photo credit: Goran Necin

When we collected Fig from the dog shelter he was suffering from kennel cough. It isn’t unusual for dogs that has been in an animal shelter for a while to be suffering from this condition.

The condition itself is a respiratory infection caused either by a virus or bacteria. I causes a hacking cough and sometimes a runny nose. Your dog may not have any symptoms of this when you pick him up but it may develop over the coming days when you get him home. If your new dog does present with these conditions then you need to take him to the vets.

When we saw the vet at the shelter he considered Figs condition bad enough to warrant antibiotics. These came in tablet form which we fed to fig hidden in a small lump of cheese. The course lasted for 5 days and cleared up the infection in no time at all.

The cough and runny nose can last for a couple of weeks and during this time it is important to keep your dog away from other dogs as kennel cough is extremely infectious.