The Veterinarian's Notebook: Coughing bulldogs

A bulldog puppy came in today that has been coughing for about three days. The owner said that the cough started about two days after another veterinarian gave an intra-nasal bordetella vaccination. Bordetella are bacteria that cause infectious trachea-bronchitis or what many people know as "kennel cough."

There are two forms of the vaccine: one is injected under the skin and the other is dripped into the nose.   The intra-nasal vaccination works better than the subcutaneous form but one of its complications is that it can make the dog cough afterwards. The vaccination manufacturer states that this doesn't happen often and if it does it shouldn't last that long. They stated it is self-limiting.

Unfortunately the cough didn't go away on this little bulldog puppy so we are going to try an antibiotic. The puppy is eating well, is active, and is not acting like it is sick.  If the cough does not get better with the antibiotics, we will take some x-rays of the chest to look for other things that could be causing the cough.

                         -- Rob Santos DVM, Monte Vista Small Animal Hospital