Dog Flu: Keep Your Pet Safe
You’ve heard of flu outbreaks making people sick, but they can happen to dogs, too. Our doggie friends can catch “canine influenza,” which not only makes them feel bad, but can be dangerous to them.
If you know the signs, you can help your dog feel better, or maybe keep him from getting sick at all.
What are the symptoms of dog flu?
”Just like when people get the flu, you can expect your dog to sneeze, have a runny nose, and cough,” says Barry N. Kellogg, senior veterinary advisor to the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. Other symptoms are tiredness and lack of appetite. Some dogs also can have a fever of 104-106 F.
Sometimes, you may not know your dog has the virus. Up to 20% of dogs with the flu don’t show any symptoms.
How serious is it?
Most dogs who get the virus don’t die. But “Canine influenza can cause more serious illness than the average respiratory infection,” says Cynda Crawford, DVM, PhD, of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. In some cases, it can turn into pneumonia. At that point, the disease becomes more dangerous. Puppies and older dogs are more likely to get severely ill once they’re infected.
What are the chances my dog will catch it?
If they’re exposed to it, “close to 100%,” Crawford says. “The vast majority of dogs in the U.S. have not been previously infected or vaccinated against dog flu.”
Dog flu is very contagious. Your pup can catch it when an infected dog sneezes or coughs on him. Since the virus also can live on objects, he could get it by putting an infected ball or toy in his mouth. It’s possible for people to give their dogs the virus, too. If an infected dog coughs or sneezes on you, the virus can survive on your skin for 2 minutes and for a day or longer on your clothes.
What breeds are most at risk?
All ages and sizes of dogs are equally at risk. But “dogs with ‘smushed-in’ faces like pugs, French bulldogs, and Pekinese may have a tougher time dealing with the flu,” Crawford says. “Because of the anatomy of their respiratory tract, any respiratory illness takes a harder toll on them. ”
Can people catch dog flu?
“So far, there have been no reported human cases,” says Amesh Adalja, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and School of Medicine.
But flu viruses are great at adapting themselves to infect other animals, so there’s always a risk people could get it, Adalja says.
How is dog flu treated?
Just like humans, dogs need rest and fluids, Kellogg says. Make sure your pet has a quiet, comfortable place to recover and plenty of water to drink. Your vet may prescribe antibiotics if your dog gets a bacterial infection along with the flu.
If your pet shows any signs that he’s sick, it’s important to keep him away from other dogs. Avoid dog parks, kennels, or any other place where he’ll be around a lot of other dogs, Amesh says. Most dogs get better in 2-3 weeks.
Is there a vaccine?
Yes. If you live in an area where there has been an outbreak of dog flu, or your pet often comes into close contact with other dogs, it might be a good idea for him to get the shot.
“The vaccine doesn’t necessarily prevent the flu, but will decrease its severity,” Kellogg says. “Talk to your veterinarian and see if he or she recommends it.”
************************************************************************************************
COMMENTS FROM LOVINMYPUP.COM:
With the flu season just around the corner, remember your fur baby during this time of year. And while dogs cannot get or transfer the human form of Covid 19 , make sure you get your vets advice if you suspect your pup has contracted the canine form of flu. Just like with the human vaccine, the vaccine itself may not prevent the flu in your pet, however, it will decrease the severity of the illness. If your pup regularly sees other dogs, you probably should consider talking to your Veterinarian about this vaccine.
Thank you for your support and don’t forget to check out the banner links for unusual pet related gifts and supplies. Please note that we get a small percentage of all sales which helps in hosting this site.. Keep coming back! Make sure that you share your love with your fur baby each and every day.
https://www.wikipedia.org
Audrey
Thank you for referring me to the Wikipedia site for more information om Canine influenza. It is an excellent
source of very comprehensive information. It is a very valuable resource for me to use. I truly appreciate your direction. thank you
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you happen to be using?
I’m experiencing some small security issues with my latest
blog and I would like to find something more risk-free.
Do you have any suggestions?
I use Word Press and I love it. this is a totally new experience for me so I don’t have a lot of experience with internet web sites and blogs. The only problem I am having is a great deal of spam in my comments.
I used to be able to find good info from your blog articles.
Zella, are you looking for something specific? You said “used to” Is their a problem that you are experiencing? We would gladly either research a topic or you or try to fix whatever problem you are experiencing. Please let us know if we can help!
It’s actually very difficult in this busy life to listen news on Television, therefore I just use world wide web for that reason, and get
the most up-to-date news.
We do our best to try to keep the newest information available to help pet parents abreast of new hazards and health and safety issues. I am a retired urse and have discovered that many problems that we experience are also found in our pets. We hope that we are fulfilling the need.
Do you have a spam problem on this blog; I also am a blogger, and I was wondering your situation;
we have created some nice procedures and we are looking to trade strategies with other folks, be sure to shoot me an e-mail if interested.
Deanna,
Yes I m having a terrible problem with spam. Actually my web site went down for 5 months due to a company that scammed me. It took 5 months to prove I owned it and actually I lost almost a year of postings. Before it went down there were scattered chinese postings but since March when it went back up the spam has been terrible. Since my new Web company had to completely redo my site, I didn’t want to address it with them, hoping that it would stop. I would appreciate any advice you could give me. I will be addressing this with my internet company in the near future. Please keep coming back.
hey there and thank you for your info – I’ve certainly picked
up anything new from right here. I did however expertise
several technical points using this website, since I experienced to reload the web site lots of
times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality
score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this
RSS to my e-mail and can look out for a lot more of your respective interesting content.
Make sure you update this again soon.
Thank you so much for your kind words. Has this problem been occurring lately. In March my site was moved to another host. Before the site was with a crooked company and it went down from September 2017 to March 2018 while i fought to prove it was mine. If the problems are occurring now, Please let me know so I an address the problem with my new web manager. Thank you again for bringing this to my attention. Hope to hear from you soon.
I like the helpful info you provide to your articles. I’ll
bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly.
I’m reasonably certain I will be told plenty of new stuff proper
here! Best of luck for the next!
Thank you Fletcher, I am a retired Nurse and decided to follow my second passion in life, our fur babies. It is amazing that the more I learn about the care and treatment of our dogs and cats, correlates with the human metabolism and disease. I am so glad that you are benefitting from the articles and my comments. Thank you for bookmarking my site. If there is a topic that you would like researched, just let me know and I will gladly research and post it. Thanks again and keep coming back!
Useful information. Lucky me I found your website
by accident, and I am stunned why this coincidence did not took place
earlier! I bookmarked it.
Thank you Melissa. I am so happy you found the site too. I knew nothing about web blogging so I hired a company. Well after 8 months they went under and was informed that i didn’t own my website. This site has been down from Sept. 207 to March 2018 until i could finally prove I owned the site, I am so happy you found it now. I am with a great company now and instead of fighting scammers, I can actually fulfill my goal of educating pet parents. Keep coming back. New articles are posted daily!
What you posted made a great deal of sense. But, consider this,
suppose you were to create a awesome headline? I ain’t suggesting your content isn’t good, however suppose you added a headline that grabbed folk’s
attention? I mean Dog Flu : The Approaching Season – Lovin My
Pup is a little boring. You could look at Yahoo’s front page and note
how they write article headlines to get viewers to
click. You might try adding a video or a picture or two to get readers interested about what
you’ve written. Just my opinion, it would make your website a little livelier.
Thank you for your suggestions. LovinMyPup.com is the name of my website. The articles that I post are written by experts. I use my Facebook business page to promote articles on the web site. My facebook page is called “Lovin My Pup” the address is https://www.facebook.com/Lovin-My-Pup-1068679096518744/ You can check it out whenever you like! New articles are posted daily.
Pretty portion of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog
and in accession capital to say that I get actually enjoyed account your weblog posts.
Anyway I will be subscribing on your augment and
even I success you get admission to constantly rapidly.
Thank you Lan ! The purpose behind my blog is to help pet parents ensure the safety and health of their fur babies! Keep coming back and please spread the word! I use my Nursing background to make my comments at the end of each article. I hope you will enjoy all of thee articles I post. Thank you again.
I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like
yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all
webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be
much more useful than ever before.
Thank you for your very kind words, Deloris. When I retired from Nursing I decided to follow my second passion in life which is my furry babies! I decided to Use my Nursing background to pick and choose articles that will really address the issues that pet parents face on a daily basis. I am amazed with the similarity between our furry friends and issues we as humans face every day. Please keep coming back and spread the word. New posts are added daily. I am very new at web sites/and blogging and to hear your compliments tells me I am really making a difference. Please keep coming back.
Hi! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could
get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one?
Thanks a lot!
Sorry Katherine but I am novice on web sites. I dont know what you are trying to do. Sorry ut I can”t answer your question. Maybe GoDaddy might be able to help you. Thank you for visiting Lovinmypup.com,
It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us.
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Kenton. My goal is to search the web for important information to help pet parents understand and protect their pets. I find that using my Nursing background helps me to chose articles that would be beneficial to other pet lovers. Please keep coming back. And don’t forget you can use the banner link to Amazon and Walmart to purchase anything they sell as well as the traditional and specialty pet supply stores . Have a great day!
Yesterday, while I was at work, my cousin stole my apple ipad and tested
to see if it can survive a 40 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My apple
ipad is now destroyed and she has 83 views. I know this
is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!
It may be off topic, but I am sorry for your loss. They are not cheap!
Really great post, I definitely adore this website, keep on it.
Thank you so much. If there is a particular question that you would like answered just let me know. I would be happy to research it for you. Keep coming back. There is more to come!
Amazing issues here. I am very glad to look your article.
Thanks so much and I am looking forward to contact you.
Will you kindly drop me a mail?
I am happy to drop you an email. I am working very hard to make this site truly a “one place to learn and shop” for your doggie best friend. The links all will lead you to amazing and unusual sites to purchase all your needs for your pup. thank you for your following!
Thank you. I am very new at this. you can contact me via Face book fan page Lovin My Pup ( i think)