The lowdown on dog flu

Keeping your dog healthy
And you can take steps to protect your dog from exposure. Wherever you take your dog, make sure that good infection-control practices are in effect, the AVMA recommends. Most of the dogs that have been diagnosed with canine flu were in animal shelters, boarding kennels, or pet stores: facilities in which dogs are found in high numbers.

“Canine flu is extremely contagious, and it’s spread through the air, so once one dog that has it starts coughing, it’s spraying virus to all the other dogs in the area,” Crawford says. “It’s very hard to control the spread unless you remove the coughing dogs.”

This is where you can take steps to minimize your dog’s exposure to canine flu. Ask your groomer, your boarding kennel, your doggie daycare center or the dog show superintendent about infection-control procedures. You want to know if there’s ever been a dog or dogs with a respiratory infection at their facility, how they isolate dogs that develop coughs while there, whether they have a veterinarian on call, and how they notify owners that their dogs have been exposed to other dogs that have developed a cough.

If you think you’ve come in contact with a dog that has canine flu, wash your hands, clothing, and any equipment or surfaces you may have touched. This will help ensure that you don’t pass on the virus to your dog.

On the flip side, don’t take your dog to the park, groomer, boarding kennel or dog event if he’s had a respiratory infection within the last week or two or if he’s been exposed to another dog that’s been sick in the past two weeks.

Don’t be afraid to adopt a racing greyhound or a dog from a shelter. Do pay attention to that dog’s condition. You want to choose a healthy dog, not one that’s coughing or has a runny nose.

No evidence people are at risk
And if you’ve been worried that you could catch the flu from your dog, well, you can rest easy. Crawford says there’s no evidence that this virus can infect people, horses, cats, ferrets or any other species.

“The canine virus is most closely related to the horse influenza virus,” she says. “We’ve had horse flu in this country for 40 years, and there has never been any evidence that people acquire influenza virus infection from hanging out with their horses who are infected with it. However, we’re not letting our guard down. We, including the Centers for Disease Control, the public health experts in this country, will be monitoring flu infections in dogs and any people who report to their physician that they think they have influenza and they think their dog has it too so they think they got it from their dog. We’ll be on the lookout.”

Kim Campbell Thornton is an award-winning author who has written many articles and more than a dozen books about dogs and cats. She belongs to the Dog Writers Association of America and is past president of the Cat Writers Association. She shares her home in California with three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and one African ringneck parakeet.

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