Protect your pooch

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

It's highly contagious and its carriers don't always show symptoms, enabling it to spread quickly.

Although canine influenza has not yet arrived in North Idaho, it is something experts are monitoring.

"It's always a concern," Dr. Aprill Sherman, a veterinarian who co-owns Rathdrum Animal Clinic, said Thursday. "We are paying attention to where we’re hearing the cases."

The first confirmed case of dog flu H3N2 in Idaho this year was reported in the Boise area earlier this week. According to www.dogflu.com, the H3N2 and H3N8 strains of this viral infection have hit almost every state in the country, with 74 additional cases of dog flu confirmed in California and 52 cases in Nevada just this month.

"It is very, very, very, very contagious," said Kootenai Humane Society executive director Debbie Jeffrey. "The virus survives on surfaces for 24 hours."

KHS has not had reason for concern regarding a current dog flu outbreak, but "we worry about it all the time," Jeffrey said.

"We clean every morning, we clean all the surfaces, we mop throughout the day in the front and in the walk areas of the dog kennel," she said. "We do the best we can."

Sherman said the flu affects canines differently from humans. It starts as a cough.

"The coughing is the most consistent clinical sign," she said.

She said Rathdrum Animal Clinic has conducted three respiratory panels on patients this month, all of which were negative.

Aside from the coughing, dog flu can cause fevers, loss of appetite, discharge from the eyes and nose and it can cause dogs to be lethargic.

"Some can progress to the more severe signs and cause pneumonia," Sherman said. "Definitely, any cases of coughing that persist for more than a day I would recommend an examination to test for influenza."

If a dog is showing symptoms, Sherman recommends quarantine.

"With these influenzas, they have an incubation period of two to eight days and the dogs are contagious at that time," she said. "There could potentially be dogs spreading the disease before they start to show signs. That's why influenza is so worrisome and can potentially cause outbreaks."

Vaccines do exist for both strains of dog flu. They require one injection followed by a booster shot three weeks later. Although not every vet has the vaccines on hand, Sherman said they are accessible, but can be expensive.

"It's not a routine vaccine. It's not something we recommend," she said. "It's more of an exposure recommendation — dogs that travel a lot, that go to dog parks and shows and to doggie day care."

She said other easily treatable conditions also cause coughing in dogs, but if pet owners are concerned, they should consult their veterinarians. 

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, canine influenza is transmitted through droplets or respiratory secretions from coughing, barking and sneezing. It can be spread through objects, such as water bowls and leashes, so it is important to disinfect items that have come in contact with infected dogs.

It cannot be transmitted to humans but it can be spread to cats. Its mortality rate is low — less than 10 percent — "but it is a potential," Sherman said.