Dog daycare employees reporting uptick in kennel cough

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WSMV) - Throughout the Middle Tennessee area, many doggy daycares have been seeing a spike in kennel cough cases. While veterinary clinics have been filling up, many of the daycares have been emptying.

Paw Pals Dog Daycare and Boarding in Brentwood managers said right now they have been seeing their highest number of kennel cough cases ever and that it has been spreading through the community, fast.

Brennan Jay with Paw Pals said the virus took over their daycare within a matter of days.

“By Thursday we were already up to 20 cases which is the most we’ve ever had in one year and that was after two days,” Jay said.

Hundreds of dogs all over Middle Tennessee have been catching and spreading the virus and it’s all caused by a new strain of the virus coming up from Alabama, according to Jay.

“Since it came from a different state, that’s why everyone was been getting it no matter the vaccine status or anything like that and it’s very contagious,” Jay explained.

Paw Pals normally boards around 50 dogs a day, but Jay said that after the outbreak, they have been boarding about five.

“We have just been letting everyone know that if they can afford to keep their pets at home, that’s what we recommend,” Jay said.

Some veterinarians said they’re backlogged with Kettle Cough cases because it’s highly contagious and spreads through the air.

“It will sound like they’re trying to cough something up and it’s tricky because they don’t show symptoms for 3 or 4 days,” Jay said.

Although protecting all dogs from the virus is important Jay said older and young dog owners should be even more cautious.

“Most dogs are okay with it, they will get over it on their own but older dogs and really young ones, they can get pretty sick from it,” Jay said.

If you can, daycare managers suggest keeping your dog a bit isolated from other dogs for the next few weeks.

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