Kennel cough is a loose term describing a disease in dogs similar to "whooping cough" in humans. It is also called tracheobronchitis, which describes the parts affected -- inflammation/infection of the breathing tubes in the throat and lungs.  There are bacterial forms from the bacteria named Bordetella bronchiseptica.  This bacteria's first name is sometimes used instead of kennel cough.  There are also viral forms and who-knows-what-causes-it forms.  Only a certain number of forms are addressed by vaccination.    However, it is important to know that the vaccination prevents the variety of kennel cough that kills dogs.  Note that if you do NOT vaccinate your dog, you risk his illness and death along with exposing other dogs to illness.

If your dog has not been vaccinated and starts coughing violently, take her to the vet pronto.

If your dog has received the vaccine in the nose, rather than the shot, KEEP HIM AWAY FROM OTHER DOGS FOR AT LEAST 72 hours (3 days).  Your dog can make other dogs sick from his vaccine.  It takes 4 days for your dog to be protected, and up to 7 days.  Plan to stay home from the dog park or other gatherings for a week to keep your dog and his friends safe.

If you don't want to go to the link, read this paragraph: The best prevention is to not expose your dog, especially young puppies, to other dogs.  If this cannot be avoided, then proper vaccination is the next best option. Chances are that if your dog is regularly vaccinated with a standard 5-way or 7-way vaccine, he is already being protected against several of the agents causing tracheobronchitis, mainly parainfluenza and adenovirus. However, these vaccines alone rarely provide protection against contracting the disease, although they will help reduce the severity of the disease if the animal becomes infected.

UC Davis Vet School recommendations

Foster&Smith pet ed (commercial site)

ccc%20Kennel_Cough__Infectious_Tracheobronchitis__in_Dogs%20copy.pdf

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