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I am fostering a dog who has heartworms and who has kennel cough and I do have my own dog too.
When I received him they gave me his meds which is doxy, and he is not scheduled for his next HW treatment until 2 weeks (slow kill?).
I just read online I am not supposed to let them drink from the same water bowl????
He only coughs at night or when on a leash from his collar.
Also with the HW: I have my own dog on heartguard. So she can't get it from sniffing his poo or if a mosquito bites him and then her (if she is in HG she should not get it, right)?
He has been here two days and he drinks her water and eats her food even though he has his own bowls.
Please help.
Someone pm'd me and said I put it in a wrong area before, sorry for the error.
if your other dog is on heartworm prevention the risk of her getting heartworm is very low.
your biggest risk right now is her catching kennel cough...
now firslty kennel cough in itself is the equivalent of a human cold...kennel cough itself is VERY VERY low risk (the risk comes when a young puppy, older dog or dog with compromised immune system gets it (it can turn topneumonia if the dogs system is not strong enough to fight it off) its inconvenitne and not "fun" but its not going to do much more than be annoying for a HEALTHY adult dog (the dog with heartworm is at a much greater risk because his immune system is already compromised)
that being said Bordatella (kennel cough) is HIGHLY ocntageous...sure they shouldnt realy dirnk ofr eat out of the same bowl to help prevent the spread, BUT in reality youd have to keep them in complete isolation of eachother to be certain shes not going to get it...each cough/sneeze puts the virus into the air, so even eing in the same room...those little particles can travel great distances...
this is why it spreads through kennels SOOOO quikcly, sharing food or water bowls just puts the dogs in more direct cntatc with the virus...but sharing the same airspace (it can even travel through AC systems) is enough in most cases.
now for most healthy dogs, their systems will fight it off very easily, many show no symptoms at all, others act like theyve got a cold or a little cough for a few days...
(and no the kennel cough vaccine is not all that helpfull unless you only gave it a month or 2 ago (its only got a 3-6 month effectivness and only works for a small numbr of straines) so even if shes been vaccinated shes still likely to get it...just keep an eye on both dogs, and personaly id be "no dog park, no doggy day care, o vistiing with doggy frineds or to the petstore for a few weeks...even though its a mild illness at bestin most cases, its still not nice to share lol
Just to be clear she can't get HW other than a mosquito biting the foster and biting her and somehow making it through her heartguard?
As for the Kennel cough, well now I don't know what to do.
I will make it clear not to share food/water bowls but we have AC obviously....He doesn't cough often but he coughs once a day but mainly when on leash or at night.
Just watch my own dog? At first sign of anything take to the vet?
I wouldn't obsess overly about the kennel cough. I've adopted two dogs with kennel cough before, and each time the dog I already had at home didn't get sick. I didn't take any special precautions, and no one had advised me to. One reason shelter dogs get kennel cough, along with the close quarters, is that the stress they're under weakens their immune system. As long as your dog is healthy, there's not much reason to be worried. If she does get sick, it should be easy to treat.
Regarding the HW, no, if a mosquito bit the infected dog and then the treated dog, well, that likely happens often- a mosquito gets around the neighborhood and might well have bitten some dog with HW. It's not going to get transmitted that way as far as I know, and I work in the medical field (and remember the same mosquito fears about HIV) and have had many dogs.
Thank you for fostering. Sounds like your foster has gotten quite fortunate in landing in your home.
I usually give the Nose Relief product also since they are often sneezing. HomeoPet - Nose Relief
They key is to make sure you put the drops in your dogs mouth and not try to give it to them through food. I pull back their gum and put the drops in the area between their teeth and their gum. You also have to count the drops out to make sure you don't give too many.
I use a number of the homeopet products to treat all sorts of things the fosters come in with and have had great success with them.
I've also had a HW positive foster dog. If my recollection is correct the HW preventative medicine you give your dog works after the fact, so just make sure you give the doses to your dog on time each month, after the foster is cleared up, and you should have no problem. I have my dogs checked for HW about 6 mths after the season ends every year and so far they are always negative. We don't use HW preventative any more but during mosquito season I use anti bug shampoo before camping trips and spray them with an anti-mosquito natural oils spray before their morning and evening walks to keep them from being bitten. I also have used the garlic and brewers yeast tablets to make them less appetizing to bugs. The anti-mosquito spray is non-toxic and very effective so we started using it on ourselves also. Better for us than traditional mosquito spray.
Thank you all for your advice. Brightdoglover, yes, I love him, he has a new huge large bed and a self watering bowl now. He even gets his hiny wetwiped liked my other dog of they don't clean themselves all the way lol. My husband said we can only foster one, so if I keep him then we can't foster another and I want to help save the shelter babies as much as I can. I did think that HW was as easy as a mosquito bites him then bites my dog and then she gets it even of on preventative lol, so thank you. I have found a nice place with .05% Ivermectin and has a measuring cup. I just have not given it to him yet but I will in the next two days.
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