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Canine influenza
Should you be worried?
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VOLUME 9 ISSUE 1
www.AnimalWellnessMagazine.com
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contents
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features 20
Canine influenza
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Homeopathy... a feline perspective to this healing approach
Should you be worried?
A gentle modality for your cat
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Why IBD is a real pain in the rear! Treating and preventing this common digestive disease
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54 What you need to
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60 FRV and calici
Living with feline upper respiratory infections
66 Lurch and friends live
84 All in a day's work
75 Scotty's legacy How one loss is saving thousands
Gracious Gracie is the perfect host and so much more
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Canine influenza –
Canine should you be by Marcia DuBois, DVM
worried?
I first began hearing rumors of a new disease affecting dogs after hurricane Katrina. Some of the dogs rescued from flood-ravaged Louisiana and placed in shelters were showing symptoms of a rapidly progressive pneumonia. My colleagues reported that dogs would present with kennel cough type symptoms: a nagging cough with gagging to follow. Kennel cough is generally a mild respiratory illness frequently seen in shelter situations. While it can be annoying, it is never fatal and most dogs recover with little more than supportive treatment. What made this situation different is that while most of
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animal wellness
flu
the affected dogs recovered fully without incidence, a small number, eight percent or fewer, went on to develop a thick nasal discharge, a very high fever and pneumonia, followed by death.
Stress and exposure are primary factors
Although the fall of 2005 was the first time I had heard of canine influenza, the disease was first reported in January of 2004 among racing greyhounds in Florida. Since that time, the disease has been reported throughout the United States. The current theory is that canine influenza is a mutant strain of the virus that causes equine influenza.
Dog guardians are naturally worried about the possibility of a new and potentially deadly disease striking their beloved companions. If we look at the type of dog that is primarily being infected with canine influenza, animal wellness
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