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Hi /an/. I used to be from /diy/, /g/, /b/, and /x/, but I haven't been on 4chan in a while. I'm coming to you today with a sad story, and hoping to get maybe some answers or clues about what happened.
Yesterday, we all went to my parents' house to celebrate the holiday. They had two chocolate labs - both rescues so we don't know their exact ages, but they've had them for nine or maybe ten years. One is geriatric, the other about 10 or 11 years old.
The younger had been coughing for just over two weeks. The vet called it "kennel cough", and said that it should go away after up to three weeks. It's caused by a viral infection and just needs to run its course. But other than that, this dog was running around, being playful, cuddling with me and my children, and begging for turkey - all normal dog stuff.
Less than an hour after that, he was laying on his side, and howled softly (we thought in response to howling wolves on the TV). Shortly after that, we noticed he wasn't breathing. I've had First Aid, CPR, and SAR training, and my mom is an RN, so we all tried our best to do CPR on him for what must have been about 20 minutes, but we couldn't save him.
There are two things I don't understand:
1) Kennel cough is not supposed to be fatal
2) This dog was HEALTHY apart from a cough, and the coughs were like 45 minutes apart, and then he just died?
###If anyone has any information about anything like this, I would appreciate it if it was shared in this thread.###
I'm going to encourage my folks to order a necropsy or some sort of post-mortem exam figure this out.
BTW, less than an hour after doing CPR on this dog, I've got a crap ton of mucous - is it possible I caught something? I don't want to spread it to my kids or pets.
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>2) This dog was HEALTHY apart from a cough
you know this for a fact because he had a full vet checkup recently or are you assuming it because he seemed to be happy and playful?
it could be that with all the excitement of the party and the viral infection that he overexerted himself.
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Kennel cough is highly contagious. If you do not vaxx your own dogs for it, you should take the appropriate steps.
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>>2269499
>you know this for a fact because he had a full vet checkup recently or are you assuming it because he seemed to be happy and playful?
He did see the vet in the week prior, and the vet said that aside from the cough, he was healthy.
>it could be that with all the excitement of the party and the viral infection that he overexerted himself.
This is a good point. According to my parents, he hadn't been acting lethargic prior to this, just coughing. But, this thought had crossed my mind as well. Maybe his heart had been under extra stress from troubled breathing and coughing, and this caused him to suffer a heart attack, but again, he had been acting this way for the entire duration of the cough - playful and happy.
>>2269501
>Kennel cough is highly contagious. If you do not vaxx your own dogs for it, you should take the appropriate steps.
I only have cats. I'm worried about the cats or my children getting it, but I haven't really found anything that states it can jump species like this.
I'm not entirely convinced this dog has kennel cough, or if he did, I'm not convinced he didn't also have something else - either as a result of KC or something else entirely.
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>>2269497
Old dogs can die of kennel cough, although it's not likely. Excitement and stress could have extrapolate the issue. could have also died of something else entirely. You should have got some antibiotics from your vet. They are expensive though, and usually not needed.
Cats and kids don't get KC. Only dogs do. The other dog should get antibiotics
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>>2269537
Keep in mind that this was not my dog, nor do I own any dogs. The vet did not prescribe any antibiotics because kennel cough is caused by viral infection, not bacterial infection.
I am inclined to believe that kennel cough was either a total misdiagnosis or simply a contributing factor, and not the root cause.
Thanks to everyone who replied to this post!!
UPDATE: I spoke with my mother on the phone a little bit ago. They're taking the surviving dog to the vet today at 3:30 because he has started to vomit now. I've encouraged my parents to try and get some sort of postmortem examination done on the dog that has died.
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>>2269552
Mineocycline and doxycycline are commonly used for dogs who have kennel cough. Vomiting is also a symptom of kennel cough so don't be surprised if the diagnosis remains the same.
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>>2269554
Okay smarty-pants here's why it's retarded to use antibiotics to treat a virus:
https://www.cdc.gov/features/getsmart/
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>>2269554
I would only be surprised because it's not typically fatal for dogs that young.
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I just heard back from my mother after returning from the vet.
The vet thinks that this was either a blood clot that has become dislodged and went to the brain, causing a fatal stroke, or a tumor caused an organ to hemorrhage and bleed out.
It sounds to me like conjecture, but that's all the closure I'm going to get, as they're not going to do any post mortem examination.
Thanks for your help today /an/.
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>>2269650
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings pal, but every vet clinic I've been to offer drugs for kennel cough when the dog was brought to our clinic showing signs. If it was a shelter or kennel like setting, any dog with KC symptoms would get the meds regardless of whether we thought they could fight through it. The only time they wouldn't hand out these pills is if the dog was not eating, or owner refused. I don't think you understand kennel cough as much as you think you do.
http://www.greenvillevet.com/GVC_Kennel_Cough.pdf
http://www.1800petmeds.com/education/kennel-cough-treatment-dog-cat-44.htm
http://www.kachinaanimalhospital.com/assets/canine-infectious-tracheobronchitis-(kennel-cough).pdf
The dog could have died from complications of KC, which otherwise would have been subdued with antibiotics.
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