So mad at my vet right now!

We boarded Sid at my vets office who also runs a kennel last week when my entire family went to Punta Cana for vacation. I've boarded Sid there before and she always loves it there since all the girls in the office lover her to death and they spoil her with kisses. When we picked her up and got her home I noticed she would cough every time she came in from outside. It was nothing major just 4 or 5 coughs then she would be fine so I thought maybe she was running round eating up too much snow or something. Then I noticed she kept getting alot of boogers in her eyes which I thought was odd. Well yesterday my uncle calls me since he boarded his dog at the same vet to tell me that his dog has kennel cough and they think he picked it up from the vet. I'm mad that the vet KNEW the dogs they were sending home were sick or should know by now and no one has called to inform me "hey you need to check your dog out for this". So far Sid seems to be fine and hasn't coughed since Tuesday and yes she did get her kennel cough vaccine so I'm guessing thats why she didn't have it so bad.

The vaccine isn't 100% I'm afraid. It's a bit like the flu vaccine - it covers most strains of the virus, but not all. If you need to take her for treatment, I'd try asking for it free as she caught it there!

Glad to hear Sid seems fine now. But seriously... If they knew they were sending sick dogs that's really irresponsible.. And if they pay so poor attention to their boarders that they don't notice that's not exactly positive either.. I hope you have a chat with them to let them know this isn't okay.

I've got to agree with Caryll on this one, it's not 100%, make them check her over for nothing, it's their damn fault she's coughing, even if it's not Kennel Cough.

I'm going to take her in tomorrow and make them check her just to make sure she is ok. She seems fine now and hasn't coughed or had discharge from her eyes so I'm hoping she's over it. They've always seemed like a really good kennel and I've never had an issue with them before but I feel they were totally irresponsible in this case.

Caryll wrote:The vaccine isn't 100% I'm afraid. It's a bit like the flu vaccine - it covers most strains of the virus, but not all. If you need to take her for treatment, I'd try asking for it free as she caught it there!

Kennel cough's a funny thing. It's very difficult to stop - once it's got hold of one dog it'll spread like wildfire! And if it's a strain not covered by the vaccine, well.

I'm surprised, though that the vets/kennel staff never noticed the cough, it can't have been just Sidney.

purpledoggy wrote:I'm going to take her in tomorrow and make them check her just to make sure she is ok. She seems fine now and hasn't coughed or had discharge from her eyes so I'm hoping she's over it. They've always seemed like a really good kennel and I've never had an issue with them before but I feel they were totally irresponsible in this case.

Sounds like a good idea. Any boarding facility can get kennel cough or other disease in their facilities - all it takes is one person boarding their dog even though they know it's not 100% (or just before symptoms show up). But sending home a coughing dog without saying anything makes you wonder. Let us know what they say when you take her in.

That's the thing, they should have at least pointed out that she was coughing a little.

would deffinately agree with caryll again here,like normal!! My sid had kennel cough and was a poorly little boy!! I was told by someone that you can give them childs cough medicine which helps but not sure if that is true! I just went to the vets anyway and got him sorted!!

I wouldn't give a dog human medicine without referring to a vet first. Dogs can't always break down the ingredients the way we can. One example is paracetamol - just a tiny amount will kill a cat.

No sorry!!!! I didn't mean that as advice!was just saying that I had been told that but didn't do it!! However I think they said it was a vet who told them that!? Again though I didn't hear it from the horses mouth so I wouldn't say it was a fact!!

I understand that stuff happens and they can't always prevent things like kennel cough from makings its rounds through a boarding facility. The thing that makes me mad is the fact that obviously two dogs that were boarded there at the same time (Sid and my uncles dog) were coughing while there and after they were sent home. The fact that they neglected to say anything about it is whats got me all fired up. I've never had a dog with kennel cough and just always got them vaccinated for it thinking the vaccine was a 100% thing but now I see it is like a flu shot and I'm guessing thats why Sid didn't really get sick from it. Both dogs were at the facility for a week and I find it hard to believe that neither of them showed any signs until the day both were brought home. When my husband picked Sid up she was coughing coming in the door but she is such a goober and was so happy to see us that I didn't think anything of it and just chocked it up to her getting supper excited. Oh well, we will see what the vet has to say.

Stevie b wrote:No sorry!!!! I didn't mean that as advice!was just saying that I had been told that but didn't do it!! However I think they said it was a vet who told them that!? Again though I didn't hear it from the horses mouth so I wouldn't say it was a fact!!

They'll often recommend something like that because it's cheaper than veterinary medicine! The country vet who used to be Bandit's personal physician told me, when I went there for about the 5th time with him having a bad stomach, to use Kaolin & Morphine - just 5ml in the morning & 5ml in the evening. That used to clear things up pretty quickly.

purpledoggy wrote: I've never had a dog with kennel cough and just always got them vaccinated for it thinking the vaccine was a 100% thing but now I see it is like a flu shot and I'm guessing thats why Sid didn't really get sick from it. Both dogs were at the facility for a week and I find it hard to believe that neither of them showed any signs until the day both were brought home.

Totally agree, it sounds a bit strange. Surely someone must have heard one of them cough?

Yeah that is the problem with the kennel cough vaccine my sister used a kennels that said not to have it as alot of the time it doesnt work and the dog gets it anyway they should know better though with being vets they could of at least treated them

not profesional at all

Ive always found with kennel cough that childrens benelynn stops them coughing and it clears up much more qucikly. Plus encourage them to drink lots of water and sleep loads! anything the vet gives your for symptoms will just cost loads and wont be any more effective. Ive always found the sugar-free benelyn works fine.

As caryll said the vaccine is never 100% effective. Like a cold in humans there are so many different strains of the kennel cough virus and new ones developing all the time which wont be covered by current vaccine.

I call the vet yesterday to ask them why they didn't inform anyone about the kennel cough problem at their boarding facility and they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. I told them I know for a fact that two dogs that were boarded at the same time have kennel cough and what where they going to do about it. They just blew me off and acted like nothing. I ran into my uncle last night and asked him about his dog Rylin. Apparently my uncle never got his dog the bordetella vaccine and said they kennel told him he didn't need it. Rylin is now on steroids and antibiotics and he said the dog is pretty sick but they said he will pull through. I'm kind of floored that they wouldn't vaccinate their dog but I guess if your vet tells you that you don't need it why would you? At least Sid is fine now, no cough or discharge from her eyes.