Natural Remedies to Treat Kennel Cough in Dogs

I was at a loss as to what to do for my little yorkie who was suffering from what I believed to' be kennel cough and I read others' feedback and the hydrogen peroxide really works! Within the first hour he showed a significant improvement. I also gave him a bit of honey to help ease the cough and the combination of the two have really been a life and a money saver!

hey everyone.. i rescued a beagle named snoopy from wake county animal shelter a few months ago and when we brought him home he he would heev' and cough it was quite odd.. so i did the peroxide 3% from the store and mixed it in his water about 1 cap fulls twice a day .. after a week he was good and i have stopped the treatment the following week.. he's been great ever since..

Hi. My comment is to Anthony with Snoopy the rescued Beagle. We have 2 Beagles (Copper and Bailey). Snoopy may also be experiencing the 'reversed sneeze'. Both of my Beagles do this every once in a awhile - it's looks like kennel cough. It's almost like they're about to vomit (heeving and coughing). As directed by a vet, you just have to hold their nose closed, making them breathe through their mouth. Sometimes I have to help Bailey open his mouth. Copper is an old pro at it. This opens the air passage that is causing the heeving by releasing the pallet that is caught in the throat. It's hard to do, but it works every time.

I have a 14 year old white boxer who developed kennel cough and after 2 vet visits and over 400 dollars later he was getting worse. I found info about food grade hydrogen peroxide curing kennel cough so my father in law got a bottle of it at a nature store and 3 days into giving it to my dog he is 50 percent better!!! I highly recommend it but do be careful on how much you give to much can be harmful. My dog weighs about 65 pounds and I give him 3 drops in 8 tablespoons of milk 3 times a day. Good Luck!!!!

My 12 year old dog has had an intermittant cough for some months now. It may not be a cough but an irritated throat (which is what the vet saw). Every so often he would get up from his bed making a sound as though something were stuck in his throat. This happened several times a day. I solved this problem by adding 2 drops of food grade hydrogen peroxide to his water bowl. This choking/cough stopped within a day. If I forget it comes back the next day.

My elderly dog (60 pounds) got kennel cough for the first time from the vet exactly 5 days after going there to get vaccination boosters, including one for kennel cough! I added a few drops of 3% peroxide to his food, mixed with water, and he stopped coughing within about 48 hours. However, I didn't keep up the peroxide and the cough came back.. After a week of this, I took him back to the vet who told me, "Yes, it's possible he caught it here" and that it can take up to 2 weeks for it to run its course, maybe longer for older dogs. He ended up giving me antibiotics since my dog also had a runny nose and I was about to go out of town and leave a coughing dog with my dog sitter. The antibiotics kicked his healing into high gear and he stopped coughing the next day. So I like the peroxide remedy for kennel cough but recommend to definitely keep it up for a few days after symptoms disappear.

I think if one of my dogs gets kennel cough in the future, I'll try the peroxide, honey and fresh lemon juice remedy that I just read about in posts here on EC.

How many drops of the hydrogen peroxide can I safely give my 10 lb. chihuahua mix who is 12 yrs. old?

I have a Chihuahua and half Corgi. He's about 10 years old he has his cough and gagging and clear foamy spit around another dog that has kennel cough so I just need to know what to do right now.

I have used honey lemon and Peroxide mixture and it worked so good for my 13 1/2 year old Retriever. I was just wondering how long I can continue using Peroxide on her for since I have seen a huge improvement since using it.

Hi, I'm very interested in trying this home remedy for my 11 lb doggie. he's 14yo has an enlarged heart and taking "vetmedin" for this. this has caused another problem (gagging cough )for which he has been on "tussigon". IT works! However it is too expensive so Id like the exact portions or proportions of water, honey and food grade hydrogen peroxide so that I can try it out. Thanks so much!

Hello, I have 2 dogs on Tussegon and you are right. It is very expensive.

I did find that if you get the GoodRx app and sign up it will cut the cost in half. All pharmacies honor the GoodRx card and the app will tell you where you can get the medicine the cheapest.

It does work great with our maltese who has a cough due to heart disease.

I noticed that this post was originally started by an individual in British Columbia. The original post made reference to Food Grade Peroxide. From this I make the assumption there is a difference between H2O2 I would find in on the drug store isle and grocery store isle. Is this true in USA as well? If not, what isle at my local grocery should I look for Food Grade Peroxide or should I be planning a trip to health food store?

I thought hydrogen peroxide will induce vomiting?

My dog has an enlarged heart as well. Cough tablets for dogs and cats by creative science...it works! You can order it from Amazon without a prescription. I also use young at heart and lung gold by Pet wellbeing along with CoQ10.

I had read that it's a good idea to give a dog H2O2 daily in their drinking water as a preventative. Do you have any information on this?

YES! When I adopted my 2nd Bichon from the pound, she had kennel cough. The vet was wanting to charge me 200 bucks for a medicine and told me that it usually doesn't work the first time around. I told him I would try myself and then bring her back if my rememdy didn't work. I found a chewable supplement for kids and gave her 1 wafer. She ate it without problem. A few hours later, she stopped coughing altogether. I even gave it to my first dog so that she wouldn't get sick. It works and it is cheap! Anytime I use any kind of human supplement on my dogs, I use a child formula as it helps with taking the guessing out for dosage because children's medicine/vitamins usually give dosages according to weight.

P.S. Even though kennel cough presents itself to dogs who are under stress and have compromised their immune system because of the stress, it is contagious- be sure that you lysol your pet's kennels and wash their linens while you are treating them. Good luck!

Please tell me you don't use Lysol. Do you understand what each ingredient does to your lungs as well as your fur baby health? clean with unscented lavender sugar soap, unscented castile soap etc...

Do you know what is in Lysol which is actually a pesticide, that stuff made my aunt asthma worse?

OMG I have spent over 600 dollars in vet bills trying to fix this problem that I have been dealing with for over 3 mos. And I tried this less then an hour ago and both of my dogs are not coughing anymore. Thank you so much. I also took all of their toys and washed them as well. Thanks again Vickie

I just used 3 drops of peroxide method for my 3 dogs, lab, pit bull, and a rott and I am amazed at how much better they are doing. My pittie was really bad and he actually can get up and walk around without hacking. Thank you for everyone's input on this website it helped me. There is no way I can afford 3 vet bills and 3 dogs on antibotics right now.

Yes three drops from an eye dropper. Worked for my pup.. I did it whenever I filled her bowl up with fresh water; which was morning and night.

It will if you use it at 6% I believe but not 3%. just by adding 3 drops to their water bowl is fine- I do it all the time whenever they're looking sick- dogs, cats, chickens- all. (including myself) ;)

My dog was diagnosed last year with kennel coughing, whatever stopped within cough. I knew this was wrong because Kennel Cough is higly contagious, so the experts say. I have three other dogs that lives in the same house and they have never caught it. The vet gave my dog an atibiotic which never worked and a year later she is still couging and still no other dogs in the house coughing.
Tonight I tried 1 tbsp. Of Organic maple syrup only and within 10 minutes her hacking, gagging, coughing stopped. I am going to try the lemon juice and 3% peroxide with the maple syrup if this coughing starts again tomorrow.
I will not spend another 200.00 for bloodwork etc.or antibiotics again. That expensive therapy did nothing for my dog. Just 1 TBSP has done the job for now. Maybe we all will have a quiet night and day tomorrow. I know she is miserable coughing all the time. It's defintely not a contagious disease whatever the cause.

The new 1year old yorkie I'm fostering seems to be exhibiting Kennel Cough symptoms. At day 2, he was having a hacking cough attack approx 10 min after eating (last only a few secons). Seemed to be okay during the day but definitely lethargic like other symptoms noted on this forum. in the evenings, he was prone to more frequent, but smaller hacking fits (which thankfully don't last long for his sake). I didn't want to go the traditional antibiotic route due to his size and unknown history.

After reading about the hydrogen peroxide option (I have the 35% grade), I diluted 3tsps of H2o2 in 8oz of water with a little bit of honey - cut a few small pieces of bread and soaked the bread in a few tsps of the mixture, then mixed the bread with his lunch. I was excited after all of the other reviews on here, but the poor little guy threw up his lunch shortly after eating. :(

I see one of the h202 uses is also an emetic, so perhaps the solution wasn't diluted enough? (Or maybe this mixture is not suitable for small dogs?)

A few hours later, he's been resting most of the day (and will get up for hugs and pets), but will go back to his blanket to rest. He had a few hacking spells but they didn't last long.

Any other suggestions? I'm aware of the pneumonia precautions with KC as well as trachea issues with Yorkies.

Since he travelled far (shelter/kennel in either GA or SC) to NYC, I want to be sure he's taken care of properly (and believe me, he's getting LOADS of TLC and Love :))

Thank you, all.

Three tsp of 35% food grade is way too much. Should have been three drops.

Something must be a typo - 35% HP should NEVER be ingested! HP is caustic. If you get it on your fingers it will make the skin go white. It will turn back to normal in about 10 minutes but you wouldn't want to do that to the insides!!!! 35% food grade HP has to be diluted, 1 part to 11 parts water. And do not take the stuff you get in the brown bottles from the pharmacy/supermarket, that is not for consumption as it has toxic stabilizers in it. A little caution, please! HP is wonderful but one must be careful with doses in this especially. It really is a great thing to know about Hydrogen Peroxide - miraculous!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Yesterday my dog woke up sooo sick. She was coughing and had terrible mucus in her nose and I could tell she was feeling very sick. I gave her the peroxide and honey and truthfully in 5 minutes, she went outside and ran around like the puppy that she is.I know it sounds unbelievable, but I am telling the truth. I mixed a few drops of peroxide and honey and some warm water and poured it down her throat. It is now in her water dish. Thank You !!

Okay, I will be trying this remedy but what I keep seeing is 3 drops, what measurement is three drops, like a teaspoon, tablespoon, etc? I have a min pin. that weighs about 10-12 pounds

I just read all the comments about hydrogen peroxide and honey but no one ever commented on whether you could use regular peroxide or if you needed the food grade. Does anyone know the answer to this? Thanks...

i have a 12lb 3 month old puppy. I didnt want to give him peroxide so i gave him half a tbsp of robbitusin DM. every 9 hrs or so. After only 2 dys he stopped coughing . I also applied honey mixed with a little lemon juice directly in his mouth everytime he started coughing too much.

Ok we tried the peroxide and honey addition to the water when I had a rescue foster come into our household. I heard her sneeze and knew what was coming. I have my 4 dogs also and was really a bit worried. I added the peroxide and honey daily for a few weeks. My foster only had a mild bout with the kennel cough, my three eldest never got sick. Two had had K.C. before when I got them, one had never ever had it, she and the other two did not get it. BUT my youngest did. Sooo I guess it worked for 3 of mine and not the forth. I still would recommend giving it a try because I only had one get sick.

My Pomeranian, Holly, had kennel cough. WE used the 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, but the cough would just get weaker. We then tried no-dye Benadryl in the the morning and at night. It works great she has a lot of energy during the day and at night she can sleep. We are going to do this remedy for another week so she can get better.

I have a malshi (mix of maltese and shitzu) and he has been having that weird cough like he is chocking on something and then he stops..I dont know if that can be considered kennel cough or not. He doesn't sneeze but i did notice some nasal discharge. Should I just give him the hydrogen peroxide? and just to double check...the hydrogen peroxide has to be 3% or 35%?

Hydrogen peroxide - 3%!

Anything stronger could burn or cause other problems.