Gus, Zhi, Maggie, Lynn, Lu, Min and Tully - and Sam!
Waiting: Bubo & Ben
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