A kennel cough outbreak that's been reported recently in Calgary hasn't been felt in Airdrie to as large a degree according to an Airdrie Animal Health Technologist.

Christina Holland of Heartland Vet Clinic said she wouldn't classify the few additional cases of the disease that she's seen recently as an "outbreak."

"We haven't seen an outbreak here yet.  I feel like we've seen maybe a few more cases recently than is typical this time of year."

Holland explained that kennel cough is similar to a cold in people. 

"It's caused by a bacteria. It presents as a cough, a deep, honking cough in dogs only, it's not transmittable back and forth to people or cats or other critters like that."

Just like a cold, the illness can be more or less severe. 

"Just like in people you can have a mild cold that you just feel under the weather for a few days and you get over on your own. That is most typical if the dog's up to date on vaccines. It can be more severe if the dog is older, or a baby, or has never had the kennel cough vaccine.  In those cases the coughing gets pretty bad, they can get a really sore throat, they can start throwing up.  Worst case scenario it can turn into pneumonia. As long as it doesn't get to the pneumonia stage it is still pretty easy to treat and to deal with and just get them feeling a lot better."

Kennel cough is spread by dogs through nose-to-nose contact. 

"Dogs who are, quote-unquote, talking to each other at the park, grooming facilities, kennels, daycare's, even just going on a leashed walk through your neighbourhood your dog can pick up kennel cough, or bordatella is the name of the bacteria."  

Holland feels that the increase in kennel cough cases could be related to the recent spate of warm weather.  

"It's my own personal thought but we've had a really calm winter, knock on wood, that people have been getting out and they've been a little more sociable.  If we had three feet of snow I think that dogs would be going for a lot shorter walks, they wouldn't be going to the parks as much. They wouldn't be out socializing.  I think it's the under-vaccinated or overdue dogs that are going to the parks this time of year.  They're not going to the kennels because their vaccinations aren't up to date, so they're just visiting with dogs in their neighbourhoods so that's how it's spreading around a little more."

 

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