Capital dogs in for a ruff time after kennel cough outbreak

IT'S much more serious than just feeling a bit rough. Vets in Edinburgh are being swamped with cases of kennel cough as they struggle to deal with the worst outbreak of the highly-contagious disease for 20 years.

While it sounds minor, the throat and chest infection condition is the dog's equivalent of whooping cough and can prove to be fatal in older animals.

One surgery in the Southside today reported cases across the city had soared from around five a year to 40 per month.

Mike Hall, a vet at Braid Vets Hospital on Mayfield Road, said the outbreak first began in autumn of last year.

He said: "We are seeing kennel cough cases in our surgery in numbers we have not seen before. In the last three months we have seen 35 cases.

"We haven't seen a similar outbreak in 20 years and we are alarmed enough that we have sent letters advising vaccination to all our regular clients and have put it up on our website.

"This is just our experience of it but there will be pockets of it all over the city."

Mr Hall said that dogs who contract the illness are up through the night coughing up gloopy mucous. Some run high temperatures and can be off their food and, just as in the human elderly population, if dogs with heart or respiratory problems get it, it can be very serious, leading to pneumonia.

Mr Hall said that it was happening in Edinburgh because the city has a large population of dogs who have not been exposed to it before and are not vaccinated.

"This disease does not come in the standard vaccination package. However, of all the infections we are seeing, this is the one with the highest number of incidences. Kennel cough is out there.

"Dog-owners must not assume that, because of the name, their dog can only catch the infection in kennels.

"This disease can be spread by dogs anywhere, particularly in popular dog-walking areas where dogs can inhale the bacteria in the air. They do not need to be in confined spaces."

Mr Hall said that the only solution was to get dogs vaccinated. He said: "Once the dog has caught the disease, immunity to it only lasts a matter of weeks, maybe months, so responsible dog-owners will get their dogs vaccinated."

The vaccine comes in the form of nasal drops which will protect the animal for up to a year.

Dogs which have contracted kennel cough will need a course of antibiotics and must be kept isolated for up to several weeks.

SEE THE SIGNS
A HARSH, hacking cough which will very often lead to wretching and gagging, with dogs bringing up pools of saliva.

• Loss of appetite.

• High temperature.

• A generally miserable dog.