A highly contagious dog flu, known as H3N2, is spreading across the Midwest right now.
The Gentle Vet Animal Hospital in Green Bay says four cases have been reported in Dane County. All four dogs belonged to the same family, and they had recently been traveling. Veterinarians we talked with say while you may see a lot of attention to this flu, most of the time the problem is common kennel cough. The symptoms are similar: High fever, severe cough, very tired. Both are treated the same, with antibiotics if the dog has a fever. “The flu acts faster — goes away faster, too, in most cases — but has the potential to create… dangerous pneumonia, unlike the standard kennel cough, which is what makes it more dangerous,” veterinarian Daniel Gray said. He says it’s important to get your dog in to the vet right away if it’s sick so it can be diagnosed and treated to prevent that deadly pneumonia. But there is a way to protect man’s best friend — with a vaccine. “We don’t recommend that every dog get the vaccine. If you are going to be doing a lot of traveling, a lot of kenneling, specifically in areas where it’s been noted, so Madison, Chicago where it recently was, you really want to consider getting vaccinated,” Gray said. Vets are warning dog owners to be especially careful over the holidays, when a lot of people put their dogs in boarding facilities or “doggy day care.” They say it’s that close contact with other dogs that causes the flu to spread.
