Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex

CIRDC refers to a contagious cough caused by one or more viral or bacterial pathogens. Laymen often refer to CIRDC as “kennel cough” because of its frequent association with dogs that have been recently housed in kennels or shelters. These settings allow for physical proximity of animals (which facilitates contagion spread) and contribute to disease susceptibility and morbidity in other ways, too. Difficulties associated with sanitation in large groups of dogs, poor air quality, the continual exposure to new animals with additional new pathogens, and the stress associated with kenneling cannot be overestimated as a proximate factor in CIRDC. In fact, potentially pathogenic microbes that often cause subclinical infection or very mild illness in well-acclimated, laboratory-raised dogs can cause severe disease in dogs exposed in less favorable settings.

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