Is it normal for my dog to lose appetite while on kennel cough meds?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Vega! If she is acting normal and eating you just may need to give the medications some time to work. You can add water to her food to increase water intake. Also if she eats canned food that has more water in it. Kennel cough can take 2 weeks to resolve. Just watch for loss of appetite, lethargy, yellow or green nasal discharge or a change in cough (more moist) that may indicate pneumonia. I hope this helps and I wish Vega a speedy recovery!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The diarrhea is very common after boarding and can be related to either the food or the stress/excitement of boarding. The thirst is usually secondary (that is, to keep up with the water loss of the diarrhea.) The antibiotics Tylan and metronidazole are commonly prescribed for diarrhea because they restore the gut bacteria balance and have some anti-inflammatory effects in the gut as well. I expect that part o clear up in a few days. The cough could still be kennel cough. “Kennel cough” is a syndrome that can be caused by about a dozen viruses and bacteria. The current kennel cough vaccine only covers one bacterial cause. If it is mild, you may not need to do anything. Most dogs clear kennel cough on their own within 4 weeks. If she is not eating, is lethargic, the cough is severe or keeps her (or you) up at night, you need to see your vet for antibiotics and/or a cough suppressant. Of course coughing can also be: pneumonia, fungal infection, heart disease, bronchitis, and others. So if you are worried at all, see your vet. Best wishes to you and the pups!

This very well maybe a side effect is the antibiotic. If he is still eating and drinking and there is no blood in the stool, you can add a canine pro biotic to his food to see if that helps. You can also try boiled chicken and rice as a diet. If it get worse and he stops eating I would stop the medication until you can get him seen.

If the vomiting occurs at the end of a coughing fit then it is likely to be related to the kennel cough. I know it can be pretty scary, and make them quite poorly too. However, the worse is over in 3 days then things start to look a bit better. Kennel cough has its own course of about a week but can last 10 days or even a bit longer if the immune system is a bit depressed for other reasons.Have you tried to offer small amount of food throughout the day ? Something like Hill’s A/D or RCW recovery that you could mix with water and then just offer lukewarm. It is a diet that is quite rich in energy so he would not need to eat as much as his normal food. The most important thing in the acute phase, the first 3-4 days from when its starts, is supportive care. Make sure Peanut rests, encourage him to eat a palatable diet, keep comfortable, warm but not too hot. If you are worried, that he is vomiting all the time, he is too lethargic, have him checked over, better to be safer than sorry.

Kennel cough typically resolves with or without treatment in 7-14 days. The cough may linger though. Warm her food or add a teaspoon or two of baby food to stimulate her appetite. Offer a 50/50 solution of water and unflavored PediaLyte until she is eating regularly.

I would recommend that you have your puppy re-evaluated by a veterinarian. Kennel cough does not usually cause this severe of a depression. It can, however, turn into pneumonia and should be treated very seriously. There are no human OTC cough suppressants that are safe to use in his situation since we don't know exactly what is going on. Warm water with honey and lemon is safe, and may soothe a simple cough.

Sometimes dogs with kennel cough, particularly with severe cases, do not want to eat because of the trouble they are having breathing. They need to concentrate on breathing rather than taking in food, and don't want to accidentally inhale anything. Sometimes the best way to combat this is with cough suppressants such as hydrocodone syrup, or something like Robitussin tablets. I don't typically associated dullness and being thin with kennel cough, so it is entirely possible that there could be something else going on entirely. If matters do not get better in the next day or two, I would take her back into the veterinarian for reassessment.