Ahab has pneumonia after a brief bout with kennel cough. Other kennel coughers are Rocket, Luke, Spike and maybe Chevy (we heard him sneezing). Ahab’s wheezing and gagging was quite nasty, and after a visit to the vet is spending a week or so inside on a powerful antibiotic.
These dogs were all immunized with broncozine, against kennel cough, but we didn’t have enough to give their second shot. Usually the vaccine requires a second dose the first time they get it, then a single dose in later years. This vaccine is great for keeping kennel cough outbreaks to a minimum, but doesn’t prevent all cases. Since only the new dogs have relatively light symptoms, I think the vaccine did help, but not prevent. They should be ready to run in a few more days, although the extreme cold seems to make healing slower. No mushing for them, until they’re better.
We kept Luke inside overnight, but he didn’t like it much. Ahab is getting antsy, after being inside for a few days, which is a good sign he’s getting better. We also had Monkeytail inside overnight, since she always has breathing problems in the cold.
