Originally published December 13 2005
Experts give advice on how to protect your dog against canine flu
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
MSNBC discusses the newly discovered canine flu, including its symptoms and what veterinarians recommend you do if your pet shows signs of having the virus.
All the news of bird flu and the newly emerged canine flu is enough to make us want to lock the doors, close the windows and huddle in bed with our dogs, covers pulled over our heads.
Bird flu isn't a current threat to Americans and with some reasonable precautions, it's still safe for your dog to continue his play dates at the park, stays at the boarding kennel or doggie daycare, and participation in dog sports such as agility, obedience and conformation.
That does not mean that racing greyhounds spread the virus to the rest of the dog population, says veterinarian Cynda Crawford, assistant scientist at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine, who was one of the researchers who discovered and identified the virus.
"It only appears that way because the focus of my research was to determine what causes kennel cough outbreaks in racing greyhounds," Crawford says.
If my research had focused on kennel cough outbreaks in shelter dogs, we may have found it in pet dogs in the shelter first."
Those dogs were tested because they showed signs that made their veterinarians suspect they might have canine flu: a cough, a cough with a runny nose, fever or pneumonia.
Of those dogs, approximately 25 percent have tested positive for canine influenza.
That means that the remaining 75 percent were coughing for some other reason, Crawford says.
Those other reasons could include canine cough, sometimes known as kennel cough, which is caused by the bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria, or parainfluenza (not the same as canine flu), a mild viral infection of the respiratory tract.
Dogs can be vaccinated for canine cough and parainfluenza, but those vaccinations are not effective against canine flu virus.
A vaccine for canine flu is in the works, but veterinary vaccines usually take two to three years to develop, says Crawford.
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