At Gordon Pet Services we have the best interest of the pets that we service in mind. For this reason we are alerting all our clients that there is a higher than usual rate of Kennel Cough in the Collingwood, Blue Mountains and Thornbury areas. Unfortunately the Bordetella Vaccine will not prevent all cases (see Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook by Delbert G. Carlson, D.V.M and James M. Giffin, M.D.)
Kennel cough is a canine respiratory disease; main symptom is a dry, hacking sounding cough that ends with gagging and retching. Sometimes it is accompanied by eye and nose discharge and partial loss of appetite. Although it sounds awful it is not a serious condition. Only dogs with a very weak immune systems will be in danger of complications.
For more information check out Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats.
What We Do at Gordon Pet Services:
The best prevention for this disease is to isolate dogs from each other.
Our protocol here at Gordon Pet Services is the following:
We only accept symptom free healthy dogs.
- Any dogs that have contacted the disease are not to return to GPS for 7 to 10 days after they are symptom free.
- If we need to host more than one healthy dog we separate them until kennel cough occurrences in this area subside. They could be asymptomatic carriers.
- Kennel cough is airborne and transmitted through saliva and close contact (licking, smelling, etc…). Hence the need for separation.
- Kennel cough is very rarely contagious for humans
- We use non toxic air disinfectants and clean all surfaces daily