My puppy is coughing and hacking

by Justin
(kentucky)

My 5 month old walker coonhound has like a cough or hack, and he eats fine barks normal.

What could this be?





Hi Justin
It sounds as though your pup may have Kennel Cough. It's a viral infection and is most often picked up from places where lots of dogs are kept together - such as kennels, rescue centers and so on.

Any dog who spends time at one of these type of locations (including being boarded while owners are on vacation etc.) is at risk of catching this if they've not had the bordatella vaccination when they got their puppy shots or regular 'boosters'.

It's usually a self-limiting condition and dogs often recover from it without treatment. BUT sometimes a secondary infection can occur, an upper respiratory tract infection, and this needs veterinary treatment as it can fairly easily turn into pneumonia which is very serious.

I'd strongly recommend having your puppy examined by your own veterinarian to first of all make sure that this is what is going on and there's not another health condition causing his coughing.. and then to see if he actually needs any treatment.

Hope this helps, best of luck for his recovery.