Home remedies for a dog with kennel cough

March 23, 2015 11:58 AM

How can I make my dog with kennel cough more comfortable as she recovers?

My 13-year-old Pekingese has kennel cough. The vet gave us a course of antibiotics and a cough suppressant (in pill form). Her cough is still frequent and strong, which the vet said is normal - kennel cough symptoms can last for a few weeks(!). She's eating and otherwise normal, but the hacking can't be comfortable for her, and the suppressant only lessens the frequency and doesn't make it go away. She coughs through the day and night.

She's also on Prednisone for a skin allergy.

Have you gone through this with your dog? Is there anything we can do at home to make her more comfortable while we wait this out? Is there something else I should be asking the vet for? Our dog hasn't been around other dogs, so we understand kennel cough is unusual here, but our vet said the cough sounded typical of kennel cough, and didn't sound like it was something else.

Thanks for your help! Here's a picture.

posted by Zosia Blue to Pets & Animals (9 answers total)

I forgot to note that the coughing started a week ago, and she started her antibiotics last Thursday.
posted by Zosia Blue at 11:58 AM on March 23, 2015

One aspect we experienced that might be relevant: the cough syrup we were prescribed (Temaril-P) had a side affect of making our dog very thirsty. As a result he (1) drank a lot more water than usual and (2) had a few indoor "accidents" for the first time in years.
posted by DanSachs at 12:14 PM on March 23, 2015

Kennel cough is definitely nasty and takes a long time to resolve. Back when I adopted a puppy with kennel cough, I found that giving her some children's cough syrup via a dosing syringe helped soothe her throat so she coughed less frequently and also less harshly. But you should check with your vet to be sure it won't interact in a bad way with the cough suppressant pill.
posted by DrGail at 12:17 PM on March 23, 2015

Aww, poor baby dog.

My dog got what we think was kennel cough (he had been vaccinated) last year after being boarded for a weekend during which he also injured his foot, so he was in a cone on top of it. Poor little guy, I'd come home and the inside of his cone would be speckled with doggy phlegm. Here is a picture of him miserable. You can see his snot globules. It is the saddest thing.

I'm a huge sucker for dog sadness and will happily and devotedly spoil the crap out of my pup, so here are some of the things I did. I'm sure they didn't help his sickness so much as just make him feel comfortable and loved while he was all crapped up.

-tried to make the pill swallowing as untraumatic as possible with cheese and praise
-I swaddled him (another picture from that week) and carried him around the house in a bundle (also to keep him off his injured paw while it healed)
-I brought his food to him and fed him kibbles from my hand when he was too shaky to stand and eat
-put low sodium chicken broth in a bowl so he'd get fluids in him when he wasn't interested in drinking
-mixed (dog-safe) high value treat people food into his regular food
-carried him to the litter box (he goes in a box) regularly so he didn't have to climb into it

For me, keeping him eating and drinking while sick was the hardest part, so most of what I did revolved around that.
posted by phunniemee at 12:19 PM on March 23, 2015

Much like with people humidity is your friend here. Do you have a humidifier? Make sure to keep the humidity level up. We found bringing our dog in the bathroom when we showered helped too. Lots of nice steam.
posted by wwax at 12:58 PM on March 23, 2015

If you normally use a leash attached to her collar to walk her, switch to a harness so that there’s no pressure on her throat.
posted by Kriesa at 1:00 PM on March 23, 2015

Depending on what you are currently on, you might ask your vet about a stronger cough suppressant. In my experience, vets will often start off with a fairly mild antitussive, as the stronger drugs are strictly controlled like hydrocodone, or have serious side effects like butorphanol. If you mention that the current medication is not controlling the cough, they may be willing to consider a stronger drug.

This is not medical advice, and you must ask your vet before giving your pet any medication.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:16 PM on March 23, 2015

Kennel cough is like the common cold; it describes myriad viruses that will take a varying amount of time to resolve, depending on the health of the dog and the virulence of the strain. Liquids help a lot, as does adding humidity, perhaps with some Vicks in it.
posted by answergrape at 7:28 PM on March 23, 2015

Thanks for all of the suggestions. The kennel cough just had to run its course - and it did, after a few weeks. Even the stronger cough suppressant didn't help in the meantime, but we were able to keep her comfortable with a humidifier and a lot of scritches.
posted by Zosia Blue at 9:27 AM on May 28, 2015