can dogs get just a cold?

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

Before we brought titan to the vet he was fine health wise. Since he has been home, he has been reverse sneezeing, boogies, gaging, sneezing, sniffling.  Is this vet needed or will it go away?

[GoldenPyrs]

Poor guy, he's had a week of it!  I'm thinking maybe kennel cough?  Cassie came down with it the week after we adopted her & she gave it to Daisy, so we had a few weeks of it here last year.  Mine sneezed, coughed (occasionally) and had sniffly noses & watery eyes for a week or so.  It can get worse than that for some, but our girls were just a little quiet & drippy.  Sam went into rescue with a nasty case of kennel cough, but he was horribly malnourished, so it hit him much worse.  If you are quite certain that Titan hasn't inhaled something that's irritating his nose, then I'd guess that it's kennel cough.  Assuming that he's eating, drinking, perky & otherwise seems ok, I'd probably just watch it over the weekend and then decide if he needs to be checked on Monday.  If that changes though or he's running a fever, you might want to have it checked before then.  In our case, Daisy & Cassie didn't need to go to the vet, for them it wasn't a big deal at all. Since I didn't know what to expect, I was about to take them to the vet when I talked with Pyr Rescue about Sammy and they told me that kennel cough is usually like a cold for us and just what to watch out for, so that's what I did.  Oh BTW, kennel cough is contagious, so I was just careful not to allow my dogs around other dogs until they were over it.

[maxsmom]

Max got what sounded like a cold, sneezing, hacking, etc. last summer.  I thought it was allergies, but when he did it for 2 days I made a vet appt.  2 days later when he went in he had the whole snotty nose, etc.  It turned out to be a sinus infection, or that is the way the vet described it and he was on antibiotics for 10 days to clear it up.
Kathy

[SadieA]

Sam also had a sinus infection a couple months ago. The main symptoms were snorting and hacking, and a runny nose and gross greenish boogers. He was given antibiotics for five days, which was extended to ten just to make sure he was COMPLETELY better, because he was flying to the States just a week later. Worked like a charm!

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

Is there anything i can give him OTC? I will take him to the vet (even though this is where he caught it), but is there anything i can give that is over the counter to help him out until we can go? He isn't coughing all the time, and from what i read, it is worse when lying down and outside. But he is fine. He coughs maybe 2 today. 

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

can i give him any medicine?

[bigdogs@5501]

With out knowing exactly what it ailing the pup, you dont want to medicate. If he has green discharge, then it is an infection and that would require antibiotics from your vet.
Kennel cough will usually clear up on its on in a reasonable amount of time with out any intervention and due to the fact that there are so many antibiotic resistant bugs out there- a lot of vets hesitate in medicating with antibitotics unless there is an actual infection.
Until you can get the pup into the vets office, a vaporizer would probably help get him some relief.
Sorry that I am not recommending self medicating, but the best solution for infection is for your vet to prescribe the antibiotics.

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

Today, we seem to have only coughed when we are excited or coming in from outside.  He did have the kc vaccine, and he is now in a small room with a vaporizor and a humidifier.  Come to find out all four of them are in deed sick, although the older one's don't seem to be having a hard time.  Titan has a lot of "boogies"  but seems to be wanting to play when he is outside and he was still interested in food.  I feel bad separating him, although i know it is better for all of us!

[GoldenPyrs]

I'm glad that they're not having too much trouble with it.  BTW, I was told by Pyr Rescue that the KC vaccine is only effective on 3 or 4 of the (something like) 30 different causes of KC.       Previously I had been under the impression that if you had your dog vaccinated against KC that they wouldn't get it, but last year I was told differently.     Has anyone else heard this?

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

Hello again, sorry to be a pain in the fanny...    but i have another question... i have been reading on kennel cough and it says hard coughing. Well we are coughing (maybe 3 times a day once at a time) and we have a lot of discharge from eye and nose.  Is that still kennel cough???

[GoldenPyrs]

That sounds similar to how Daisy & Cassie had kennel cough.  They each had a day or two where they sneezed or snorted occasionally and then from there on it was just the occasional sneeze or cough a few times a day.  The main thing for mine was just the runny nose & watery looking eyes.  If you are unsure though, it wouldn't hurt to call your vet.  Also, if they had a case of k.c. in the clinic around the time that you came in with Titan, then that would be a good indicator.  That's how we found out w/Cassie.  She'd been put in a boarding kennel by her previous owners (due to their medical emergency) for a few days until we could drive down & pick her up.  The next week I called to ask the kennel a question about her vet records & found out that they were having an outbreak of k/c.  Sure enough, the next day she was sneezing....

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

Today, we seem to be shaking our head non-stop.  I feel horrible!! He is eating like a horse, playing, nose is not running, eyes are clearing up, but now we are shaking our head like an ear infection.  I clean his ears and nothing came out of them...came out clean.  Then i put some tresaderm into his ear (which is for ear infections) just as a precautionary. ..(perhaps i should not have done that though).  OR could it be that his sinuses are drying up and his ear is itchy? He does keep itching and shaking his left ear...and also holding his left paw in the air...but i think he is having growing pains on top of all of this. I have being a hypocondriact (sorry for spelling) or at least i feel that i am. I just wish that kennel cough didn't come with other side effects!!!

[Guardian Angel's White lightning]

his ears were clean, they don't smell, there is nothing in his ear...no wax,...no dried debris, no "coffee grinds". Yeah he is in need of the vet, i put him back into his crate and he is out like a light!  that that can be good or bad..   

[People Whisperer]

Lily went through alike stage once. She was shaking her head quite a bit but her ears looked really clean and smelled like roses After a couple of weeks she stopped shaking it