My Pet World: Dog flu outbreak in the Midwest could spread
"Just like people (with) respiratory flu, we get better on our own in three or four days without calling the doctor. Many dogs recover without veterinary assistance," Crawford says.
However, some dogs don't get better or even worsen. About 5 percent to 10 percent of dogs need veterinary intervention, or even hospitalization. Sometimes their conditions deteriorate quickly into pneumonia. Surprisingly, these seriously compromised pets are usually not elderly individuals in fragile health, or puppies; they tend to be younger, active, healthy dogs.
All breeds are equally prone to CIV, although, Bartell says she's always particularly worried about the ability of brachycephalic dog breeds (dogs with pushed-in faces like the Pekingese, Pug, Bulldog or French Bulldog) to bounce back from respiratory problems.
People and cats cannot contract CIV.
In an effort to limit the spread of CIV, the Chicago Park District is cooperating with the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association to post signs warning dog owners to enter dog-friendly areas at their own risk. Some dog-training classes have been postponed, a handful of pet stores are discouraging visits from dogs, and a small number of dog day cares have closed their doors until the outbreak subsides.
"Limiting social contact keeps individual dogs safe, and also slows the virus circulation in the community," Crawford says.
Of course, if more dogs were pre-emptively vaccinated for CIV, the epidemic may not have occurred in the first place.
"That (would be true) if we had about 70 percent of dogs vaccinated, based on the human model for vaccination for flu," says Crawford. "Certainly, with any significant number of dogs vaccinated, not as many dogs would have been affected, which means it's possible fewer would have died."
Like the vaccine for human flu, the CIV vaccine may prevent infection or reduce severity of symptoms. Importantly, the dog flu vaccine (which requires a booster shot 2-3 weeks after the initial shot) also seems protective against pneumonia. That's important because when dogs succumb to CIV, pneumonia often plays a role, and certainly is a cause for hospitalization.
"Many veterinarians think if we don't see it, we don't need to vaccinate," says Dr. Derrick Landini, of Chicago. "Boy, now most of us wish we'd been more proactive."
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