Coughing After Bordetella Vaccination

[terrecar]

Hannah developed a cough five days after her (subcutaneous) bordetella vaccination. I took her to a different vet since mine was booked, and he put her on a short course of antibiotic which cleared it up (or it disappeared on its own, who knows, but my understanding is that some types of kennel cough are bacterial). My question is this: how likely is it that she picked up the cough from the vaccination? I realize the vaccine only confers immunity to some sources of kennel cough, but the same veterinarian owns the kennel where I board her from time to time, and they require twice yearly bordetella vaccinations.

[Gideon's girl]

I have been told, but don't know if it is actually true, that the kennel cough vacc can be like the flu vacc which can cause an immune response that mimicks a mild case of the disease, though it really isn't.

[simba]

Fever and mild soreness and things are common side effects of the vaccine, because it aims to stimulate the immune system, and those are things the immune system does when stimulated. Some vaccines have cough as a side effect, I don't know about specifically bordatella.

 

It's a killed vaccine, it can't give the dog bordatella. So either the cough was unrelated and the antibiotics cleared it up, or the cough was a side-effect of the vaccine and went away by itself.

 

 

Personally I'd rather see those kinds of mild side-effects than no effect at all, because then at least I know the immune system is responding to it. If it doesn't, then the vaccine's just an expensive way to annoy a dog.