Dogs that meet other dogs get infections, and in a city where animals share lifts, pavements, parks and waiting rooms, that is most dogs. Most of these illnesses are mild and self-limiting. The reason to take them seriously is the ones that are not, and the fact that a dog with a contagious illness in a group setting becomes ten dogs with it.
Kennel cough
The name is misleading. Infectious tracheobronchitis is a syndrome caused by several different bacteria and viruses, and a dog can catch it from a short conversation between two dogs at a street corner as easily as from a boarding kennel.
What it looks like: a sudden, dry, honking cough, often described as a dog trying to clear something from its throat, sometimes ending in a retch or a bit of froth. The classic case is a dog that is otherwise bright, eating normally, and coughing most when excited or pulling on the lead.
What to do: telephone your practice rather than walking into the waiting room with a coughing dog. Many vets will ask you to wait outside or to come at a quiet time, which is a courtesy to every other animal in there.
When it is serious: puppies, elderly dogs, and dogs with existing heart or airway problems can become genuinely unwell. Go the same day if there is fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, laboured breathing, or a cough that produces coloured discharge.
Vaccination reduces the severity and the likelihood but does not make a dog immune, in the same way as a flu vaccine. A vaccinated dog can still cough.
Isolation: keep the dog away from other dogs for as long as your vet advises, which is often a week or two after the cough stops. Walk alone, at quiet times, and skip classes, day care and grooming appointments.
The other common ones
Gastroenteritis. Vomiting and diarrhoea, often from something eaten on a walk. Many cases resolve with a short fast and bland food, and some do not: blood, repeated vomiting, lethargy, a young puppy or an old dog, or anything lasting more than a day, all mean a call. Assume the dog is shedding something infectious and pick up meticulously.
Parvovirus. Rare in vaccinated populations and devastating in unvaccinated puppies. Severe, often bloody diarrhoea and vomiting in a young dog is an emergency, and the virus survives in the environment for a long time. This is the principal reason puppy vaccination schedules matter and are not optional.
Leptospirosis. Spread through water and soil contaminated by rodent urine, and it can affect people too. Relevant for dogs that swim or drink from puddles and streams, which in this country is a lot of them. Ask your vet which vaccine is used locally and how often.
Giardia. A common parasite in young dogs, causing soft, greasy, persistent diarrhoea that responds poorly to a bland diet. Diagnosed on a faecal sample and treated specifically. It spreads through contaminated water and faeces, which is why picking up matters beyond good manners.
Ringworm and mites. Skin conditions that pass between dogs and, in the case of ringworm, to people. Bald patches, crusting or intense itching need a diagnosis rather than a cream.
Where dogs actually catch things
Anywhere dogs gather and greet: enclosed dog areas, day care, group walks, classes, grooming salons, boarding kennels and veterinary waiting rooms. Also shared water bowls outside cafés, which are a charming idea and a straightforward transmission route.
Carry your own collapsible bowl. It costs nothing and removes one of the commonest sources.
Reducing the risk without living in a bubble
- Keep core vaccinations up to date, and discuss the optional ones against your dog's actual lifestyle
- Keep parasite prevention on schedule rather than on memory
- Avoid shared bowls and puddles; carry water
- Pick up every time, including where nobody is watching
- Ask boarding kennels, day care and classes which vaccinations they require. A facility with no requirements is telling you something
- Wash hands and change clothes after handling an unwell dog, particularly around puppies
- Do not take a coughing or scouring dog to a class, a park or a groomer, even if it seems well in itself
The social part, which people get wrong
Tell people. If your dog has kennel cough, message the walker, the groomer, the neighbours whose dogs it plays with, and the kennel you have a booking with. It is briefly embarrassing and it prevents an outbreak that will cost several households time and money.
The same courtesy applies in reverse: if somebody tells you their dog is coughing, thank them and keep your distance rather than insisting that dogs will be dogs.
Booking care when a dog is or has been unwell
Boarding kennels and day care facilities will normally require a period clear of symptoms before accepting a dog, and will ask for vaccination records. Plan around it, because a holiday booking cancelled at the last minute because the dog is coughing is an expensive surprise.
In-home care has an advantage here: a dog that is recovering can be looked after in its own flat without meeting other animals at all, which is often the practical answer during an isolation period.
At PAWLY dogs are walked individually, so a dog with an infection is not passing it to a group, and any cough, change in stools or loss of appetite noticed during a visit is reported the same day. That early note is frequently what gets a dog to the vet a day sooner.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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