Canine Influenza

By James R. Moebius, DVM

In the category of “we really didn’t need another thing to worry about”, along comes something called canine influenza or “dog flu”. This influenza virus is a mutation of a virus that has been found in horses for over 40 years. Around 2004, it crossed over to dogs and has been an emerging threat since then. For many years it was only being found in other parts of the country, primarily East Coast, and even then only in isolated areas typically with very high dog concentrations such as dog tracks. The incidence gradually expanded until this year when there was an outbreak at a large kennel and animal hospital in San Antonio. That brought the incidence much closer to home for those of us in North Texas.

There are other troubling characteristics of this virus. The first is that infected dogs can spread this virus BEFORE they are showing symptoms. That makes stopping the spread very challenging. Also, as with most influenza viruses, it is quite contagious as most dogs exposed will show the classic symptoms of cough, runny nose and fever. Fortunately, not many dogs will develop the most severe symptoms including severe lung disease. Even the lesser symptoms, however, are no fun to deal with – just ask any person who has contracted our flu. (So far there is no indication that dogs get our flu or vise-versa).

Fortunately, we have a method of prevention in the form of a vaccine. Based on the increased incidence and occurrence closer to home, we will be recommending this vaccine for any of our canine patients that congregate with other dogs in areas such as dog parks, kennels or dog day care centers. The initial vaccine is a 2 part series with the doses given 2 – 4 weeks apart. After that, it is an annual booster.

If you have further questions on this relatively new disease, contact your veterinarian. Another good source of information is the Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov/flu/canine).