Highly contagious kennel cough hitting area

Local pet professionals are recommending that dog owners take precautions with their canine pets to guard against an illness commonly known as kennel cough.

Kennel cough is the common name for canine infectious tracheobronchitis, which is actually a blanket term for an upper respiratory disease most notable for its cough.

The highly contagious disease actually came through the area earlier in the year, Dr. Tari Mord of Eastside Animal Hospital said, but some cases are occurring again.

“We don’t know where it started, but we know that it was pretty much across the Hi-Line,” she said, and was diagnosed in dogs coming into town after traveling.

“(It’s) very treatable,” she said. “We didn’t lose anybody to it, but it’s definitely kennel cough.”

Along with the cough, which is often described as a “honking” sound, the signs include lethargy and a loss of appetite, fever, runny nose and sneezing. Mord said she thinks sore throats are common, too.

Puppies younger than 6 months and dogs with health problems are more at-risk.

The disease is most commonly caused by the bordetella bacteria, for which a vaccine is available, Mord said, but kennel cough can also be caused by viruses and other bacteria. These pathogens also can act in sync, she added.

The disease is easily spread to other dogs, generally as an airborne pathogen, but also through contact with a sick dog, or via something the sick dog came in contact with.

“We don’t want people to let these animals go untreated because, as they cough they spread this, as well as grooming another dog if they are infected or just being in close proximity, sharing food and water dishes, that sort of thing,” Mord said.

Treatment usually includes antibiotics and cough medication, she added. And though some dogs get by without treatment, if the symptoms are severe or lingering, longterm problems can develop.

“If this goes on and not treated, this cough can cause scar tissue in the throat to where they cough all the time,” Mord said.

If a dog or dogs in a household get kennel cough, it’s smart to do a thorough cleaning of the home, concentrating on the dog’s bedding, bowls and toys, Mord said. These aren’t particularly hardy pathogens, she added, but cleaning can help stop spread of the disease, especially if other dogs come over to the home.

Because the disease is caused by a variety of pathogens, the bordetella vaccine doesn’t guarantee a dog won’t get kennel cough, Mord said, but it will help guard against the most common cause. The current recommendation is for dogs to get the vaccination and then a booster after six months.

Bordetella vaccine is not a core vaccination so people shouldn’t assume that their dog has gotten it even if they are up-to-date on their shots, Mord said. Producers of nasal and oral vaccines say they are effective within 96 hours, she added, but they don’t last a full year. The shot vaccines last longer normally.

“With this outbreak, I don’t know. We’re going to find out,” Mord said, “But it sounds like most of the boarding kennels, at least, are saying that ‘if you’re not vaccinated within the last six months, we prefer you get that done.’”

Shannon Heggem, kennel operations consultant and owner of the dog boarding facility Luxury Unleashed, said a client’s dog that attends a weekly play day was recently diagnosed with kennel cough. Heggem said she immediately temporarily stopped the play days, as well as her boarding services, to clean and get past the contagion period of the pathogens.

She also informed her other clients, she added, but the disease is so contagious that six out of about 25 dogs became ill from that short contact.

Heggem said she and Kim Federspiel of Friends of the Havre Animal Shelter are working to get the word out to other dog owners and facilities.

“I think it’s really important to let people know,” Heggem said, adding that in the Havre area “we’re fortunate here that all of us that own pet care facilities are all responsible and conscientious … and we’re all trying to work together to get ahead of this.”

She said that it’s important for dog owners to know that all of the dogs at her facility that contracted kennel cough had been vaccinated within six months. People need to take extra precautions by limiting contact with other dogs and with places and things other dogs come in contact with — including bowls and walking trails — to keep their own dogs healthy and stop the spread of the disease in the community.

Mord said vet’s offices will generally see dogs suspected to have kennel cough at the end of the day, asking that the dogs be kept in the vehicle until the office is cleared of other dogs and brought in when the vet is ready then taken right back out. This limits contact with other dogs and the facility, and allows the staff time to thoroughly sanitize afterward.

More importantly, though, Mord recommended people keep their dogs at home, out of stores that allow dogs, and away from dog parks and other places dogs frequent, especially if they aren’t vaccinated, until the disease is no longer spreading.