Dr. Maro: Should your pet be vaccinated for canine influenza?
Canine Influenza or dog flu has been in the news lately. Though the Pittsburgh region has not seen any major outbreaks, other areas in eastern Pennsylvania have had outbreaks occur in shelters, dog daycare centers and boarding facilities since November. The concern for local pets is that a highly contagious illness like the dog flu can spread rapidly when dogs travel with their owners or visit dog parks and kennels.
Canine flu is not contagious to humans, but it is caused by one of two strains of influenza viruses, H3N8 and H3N2, which cause flu-like symptoms in infected dogs. Because the viruses are relatively new, there are not many dogs that have developed natural immunity.
Canine Influenza causes illness in 80% of exposed dogs. Signs of illness are most often a runny nose, cough, lethargy, inappetence and fever, which may last 10 days to two weeks. Most dogs recover with supportive medical care, but there is a 10% fatality rate.
Some dogs require hospitalization when the cough progresses to pneumonia. Dogs at the highest risk for pneumonia are pets who are very old, young and those that have other illnesses, like respiratory allergies and heart disease. Dogs that have been in high-stress settings, including dog shelters, can also develop more serious complications.
Shelters/adopted dogs often suffer from emotional stress due to abandonment and have complicating health conditions, such as parasitism, which compromise their immune function.
Additionally, dogs that travel with their owners are at increased risk of exposure to infectious diseases. Influenza is one of those illnesses, but it’s not the only infectious respiratory disease in dogs. Pneumovirus, canine distemper virus, kennel cough (bordetella/parainfluenza) and streptococcal (strep throat) can all occur in dogs, causing a cough.
Many infectious diseases can be prevented through immunization, and this includes canine influenza. Most dogs are vaccinated to protect them from getting distemper virus, kennel cough, and parainfluenza, but many dogs have not received influenza vaccines.
If you travel with your pet, check the current flu outbreak maps. If you’re going to a high-risk area, talk to your veterinarian about getting your pet the initial two vaccine series of Influenza vaccines. After the first year, annual vaccines are recommended.
In my integrative practice, many owners want to avoid excessive immunizations. This is especially true of animals with cancer and autoimmune disorders. In those cases, I often use Chinese herbs and homeopathic medicines to prevent infectious diseases, with informed owner consent. There are herbs with antiviral effects that offer owners another option for improving immune health.
Many people, veterinarians included, assume when a dog starts coughing and it has been in a kennel or boarding facility, the diagnosis is kennel cough. In my experience, this diagnosis is rare. Kennels require pets that are boarded to be vaccinated for kennel cough or infectious tracheobronchitis, so other diagnoses are more likely.
When I examine a coughing dog, I usually obtain samples to test for bordetella (the infectious agent that causes kennel cough), and it has been many years since I’ve gotten a positive culture result. Most of the coughing dogs I treat have a diagnosis of other bacterial (strep or morganella) or viral illnesses (not Influenza).
If your pet begins coughing, contact your veterinarian. When you take your coughing pet to the vet, be sure to follow their instructions for keeping your pet away from other pets in the clinic, to minimize disease spread.
Once at the vet clinic, it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis through lab testing, respiratory disease profiles (available for dogs and cats), chest, nasal and throat X-rays (or CT scans), and throat swabs/cultures.
When your pet has a virus, treatment with supportive fluid therapy, cough suppressants and expectorants, and antibiotics for secondary bacterial infection may be needed.
Non-infectious causes of cough should be investigated by your veterinarian. Conditions, such as heart disease, allergic bronchial disease, cancer, collapsing trachea and internal parasites, can cause decreased appetite and respiratory symptoms with cough.
Emergency visits for coughing pets are necessary when a pet begins running a high fever, stops eating, is declining rapidly, has a high respiratory rate (>30 breaths per minute), has pale or bluish gums/tongue, is exercise intolerant or has had periods of collapse.
The best way to protect pets from all illnesses is to keep them healthy through excellent nutrition, daily exercise and helping them maintain immune and spinal health. When they do become ill, seek prompt veterinary care.
Dr. Cynthia Maro is a veterinarian at the Ellwood Animal Hospital in Ellwood City and the Chippewa Animal Hospital in Chippewa Township. She writes a biweekly column on pet care and health issues. If you have a topic you’d like to have addressed, email ellwoodvet@msn.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Maro: Should your pet be vaccinated for canine influenza?
