Can cats catch kennel cough from dogs?

A cat can catch Bordetella bronchiseptica, the bacterium shared between dogs and cats, from an infected dog. It's uncommon for a healthy cat to actually fall ill, but it happens, and the risk rises in crowded settings like shelters and boarding.

Why doesn't my cat cough like a dog with kennel cough?

The classic dry, honking cough is a canine signature. In cats the same kind of infection usually looks like a head cold, sneezing, runny eyes and nose, and a cat who's just off, which is why it's filed under 'upper respiratory infection' rather than 'kennel cough.'

When should I take a coughing cat to the vet?

Any persistent cough in a cat deserves a workup, because feline asthma, lung disease, and other serious causes mimic infection. Seek care urgently for fast or labored breathing, pale or bluish gums, or a cat that stops eating.

Illness & Conditions

The Word 'Kennel Cough' Is Why Cat Owners Miss It

Cats can catch the bacterium behind canine kennel cough, but they almost never produce the dog's signature honk. That mismatch is exactly why the illness slips past cat parents. Here's the real signal to watch.

By Dr. Lena Park, Emergency & Critical Care

June 5, 2025 · 6 min read

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Here’s a small linguistic trap that costs cats real vet time. “Kennel cough” is a dog phrase, named for a dog’s symptom, and when cat owners go looking for it in their own pet, they look for the wrong thing. They wait for the loud, dry, honking cough that’s almost a punchline in dogs, and because a cat with the very same infection rarely produces it, the illness flies under the radar until the cat is clearly sick.

So the most useful thing to understand about cats and kennel cough isn’t whether it can happen, it can, but how completely different it looks. Get the signal right and you’ll catch it early. Keep waiting for the honk and you’ll miss it.

The naming problem, in one paragraph

In dogs, the formal term is canine infectious respiratory disease, a mix of viruses and bacteria that inflame the airway and produce that hard, hacking cough, hence the nickname. Cats can be infected by one of the same organisms, but the feline version doesn’t get the “kennel cough” label at all. Vets file it under the broader heading of upper respiratory infection, or URI, because in a cat it presents as a respiratory illness that’s quieter, subtler, and easy to mistake for an ordinary cold. Same family of bug, different costume.

What actually crosses from dog to cat (and what can’t)

This is the crux, and it hinges on a virus-versus-bacteria distinction most owners never hear.

The viruses that drive canine kennel cough, canine parainfluenza, canine respiratory coronavirus (not the human one), canine influenza, canine herpesvirus, canine adenovirus-2, are species-specific. They will not jump to your cat. Full stop.

The bacterium is the exception. Bordetella bronchiseptica is the one organism on the kennel-cough roster that moves between species, and it’s the one a cat can pick up from an infected dog. It colonizes the respiratory tract and spreads two ways: through the air via coughing and sneezing, or through shared objects like food and water bowls. The reassuring part is that cats are generally more resistant to Bordetella than dogs. More resistant, not immune.

So when someone asks “can my cat catch kennel cough from the dog,” the precise answer is: not the viral parts, but yes, the bacterial part, and even then, actual illness in a healthy cat is uncommon.

The signal to watch, since it isn’t a honk

Because the feline version hides inside the URI umbrella, it looks like a bad cold. Watch for:

Sneezing
Discharge from the eyes or nose
Fever
Appetite loss
Lethargy, a cat who just isn’t themselves
Coughing (present, but quieter and less frequent than in dogs)
Difficulty breathing

The coughing, when it shows up, comes from airway inflammation, but it’s muted compared to the canine version, which is the whole reason the “kennel cough” name misleads.

“In a dog, kennel cough announces itself with that dry, honking cough you can’t miss,” says Dr. Lena Park, DVM. “In a cat it whispers. You get runny eyes, some sneezing, a cat hiding more than usual. Owners tell me they were waiting to hear a cough before they worried, and that wait is exactly the problem. I’d much rather see a sneezy, off-looking cat early than a struggling one late.”

Who’s most likely to actually get sick

Resistance isn’t the same for every cat. The animals that tip from “exposed” to “ill” tend to share a vulnerability.

Immune-compromised cats are the biggest risk group. Feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) both blunt the immune response, and catteries housing FeLV- or FIV-positive cats see more illness from infected dogs or Bordetella-carrying cats.

Older cats are more vulnerable, less because of age itself than because seniors more often carry conditions like diabetes that weaken immunity. A pre-existing health problem lowers the bar for getting sick.

Young kittens can get hit hard. They’re more prone to Bordetella pneumonia, which can make them seriously ill and require medication or even hospitalization.

When a cough crosses into an emergency

For mild cases, a vet may simply recommend supportive care at home until things resolve. More serious infections can call for antibiotics, oxygen therapy, appetite stimulants, or other support. Treat the following as reasons to get help right away, and warn the clinic ahead of time that your cat may be contagious so they can protect other patients:

Rapid or labored breathing
Pale or bluish gums or tongue
Refusal to eat
Weakness or collapse
Symptoms that don’t improve within 10 days
Bloody discharge from the eyes or nose
An inability to open the eyes

How to keep it from reaching your cat in the first place

The core strategy is simple, keep your cat indoors and away from new or sick animals, but a few specifics make the difference.

Quarantine newcomers. Even a fully vaccinated, healthy-looking new dog or cat is worth keeping separate for at least a week, because some animals carry Bordetella without symptoms. The buffer also gives your resident cat time to adjust to a new housemate.

Vaccinate only in select cases. A Bordetella bronchiseptica vaccine exists for cats, but it’s not a core vaccine, because significant feline illness is uncommon enough that routine use usually isn’t warranted. It may be recommended for cats in shelters or breeding catteries. One important caveat: the vaccine is often a modified-live intranasal product, meaning a weakened but living strain. A healthy immune system clears it easily, but a compromised one can struggle, so it’s not recommended for immunocompromised cats (FeLV, FIV) or for cats whose caretakers are themselves immunocompromised. There have been reports of immunocompromised people becoming infected with Bordetella after a pet was vaccinated, so any animal with kennel-cough-like illness should be kept away from people with weakened immune systems.

Keep things clean and ventilated. In a shelter or busy multi-pet home, hygiene does the heavy lifting: fresh-air ventilation and HEPA filtration cut the airborne bacterial load, surfaces get cleaned regularly, and sick animals get isolated. Bordetella can even hitch a ride on your clothes, so change after handling a sick dog or cat.

Support immunity. Stress and poor nutrition both weaken defenses. Feed a complete diet matched to your cat’s life stage, keep the environment calm, and provide enrichment and regular play to keep your cat low-stress and resilient.

What’s shifted recently

Veterinary medicine has been paying closer attention to cross-species transmission in general, nudged by the broader spotlight on emerging diseases in pets. The practical guidance for Bordetella hasn’t changed, but the underlying point, that a coughing or sneezing dog can occasionally threaten a housemate of another species, has only been reinforced, and boarding facilities and shelters have continued tightening ventilation, cleaning, and isolation protocols.

There’s also growing recognition that any persistent feline cough deserves a real workup rather than a wait-and-see. Feline asthma is now better understood and more readily diagnosed with imaging, which means a cat brought in over a “kennel cough” worry may leave with a more accurate diagnosis and a more effective plan. That’s the deeper lesson here: in a cat, “is it kennel cough” is almost always the wrong question. “Why is my cat coughing, and what does the vet find” is the right one.