Veterinarian warns dog owners about canine flu virus

Parents worry about H1N1.

For pet owners, the rising threat is H3N8, or dog flu, a highly contagious, potentially deadly respiratory infection. It started at a Tampa area greyhound track about six years ago and has spread to 30 states and the District of Columbia.

In the beginning, it killed dozens of dogs, said Tampa veterinarian Timothy Lassett. It's not as virulent now, but it can turn into pneumonia and require a dog to be hospitalized.

He recently treated a dog from Labrador Retriever Rescue of Florida that spent nearly two weeks in the hospital.

"People don't know enough about this," Lassett said. A vaccine only became available earlier this year.

Canine influenza spreads rapidly in kennels, grooming parlors, day cares and anywhere dogs come together, Lassett said. "It's transmitted very easily from dog to dog, and even on the clothing of people handling the dogs."

Lassett recommends dogs that are in frequent contact with other dogs get the vaccine.

"For someone whose dogs never come in contact with other dogs, it might not be a worry," he said.

Nationwide, about 1,080 cases of H3N8 have been confirmed, dozens of them in Florida.

Yvonne Gurbada of the Florida Greyhound Association remembers when it broke out at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg. Two dogs died and hundreds were infected.

"They closed the track," until they figured the problem out, she said.

Throughout that year and the next, it hit tracks across the country, as dogs traveled from one to the other.

At first, greyhound owners thought the problem was kennel cough, but a University of Florida researcher, Cynda Crawford, began studying it and determined that it was a flu strain that infected horses and had jumped to dogs.

Like a human, an infected dog will have a cough, runny nose and fever.

Virtually all dogs exposed to the virus become infected, though only about 80 percent will develop symptoms, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Up to 5 percent of infected dogs die, it said, although Lassett thinks the percentage is lower.

The association recommends people who work with dogs in shelters, kennels and day care centers wash their hands with soap and water when they arrive, before and after handling any dog, and after cleaning cages. The dog flu virus is easily killed with disinfectants.

Owners can protect their dogs by washing or disinfecting their hands after handling another dog, getting the vaccination or keeping their dogs away from other dogs.

Crawford has become a national expert on canine influenza and will be featured in an American Animal Hospital Association Web conference on canine influenza on Thursday. For information, go to American Animal Hospital Association Web at www.aahanet.org.