dr. jill chase. graphic: kennel cough = tracheobronchitis >> his owner wants to know more about kennel cough and for that we of course turn to dr. jill chase. thank you for coming on. >> sure. >> all right. kennel cough. >> well, first of all, tell us about your friend. >> this is max. he was on one other time. he prefers not to be touched by anyone but his owners and me. >> nervous. >> feeling a little more comfortable. so kennel cough is actually inflammation of the trachea and the bronchi. it causes a nonproductive gagging cough. when the owner says they are making this very dramatic sounding cough, that in fact it's just irritation of the area. so every time that they cough they create more inflammation and it continues to lead to the cough so we treated it with sometimes cough suppressants and antibiotics. it's caused by virus and board tell and a bacteria. it's highly contagious and the dog should be confined until they have no cough for 48 hours. it can lead to pneumonia. they can have a cause

dr. jill chase joins us now with tucker. a warning for some of the viewers out there, we are going to show some pictures of his skin bumps so in case that makes you feel uncomfortable you can turn away. >> the reason i brought tucker in is because what i do is being a detective. the owner calls, says they see a bump on the animal's skin, i look at the bump and in tucker's case there was a history of the fact that he had had a tick and that maybe it was related to the tick bite, which is certainly on my list. but when they brought it in, it actually could be two types of tumors so we have been watching closely and i brought the photos in so you could see what it looked like in the beginning and then what it looks like today. so it started out looking like this, very innocuous pink bump and no number on it or anything like that -- no fur on it or anything like that, almost like a pimple. now it's gotten smaller and got a scab on the top of it. do you want to look? >> yeah. it looks a little better. >> it's hard to see. but any

dr. jill chase. what do do if your doctor is not eating? you brought in frankie who is a girl. >> a girl. her name is francesca. her brother bacon had a litter. i got a lot of calls from my owners asking if their dogs had been vaccinated for leptosperosis. it has been very prevalent in the bay area. it is a spiral bacteria that causes kidney failure. it is shed through the urine of mammals who have it. with all the rain, we have a lot of puddling so dogs are drinking water and eating wet grass, they are at risk if they have not been vaccinated. >> what are the signs? >> increased water consumption. increased urination. it is a fatal disease. you can sometimes get on top of it, but it is so expensive to street. so you want to take it to a very special practice for that type of treatment. the other thing i want to talk about, i have been seeing a lot of vomiting and diarrhea. sorry, this is around lunchtime. [ laughter ] but i see that this time of year when there is a lot of rain. dogs are of course using the park. even if you pick up the po