Raquel Santiago, a veterinarian with a European diploma in internal medicine, explains what causes respiratory issues in dogs and cats that people often mistake for colds. She covers the symptoms, how these infections spread, and when you need to take your pet to the vet.
Good morning. My name is Raquel Santiago. I have a European diploma in internal medicine. I work at the Hospital Veterinaria del Mar. And today we are here doing recorded training for Bishan. The topic we are discussing today is what the owner may know or may come to the consultation saying that their dog or cat has a cold. The term cold as such is not really a concept that we use in dogs and cats, although we do have infectious respiratory diseases that can cause similar clinical signs and that may cause the owner to come to the consultation. For this reason, when we talk about dogs or we talk about colds, almost all of us think of coughing or nasal discharge, more or less sneezing. They are actually two very different signs that are located in different anatomical regions. When we talk about sneezing or nasal discharge, we usually locate it in the nasal cavity. When we talk about coughing, we can locate it in the respiratory tract, either the upper respiratory tract or sometimes the lower respiratory tract. Okay. When we talk about colds, the problem is often infectious canine tracheobronchitis, which was previously known as kennel cough. It is a purely infectious problem associated with bacteria and a virus. These are dogs that have usually been in contact with other dogs that have a cough and the owner is very worried because it is usually a cough that can end in nausea and is quite intense. We must not forget that most of the time in immunocompetent adult animals, these are self limiting processes and will almost never require antibiotic treatment. Sometimes an anti inflammatory will help improve the condition. It is true that in puppies, older dogs are dogs that are somewhat immunocompromised because their immune system does not work properly or because they have another pathology. It can sometimes lead to pneumonia and require antibiotic treatment and a greater degree of diagnostic tests. It rarely occurs with sneezing and nasal discharge. When we talk about sneezing and nasal discharge, we are referring to the nasal cavity and nasal cavity pathologies are different. We can have allergic rhinitis. We can have the presence of foreign bodies quite frequently, especially during the year of corn season, for example, if they are animals that walk through the countryside. And then there are more severe pathologies, such as tumors of the nasal cavity that can occur with what we call nasal discharge and sneezing. As you can see, these are very different diagnoses that require completely different investigations. And I think it is important that they are evaluated by a veterinarian. When we talk about cats, there is also no such thing as a cold, just as we understand it in people. Okay, Cats can have upper respiratory signs compatible with nasal discharge, sneezing and sometimes lesions in the oral cavity, which most of the time also have an infectious origin which are associated with some types of viruses that are very common, especially in farmed or adopted animals or that live with other cats in shelters. We mainly have calicivirus herbis virus and then we have other bacterial entities such as chlamydia that can also affect the ophthalmology. They are usually mild, moderate pathologies, but sometimes they can lead to clinical pictures that compromise the animal's quality of life with a lot of secretion with associated bacterial infections Animals that do not want to eat and are really unwell Therefore, as with dogs, they may not require specific treatment, but there will be some animals that will have to be visited by the vet. Therefore, my recommendation is if you have any questions or if the animal does not want to eat or is really unwell, come to the clinic so that we can perform a thorough physical examination, determine if more diagnostic tests are necessary, and we can provide a definitive diagnosis and treatment for our patient. Thank you very much for your attention. I hope you enjoyed the short video we made. If you want more information, you have the BETF Phormacio courses or you also have the links that will appear associated with the video of both BETF Formacio and Hospital Veterinaria del Mar in case you want to consult us. Thank you very much.
