For the past year or more, we’ve been trying to track infectious upper respiratory tract disease (officially known as “canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC)” but more commonly called “kennel cough”). It’s a tough thing to do since testing is limited, the disease is always present to some degree in the dog population, and there’s
Bordetella bronchiseptica (Kennel Cough) Vaccination in Dogs: Human Health Risk?
A recent paper in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics entitled “A doggy tale: Risk of zoonotic infection with Bordetella bronchiseptica for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients from live licensed bacterial veterinary vaccines for dogs and cats” (Moore et al. 2021) discusses (as the title suggests) human health risks from commonly-used
Canine Respiratory Disease Issues, Ontario?
I get calls about concerns regarding increased respiratory disease in dogs all the time.
- Sometimes, they’re the result of local disease outbreaks.
- Sometimes, they’re just a result of increased awareness of the normal “baseline” disease rate, since “kennel cough” is always occurring at some level.
- Sometimes, the circumstances just seem different, and we need to
Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Outbreak Tracking
Not uncommonly, I get questions about outbreaks of “kennel cough” (more formally known as canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC)). It’s not uncommon for us to see little outbreaks of this kind of respiratory illness in dogs, and we don’t have a good handle on the amount of “background” disease that’s always present in the
Modified-live pet vaccines and immunocompromised owners
Here’s a question I get a lot that I’ve posted about before:
I am immunocompromised, is it safe for me for my pet to get a modified live vaccine?
Or
A client came in and said their physician told them their pet should only receive killed vaccines.
Here is a little background first: Killed
Kennel cough: To test or not to test
“Kennel cough” (now more conventionally termed “canine infectious respiratory disease complex’) is a fairly common problem in dogs that can be caused by an array of bacteria and viruses. We commonly see it in outbreaks, often linked to kennels, but sometimes we see higher levels of disease in the broader community. What we’re more concerned
Canine and Feline Respiratory Infection Treatment Guidelines
The latest set of clinical treatment guidelines from the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases have been published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Lappin et al 2017): Antimicrobial Use Guidelines for Treatment of Respiratory Tract Disease in Dogs and Cats: Antimicrobial Guidelines Working Group of the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious
Canine respiratory disease precautions
If you’re one of the many (many) people asking about what to do in the midst of a canine respiratory disease outbreak, or someone who just wants to know what to do to reduce everyday risk of CIRDC, here are some basic pointers:
The microbes that cause respiratory disease in dogs are primarily
Increased canine infectious respiratory disease: Ontario
Infectious respiratory disease isn’t exactly rare in dogs. A variety of viruses, bacteria and Mycoplasma can cause what we generically call canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC, formerly and still commonly called “kennel cough”). We see clusters of disease periodically and hear rumours of larger outbreaks, but usually there’s not a lot of additional information
From the kennel cough files….
Kennel cough, also (and more properly) referred to as canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC), has been in the news lately. This condition is a syndrome, not a specific disease, being potentially caused by a range of bacteria, viruses and Mycoplasma, including canine parainfluenza virus, canine influenza virus, canine respiratory herpesvirus, canine adenovirus