Dear Dr. John,

My husband and I went out of town and boarded our two dogs at a private home facility that we have used before. We dropped them off there six days ago. Both of our dogs are up to date on all of their vaccines, including for kennel cough. Nothing was mentioned when we picked them up, but last night our older male dog started hacking and coughing, bringing up very sticky saliva. Our younger female dog started to hack some this morning. I called our vet and am awaiting a call back but wonder what you might attribute this to. Is it possible they picked up kennel cough and the vaccines are not protective? The dogs ate this morning and do not otherwise seem too lethargic. H.R.

Dear H.R.,

Hopefully, what you are observing is a mild viral cough that the dogs picked up while boarding. Your veterinarian may have you bring the dogs in to make sure there is nothing of too much concern. In my experience, most viral coughs take about 5-9 days to incubate but literature suggests that kennel cough can manifest clinical signs between 2-10 days post exposure. Given that you are now six days out, it is quite possible that the dogs have a viral cough.

Bordetella bronchiseptica is what is given in a vaccine but, just like the common flu, there are many different types of coughs out there. I’m sure that the vaccine given to your dogs is protective. Nationally, there has been a big drop off in the mystery respiratory dog illness that was never fully identified. It had a longer incubation period of 7-10 days and for those two reasons, I doubt your dogs are affected with it. Weather and time of year does not necessarily predispose dogs to cough.

I would probably keep your dogs away from other dogs in case the cough is of a contagious nature and also inform the boarding establishment that they started coughing today. Chances are that if they picked it up while there, other dogs may be similarly affected. See what your veterinarian recommends, and the cough will probably just pass.

Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic. He can be reached at 781-899-9994.