x
Breaking News
More () »

Canine flu creating concern for both dog and cat owners

Veterinarians advise pet owners in Central Pennsylvania to make sure they check with the kennels before they board their animals. The canine flu strain is more ...

Veterinarians advise pet owners in Central Pennsylvania to make sure they check with the kennels before they board their animals. The canine flu strain is more likely to develop in unsanitized places like kennels and dog parks.

Doctor Bryan Langlois is the medical director at Pet Pantry of Lancaster County. He says a new canine flu originally seen in Asian dogs has made its way onto U.S. soil.

Dr. Langlois says, "If somebody was traveling and brought a dog back from Asia that was infected with the virus."

Similar to a canine influenza from 10 years ago, but this one's more serious.

Dr. Langlois says symptoms include, "Severe coughing, high fever, lethargic, not wanting to eat and some developed pneumonia which require hospital and unfortunately a few dogs have succumbed to this."

Dr. Langlois says a couple thousand dogs have contracted the virus and about a handful have died. Although there are no cases in Central Pennsylvania, it could spread.

"If you look at what happened with the last strain of canine flu that came out 10 years ago, it took a couple of years, but it did work its way from the south to the east coast and across the country to the west," says Dr. Langlois.

Dogs aren't the only ones who can develop canine flu. The strain can also be found in cats, and although we haven't seen any cases here in Central Pennsylvania, doctors want you to be aware."

"It has been shows to be transmitted to cats and cats and dogs can transmit it back and forth. That being said, I am not aware of any cases that we've seen in cats yet, so whether this is something where cats can harbor it and transfer it to a dog, they're still doing the research on that," says Dr. Langlois.

To be safe, vets encourage you to vaccinate your pet against canine flu.

Dr. Langlois says, "While we're not 100% sure if that vaccine provides any or partial protection against this new strain, it's still good to have them vaccinated so talk to their vet about that."

Before You Leave, Check This Out