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Flu season may be over for people. But that’s not the case for our four-legged family members.
Michelle Knotts has three dogs who love to go to the dog park– they come about every day. News about the dog flu has her concerned. Michelle says, "
It’s pretty worrisome cause right now the problem is no one really knows if we can vaccinate now or vaccinate later. it’s pretty scary."
It is scary.
Vet experts say while the threat of death may be low, the threat of it spreading is high. According to Carrie Strickland with Veterinary Emergency Services, "
it’s a pretty bad strain of influenza from what we understand ."
Strickland says the last big canine influenza outbreak happened in 2004. It mainly impacted dogs in Florida.
She says there is a canine flu vaccine available, the question is, will it work? According to Strickland, "
The problem that we have right now is that we had a bunch of vaccines to the previous strain, but we have none of the current strain."
Vet experts say this new flu strain spreads through contact with droplets that have been coughed or sneezed.
Dogs are especially at risk in kennel environments, stores that allow dogs, and dog parks. Roger Medina and his pal Buddy visit the dog park two to three times a week. Roger hadn’t heard about the flu threat, but like other dog owners, wants to know more.
He says, "It does make me a little nervous but as long as there’s people are finding it and seeing going on. If they can find an inoculation for it that would be great."
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