Treating Kennel Cough at Home!

Oh, hi there!  Did you think I dropped off the face of the earth and died?  Well, so did I there for a while.  I have been one busy mamba jamba lately, I tell ya!  I've been working full time, so I find that I don't quite have as much time as I used to.  Now that I'm on a break, I have a post that I hope you will find interesting.

I was thinking of calling this post "How to get your dog to take a nasty-tasting pill", but thought talking about kennel cough seemed a little more important.  My beautiful Lab Mix started coughing a few days ago.  A lot, especially at night.  It would produce a whitish foam and in a couple of instances, he would hack up some of his food.  He also had a runny nose. Poor little baby boy.

Eager to find some homeopathic (read "cheap") way to handle this, I set out on a Google search.  Within seconds, I found all sorts of remedies that mentioned really strange roots and herbs I've never heard of.  And I'm kind of a newbie natural living nerd, so I've heard of some crap that's weird!

Alas, I stumbled across Healthy Pets with Dr. Karen Becker (presented by Mercola.com)  I shouldn't be surprised.  He's the same Dr. Mercola who recommends whole foods, natural cures and grain-free diets.  He runs one of the top 10 medical sites on the internet (that is completely self-funded, I might add).  All around good guy whom I trust.

Read this little excerpt from his site.  I highlighted two items that are very telling!!

Dr. Becker's Comments:

Kennel cough has a number of different causes, only one of which — the most common cause — is the Bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria. Many people think bordetella is kennel cough, but that is technically inaccurate.

In fact, dogs that acquire the bordetella bacteria usually have a virus that makes them more vulnerable to infection. Some of these viruses are the canine adenovirus, distemper, canine herpes, and the parainfluenza virus.

Kennel cough is a form of bronchitis and is similar to a chest cold in humans.

        Many veterinarians recommend bordetella vaccines – either by injection or nasal mist          delivery. I’m not one of them, however.

Many boarding kennels, doggie daycare facilities, groomers and other similar businesses require dogs be vaccinated for kennel cough. Please understand the reason behind this requirement – it is to remove liability from those establishments. The truth is, these vaccines are ineffective and will not prevent your dog from getting kennel cough. The infection is caused by a wide variety of bacterial and viral agents, and no single vaccine can provide protection from them all. Nor will the vaccines treat an active infection. 

Here's a link to that page so you can read the whole thing if you'd like...Dr. Mercola

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Now, imagine my surprise (and horror) when I read that!  Although...should we realllllllly be surprised that we're being duped into paying for unnecessary pet care when we pay for unnecessary 'health' care for ourselves all the time?

Of the items on his list of treatments, the only thing I had was Vitamin C, and lots of it!  So, I set out to give my little Happo his pill.  As a side note, I had to open capsules and separate them out and fill other capsules partway because the dose would be too high.  (Be sure to check for the correct dosage for your doggy).   I'm thinking my little cutie would jump right up and eat it with canned dog food I had it hidden in.  Nope.  Cheese, no.  Peanut butter, no.  Bread, no. Sticking it in his mouth and holding it shut, nope.  He spit it out every time and gave me the cold shoulder:

 Ohhhhhhhhh, Happo, how could you turn your back on Mommy this way?!?

So out of desperation, I began rummaging through the fridge to find something better to hide it in.  See, because it's Vitamin C, it's really acidic tasting.  Nobody wants that, especially a dog.  He could SMELL it in every single thing I hid it in.  He'd carefully eat around it, then spit it out.  Today, I finally found the trick!  Hot Dogs!  Here's my quick little tutorial on how to be extra sneaky.  I think the hot dog was just smelly enough that it covered up the pill smell.

Take a hot dog and cut it into 1" pieces.  Insert a straw into the center.  Use a disposable one...I failed to, then had to throw this one away cuz I knew I'd never get it clean.  The nasty smears you see behind the hot dog piece is just from where I cut the hot dog on the paper plate.

 Pull it out and here's what you'll have....a little hot dog plug.  You can blow it out the end and give it to your pup pup.

Take your capsule and shove it in the hole.

You can still see part of the pill, and he STILL didn't notice, ha ha ha!  Now, you might be thinking....uh, why not just shove the pill in the hot dog without creating a hole?  Well, cuz the pill was big enough that the hot dog wanted to split on me.  Boo.  If you have small pill, do try that first though!

Here's an action shot of him jumping to get his hot dog treat!  (I know...cell phone pix suck)

And here's his sweet little adorable face asking Mommy for MORE, please!   None the wiser, just like I had hoped!  OMG, I love his nose!  Isn't that one adorable nose?????  It's like a big black rubber ball that I just want to honk! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Sorry...I'm smitten by this little fella!

So, that was two days ago that we started the Vitamin C.  I saw SIGNIFICANT improvement just on the first day!  Not kidding!  I was totally shocked.  Today, I think he has coughed twice.  While I'm a big fan of homeopathy, I really was skeptical about the treatment.  He isn't cured yet, but the improvement has been amazing.  I'm expecting tomorrow to be even better!  My other dog started exhibiting some signs of kennel cough, too.  It's highly contagious.  So, guess who else is on the regimen now?  If you have a few minutes, I'd highly recommend looking around Mercola's site.  Some awfully good information for doggies and humans!  What I like best is that my Happy Boy is getting better.  Just second to that is that I don't have a $100 vet bill I can't afford!  Yahooooooo!

UPDATE:  4 days later and the Hap is cured!  I continued to give him the vitamin C for a few days, but it was that quick!