Kate Johnson
Kennel Cough: Prevention is Better than a Cure
Kate Johnson is amateur whipper-in at the Pendle Forest & Craven.
Kate Johnson | Nick Gill www.nickgillphotography.co.uk
Kennel cough is a real setback for us hunters & our hounds. Hounds end up being out of action for quite a while, and hunt staff get irritated as they should be out hunting with them, not watching them sitting in kennels. It really does effect us more than people realise.
Hunt members begin drifting off to other hunts to get their hunting fix, and hunt funds take a bashing with no cap money coming in. It really does effect a hunt more than people realise: even when the cough has finished you cannot rush back out with hounds as they will have lost some fitness. So you can’t simply pick-up where you left off, or you could risk lasting damage.
We find the main times for kennel cough spreading is during the hound show season, or mixing at hound parades at county shows, and Boxing Day & New Years Day meets where lots of the public come to watch & support us. But the downside is they bring their own dogs to the meet, and mingle with the hounds.
As kennel cough takes two weeks to show any symptoms, unsuspecting people bring their dog out, which may seem fit, but could be infected. Or, as kennel cough can live in mucous for up to 24 hours - any slobber on your clothes can transmit to fit healthy dogs. So the infected dog need not be present to pass it on.
A number of packs are now fighting back with a prevention using a product from Crossgates Bioenergetics, a kennel cough resonance, which is added to the hound’s drinking water. Simply add 12ml of the product to a bath size water trough daily - it is so very easy to administer. Plus, should you have the odd hound coughing really badly, you can give them individual treatment too.
Crossgates recommend using it before the ‘danger times’ i.e. shows, parades & your big public meets. Generally for a week before, and a couple of weeks after to be safe.
It can also be used to boost the hounds’ immune system and help them recover quickly from the infection. Also, if feeding where water is added to the feed, it can be put into the water before mixing with the food. It does not taste or smell, so does not put them off eating or drinking.
Crossgates Bioenergetics make natural remedies for animals & humans and offer a specialised service of imbalance testing from hair samples or scabs or pus, should there be a condition not clearing up.
The company, which has just celebrated its 10 year anniversary employs 12 staff from the local community around Skipton: all staff are from farm, domestic or equine background. They have dedicated departments for dairy/beef, sheep, horses, canine, poultry/game birds & humans.
The boss is also very accommodating as she lets Kate drop a weekday during the season to whip-in for the Pendle Forest & Craven Harriers! Which is where Kate first trialled the kennel cough resonances with good results.
Kate Johnson
www.crossgatesfarm.co.uk | Telephone: 01729 824731 | Lo-call: 0845 1308242