Canine flu cases crop up in Westmoreland

The canine flu is a lot like the human flu, according to Hempfield veterinarian Roman Lamberski.

“You get a bunch of kids together in a day care and one has the flu, they’re going to spread it,” Lamberski said.

Canine influenza virus, however, affects dogs rather than people. And it’s shown up in pets that Lamberski has seen this season at Pennsylvania Animal Wellness and Surgery in Hempfield.

“We’re a newer clinic without a big routine clientele, but I’d say I’ve seen about a dozen cases,” he said. “CIV has been ubiquitous for a while. The issue is that viruses are much more difficult to diagnose than a bacteria.”

The other issue is that symptoms of CIV — lethargy, loss of appetite, a cough, fever and discharge from the nose — are also among the symptoms of Bordetella, commonly called “kennel cough.”

Most dogs, however, are vaccinated against Bordetella, and when Lamberski began seeing vaccinated dogs getting ill, he began looking in other areas.

“Previously, I don’t remember a time when we would have done our own culturing to identify it, because we just empirically assume we’re dealing with kennel cough,” Lamberski said. “It wasn’t until we started hearing about CIV in our area, and I started hearing from my lab specialist that it’s coming our way, that we began thinking it would be better to culture for it.”

Initially identified more than four decades ago as a strain of equine influenza affecting horses, researchers believe the H3N8 strain of flu virus “jumped” from horses to dogs in the early 2000s. And in March 2015, a second strain, H3N2, was identified as having jumped from birds to dogs.

While the virus itself is not particularly dangerous on its own, with a mortality rate between 1-5%, Lamberski said it can put infected dogs at risk for other complications.

“You can think of it like the human respiratory flu,” he said. “Animals that are immuno-compromised, very young or very old are going to have a higher potential for secondary complications.”

In addition, traditional antibiotics are ineffective against a virus, he said.

“There are antiviral drugs, of course, but they’re very expensive, and you rarely need them for a flu virus,” he said.

News of CIV cases has kennel owners like Sam Rubin taking extra precautions. Rubin is the founder of Walkers Pet Hotail, with locations in Murrysville and North Versailles.

“We have a lot of space outside for dogs to run and play, and we walk our dogs individually,” Rubin said. “We also have a couple of isolation suites with negative air pressure. Normally, that would be for something like an animal in heat, but if we see a dog with symptoms, we can isolate them quickly.”

Rubin said Walkers hasn’t had a positive case of CIV, but considering an infected dog can be contagious for several days before symptoms show up, he said he wants to be prepared.

“We’re not changing our procedures for now, but people can certainly request that their dog do a ‘small group’ play session, or an individual one if they’re concerned,” he said.

Lamberski said local shelters, kennels and dog parks he’s familiar with “are doing a wonderful job in keeping this isolated.”

“I haven’t seen a case in about three weeks,” he said.

Rubin said that while he has recommended pet owners try and obtain a CIV vaccine for their dog, supply-chain issues have made it difficult.

“I’d say people should just make sure their dog’s vaccinations are up to date, and talk with their vet if they have concerns,” he said.