Vets wary of dog flu’s spread
Strains of dog flu that recently crossed the New York line had area veterinarians worried and kennels shuttering last week as experts try to decipher whether the flu — now with two confirmed Stamford cases — is in the early forms of outbreak.
“We just got a few confirmed, so we’re just testing more now,” said Nolan Zeide, a veterinarian at Bull’s Head Pet Hospital in Stamford. “Most dogs haven’t been exposed to it. ... What they’re saying is that 80 percent of dogs that come in contact with it come down with a cough.”
Last month, vets had been worried about H3N2, the virulent strain first found in the U. S. in 2015, making its way to Stamford after that strain and an older one, H3N8, started infecting dogs in New York City. Earlier this summer, there was a cluster of 100 cases found in the Big Apple.
It appears the virus rode along
with Stamford’s commuting population, Zeide said. Nearby cities are not yet seeing flu- sick dogs, while Stamford has seen a notable increase in dogs with a cough, and some of them have the flu.
The newer strain is more concerning, as it can be transmitted from dog to dog for nearly a month, veterinarians say, although it is not infectious for humans. It can live on surfaces for almost a full day. But it’s not the cough or the flu that worries experts — it is secondary infections such as pneumonia that can take hold once the flu has weakened man’s best friend.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the death rate is less than 10 percent in fluish dogs and “deaths occur mainly in dogs with the severe form of disease.”
Zeide, in an interview Tuesday before several kennels started closing later in the week, said he was worried the city was on the verge of an outbreak.
He was startled, he said, when he examined his clinic’s data that showed it had seen roughly 30 coughing cases over the last month, three of them in very sick dogs.
This time last year, the pet hospital had only seen three coughing cases.
“This is an outbreak, and we’ll see how it dissipates,” he said.
But whether the cough is just a cough, or the flu, he said, is unclear.
“If dogs go untested, who knows. ... With humans, you have a couple thousand data points. With dogs, it’s a couple dozen. We just don’t know yet.”
Testing for the virulent strain, conducted by Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, takes a few days to turn around and includes sending mucus samples to the Ithaca campus, Zeide said.
Early this week, Zeide said he had already sent three samples for testing.
In the meantime, several Stamford kennels have closed to new dogs and quarantined ones still boarding to keep the virus from spreading.
Elisa Alexander, owner of Elisa’s Lucky Dogs, a day care and boarding facility on Research Drive, said she stopped taking in new dogs Wednesday immediately after noticing one of her dogs with a symptom of the flu — nasal discharge.
She has since helped some 10 other dog- owner clients find other places for their pups to board, and has turned away another dozen customers looking for a place after their day care or boarder closed.
Camp Bow Wow on Hope Street was one of the first to close to new dogs. The business announced Monday it would not take new day care dogs or lastminute board reservations until next week.
“If your dog shows any symptoms of Canine Cough, we respectfully ask that you temporarily re- frain from bringing your dog to camp,” the business wrote in a Facebook post. “This cough has proven to be very contagious, and we need your help to keep everyone safe.”
Alexander said her staff has disinfected the entire facility with bleach.
“As hard as it is to stop the spread of it, it’s not that hard to kill,” she said. “It’s not that strong a virus.”
Zeide agreed, saying strong household disinfectants can do the trick.
He also said there are common- sense solutions, including vaccinations, to keep healthy dogs safe. Social dogs with walking pals, dog- park friends or those in day cares or kennels are most at risk, he said. The virus is transferred through nasal discharge — sneezes or wet muzzles.
If your dog has a cough or presents any symptoms, Zeide said to keep the pet home for one month until the virus is no longer contagious.
“You also want to keep your dog away from dogs that are presenting signs,” he said.
Owners of sick dogs should seek help if necessary, but a little water in food bowls and anything to help moisten nasal and oral passageways can help dogs stave off other infections, he said.
“Remember, we’re not treating flu, we’re treating secondary infections,” he said.