boosiebutt Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Peanut has what I thought was kennel cough, but it's not going away, and I just want to check to see what else it might be and what else I should do. A couple of weeks ago, I boarded Peanut at my vet's while I went out of town for the weekend to visit my sister. I had previously gotten Peanut a bordetella vaccination (shot, not intranasal). When I picked him up after the weekend (dropped off Friday, picked up Monday), he had a cough. It was like he was working something up with deep, kind of "ahem"s, then end up with a sharper hack. He kind of crouches back, when he'd doing it. Sometimes, but not everytime it would end up with him spitting up foamy spit. I took him back to the vet to get checked out, and they prescribed him some cough syrup, and clavamox liquid antibiotic. I proceeded to shoot the stuff out of a syringe into the general direction of his mouth. I tried to hold him still, and get it far enough into his mouth that he'd swallow, but he was pretty squiggly, so I probably got more medicine around his mouth than in it. So, after the couple of weeks he was on that, he still had the cough. I took him back in, and the vet gave him two different kinds of pill. One is an antihistamine & steroid, and the other is clavamox pills. I give him a quarter of the first and half of the second, twice a day. I have enough pills for 10 days. He's (*I'm*) much better with the pills, especially interspersed with teeny bits of Pupperoni (my dog is a pupperoni whore :roll: :wink: :roll: ) He's been on those since Monday afternoon, and his cough doesn't seem to be getting any better. When I come home, and he gets excited, it's like he's breathing/snorting through phleghm bubbles in his chest. And also, he's started to kind of dribble this morning, instead of a proper pee. Does anybody think that he could be getting pneumonia now, or was he misdiagnosed to begin with? Should I get him back into the vet soonsoon, or am I just freaking out more than I need to? Also, I'm thinking of switching vets, since I've had problems with them before, like him getting a puppy shot, then when I asked about getting the bordetella shot as well, they said they thought he had it already. It turned out that there is another Peanut Brown in there files, and they had the wrong chart for Peanut. So they leave us in the exam room to get the right chart, and I'm left watching Peanut for any signs of reaction to the shot they gave him, thinking it was a different Peanut! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosiebutt Posted October 8, 2004 Author Share Posted October 8, 2004 PS. He hasn't gone off his food or water. Snarfs them down, no prob. [b]Edited to add:[/b] PPS. He hasn't been acting depressed. We'll go for walks and he'll be at the end of his leash, sniffing around, and pause to ahem, ahem, ahem, hack, than get moving again. His poos have remained solid, no diarrhea. He is 4 months old, and had the bordetella shot 2 months ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Kat Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Usually it takes around 10-14 days of antibiotics for a bordetellosis infection to clear up. I would honestly get a 2nd opinion as puppy infections aren't good if they are prolonged and need to be sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddysMom Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 It sounds like a new vet is in order. Dispensing medicine meant for another dog is really scary! I understand that mistakes happen but it sounds like they have too many strikes against them. Also Peanut got sick while he was there ... ? That seems suspicious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsefeathers! Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 This is the 'zact reason I don't waste my money on bordatella vaccines, anymore. They're useless. Without fail, a couple of my dogs would get kennel cough every freakin' year, vaccine or not, and the others NEVER get it, vaccine or not. I think my affected dogs just got something for the coughing and we let the kennel cough run its course (no antibiotics... I think?). I'm not sure, but isn't the worst "threat" from kennel cough secondary infections brought on by a lot of coughing? DivOb? Kat? Someone? Then again, sleep deprivation may be talking here. :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosiebutt Posted October 14, 2004 Author Share Posted October 14, 2004 Well, I took Peanut to a different vet today. I like this place much better so far. When I called to make an appointment, and mentioned it was for a cough, the receptionist let me know that I'd need to keep Peanut out in the car until a room was ready... thus not spread anything to other dogs. Already better than the other place. So, I gave them his history and everything, and the vet tried massaging his throat to coax a cough, and nothing. She gave him some x-rays and said that his throat and lungs look clear, but he might be pre-disposed to collapsing trachea and upper-respiratory infections, because his trachea gets pretty narrow. She says that he's probably stuck in a vicious cycle of coughing causes irritated throat causes coughing... She told me to STOP giving him his pills. He'd already run the course of Clavamox, but was still taking the antihistamine-steroid, which was prednisone. Which the new vet said was not good for puppies. So, she gave me drops of cough suppressant, to soothe his throat and allow inflammation to go away. She also taught me how to give the drops, which the other vet didn't do. She says he's not contagious, so yay! Especially since we're picking up his little sister (Pixie!) tomorrow. She also gave me some tips on training Peanut, since he's such a wriggler. She taught me a couple of puppy holds to practice while we watch tv or sit around, where I make sure to get my hand up above his paws, so he knows who's in charge. And she gave me some tips on crate/potty training. I think I've found my vet! Thanks for all the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanook Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Glad it went well...never be afrad to get a second opinion if you think something isn't right.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowie-the-Pooh Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 How do people manage to dig up these old threads anyway? :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtnek Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 [quote name='Horsefeathers!']This is the 'zact reason I don't waste my money on bordatella vaccines, anymore. They're useless. Without fail, a couple of my dogs would get kennel cough every freakin' year, vaccine or not, and the others NEVER get it, vaccine or not. I think my affected dogs just got something for the coughing and we let the kennel cough run its course (no antibiotics... I think?). I'm not sure, but isn't the worst "threat" from kennel cough secondary infections brought on by a lot of coughing? DivOb? Kat? Someone? Then again, sleep deprivation may be talking here. :oops:[/quote] I know the thread is old, but FYI. here you CANT board a dog without the kennel cough shot. its required..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseatthebusstop Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 [quote name='Rowie-the-Pooh']How do people manage to dig up these old threads anyway? :-?[/quote] google search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowie-the-Pooh Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 [quote name='mouseatthebusstop'][quote name='Rowie-the-Pooh']How do people manage to dig up these old threads anyway? :-?[/quote] google search[/quote] No wonder! They would have been pretty bored people to look through all our old threads. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 dang it.. is at there reading the whole thing.. and was thinkign to my self.. wow peanut is so much older then that. i dind't even think to look at the date *smacks head* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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