Posted by on March 27, 2020

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Headline Hounds: Kennel Kovid, our name for the kennel cough that attacked our two hounds before we left New Jersey, a week ago, to come to our home in Florida. The puppies did well transitioning from glorious Greensboro, where their suburban lifestyle included a huge back yard with trees, bushes, squirrels, chipmunks, and an occasional snake, to hanging out in a Jersey City high-rise, and learning how to operate in an elevator, dog run, dog park, and boarding environment. They’ve done well, but we’ve learned that it is not just humans that pass on their germs when they are not thinking about others; dogs do too.

In DSV Part 1, I mentioned our standard “being” map and our two grassland grandchildren that spew snot like a Yellowstone geyser. While we were out visiting them in Dodge City, our puppies were trying to manage life with a new team of dog walkers (they were great) because our oldest pooch had come down with a “kase of the kough,” so they could not hang with the pups at their normal boarding kennel. Well, the vet there in Jersey City helped get things started, but after we returned I made the mistake of taking the pups to the local dog park, and there, our pups picked up the Kennel Kough for real, while we fought the grandchildren’s gift to us, some kind of head cold, probably related to the coronavirus clan. And then, the Covid and turmoil hit the City.

Kansas sunrise
Sunrise in the wilds of Kansas grasslands

Two days after we returned from Kansas, I noticed that early raw sinus feeling that tells me I didn’t take enough Zicam when hanging out with the kids. At first, I thought hard about our trip back and knew we did our best to keep our hands clean, and since we’d already tuned into the Covid Crisis, had been on guard for travelers that exhibited any kind of illness, so I felt pretty sure that I was succumbing only to the normal cold that accompanies winter visits with grandchildren. Then as the Covid Crisis started to pump up, and my wife’s company decided to send everyone home with their laptops, indefinitely.

Empty front desk
Exchange Place is Empty

Nine days after returning from the midwest, and a week into working from home, we packed up our pooches, and came to Florida to ride “this one” out in our home there. Here. Unfortunately, the local population and the Governor are spouting off in the news about the influx of northerners as if we do not understand the serious nature of Covid 19, and they seem to think we came here go clubbing and infect the entire south, leaving SARS CoV2 everywhere we go, or don’t go, as the case is, since all our normal hangouts are closed, including the beach, and like we don’t deserve to be here no matter how many years we’ve been paying our property taxes.

Beaches Closed
At the Beach, no admittance

And then I see a TV news article that there are adult amusement halls still operating in the area, and many of the largest area employers are just starting to consider work from home. Whoops and excuse me, but there were hundreds of Covid 19 cases here before we arrived, and now you’re flooding the news with “QUARANTINE the Northerners,” as if we somehow missed what’s happening in our other home town? Wake up. Focus. The whole country in involved, and we who have been dodging the virus, intend to keep doing just that. I know how far 6 feet is. I know what coughing is. We have a thermometer and know how to use it. But lets get back to the K9 Kovid thing so I can chill before I close.

As we travelled south last weekend, Elvis, our old guy bulldog was obviously getting worse off, coughing more, and not sleeping well as a result and Lola, our youngster, started to exhibit signs of illness. We were hoping that they would recover as we drove and they rested, but no. By Sunday last, it was time to visit the First Coast Veterinary Specialists (and 24 hour veterinary hospital).

Dr. Nash and the staff at First Coast were great, and provided over the top service as we were asked to stay in our car and they came out to us in the parking lot to manage our K9 kase. They were way ahead of the covid curve, and during our consultation through the cracked window of our SUV, we learned that similar to flu shots, the vaccinations for kennel kough are not 100% effective in staving off that virus, but will keep the cough from being as severe as it would be without… After they returned our pups to the back of our SUV, the doctor gave us the complete lowdown, and reassured us that the old man was not in mortal danger, and she sent us home with something like 20 or so medications to continue their treatment; now our whole Covid Pod is in quarantine.

We’ll keep a safe distance when we do have to go out, continue to use sterile gloves, and take our temperature each day while we dodge this thing, and forgive the Governor for spreading the news to treat us as if we have the plague. I think I’ll continue to only drive the VA tagged car for the next two weeks or so.

Be well and keep your hands clean!

Music by: Tom Principato, “Bo Bo’s Groove” provided under CC 4.0 BYSA license. The intro was faded-in for this use.

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