Sunday, November 7, 2010

Cold and Flu season....

That includes doggies too apparently... Bob has a cough...

Close up of Bob's face right in the camera. He is yawning and the lens might as well have gone down his throat. You can see a few black spots all the way on the back of his tongue and the only thing in focus is his tongue and teeth, everything else including his nose and eyes are out of focus
Can you see his birth mark lol?

The Vet unofficially diagnosed Bob with Kennel cough over the phone today. He has had a funny cough for a couple of days now and I called the Vet's office earlier to get him an appointment. At first I thought he was just getting fuzzy stuff stuck in his throat as there is a small hole in his dog bed but we went out of town and the cough followed so call to the vet it was. It doesn't seem to be affecting him or his over all well being. He's eating and drinking and pooping all normal... Basically he when he gets excited he has a short (no more than a minute or two) episode of coughing, it sounds really dry and wheezy and then he'll hack a bit like he's trying to clear his throat.. All this was told to the vet over the phone and he's pretty convinced its just Kennel Cough. He doesn't want Bob to actually go into the office though because its highly contagious and would like to avoid any exposure to other's pets... I'm fine with it though because I'm pretty sure it was transferred to me at another Vet's office anyways. Apparently it can travel on clothes! Hopefully I didn't pass it onto any other pups when I went and visited GDTX to give them pictures the other day :/

If he gets worse over the next week (after taking antibiotics that I'll pick up from the parking lot of the Vet tomorrow lol) then I'll take him to the Vet. The Dr. said if anything worries me enough to go ahead and bring him in. He just wants to take precautions for now since he's pretty sure its just a cough.

Good thing is Egypt isn't showing any signs - maybe she has been able to fight it, she's older and I imagine her immune system is a bit better than his... He had Giardia and Coccidia at the same time once and she only picked up Coccidia so lets hope she doesn't pick this up from him.

Anyway, Bob probably won't be going too many places with me this week - we'll just let him rest and get over it.

Keep ya posted - send chicken soup and teddy bears!

8 comments:

Amanda Ellen said...

Hey, Egypt shouldn't get it because she should of gotten a distemper shot in all her shots that is supposed to prevent that or wait is that bordetello...Its the one that goes up the nose that prevents that. I know Leah got it because I thought it made her have the allergic reaction. Hope Bob gets to feeling better!

Maddie, Betsy, Jorinda, and Petuina said...

Poor Bob! I hope he's up and running again soon! :)

Raiser Erin said...

Poor Bob. I wonder if it is Kennel cough. The cough is generally accompanied by green build up around the eyes. I hope Bob gets better soon.

Amanda said...

Kyle got kennel cough last spring. He was so pathetic. The vet told me the the kennel cough vaccine doesn't vaccinate for every strand of cough...only the big ones. I hope Bob feels better soon. :)

Wendy said...

I'm not sure b/c it's been 5 years since I worked at a vet, but I don't think the bordetella vaccine is as long-lasting as the others. I'm pretty sure you can boost it more frequently than just annually. You might ask your vet if Egypt should get a booster, though it may be too late anyway.

What I want to know is, how did you get him to open his mouth like that for that photo? :-D

Natalie said...

I got lucky lol. He yawned in my face while I had the camera out... as you can see it was all very quick and the settings were terrible.

Abbey Forney said...

Bailey caught kennel cough a few months ago and the way you describe it is spot on, even the part of it coming on when they're excited.
BTW,she and I are looking forward to meeting Bob. So excited.

Lauren said...

I hope Bob feels better! Didn't he get vaccinated against that? Or is it like when people get the flu shot, where there are different strains?