Swine flu in dogs?

A member of the rescue I volunteer for posted this link:
http://vetmedicine.about.com/b/2009/07/02/new-dog-vaccine-for-h3n8-flu.htm

She said her vet suspects her pug has it. Anyone else heard of this?

My vet mentioned this to me when I had Bello in for his check up/vaccinations.

He said it isn't prevalent in our area at this point, but many vets are doing special clinics, etc. to give the vaccine.He says it's overkill, and many vets are causing lots of alarm, resulting in more $$ for the vaccine, visits, etc. (meaning..revenue generation for the vet vs. care about the dog specifically).

He said the typical kennel cough should be ok, for dogs who have frequent interactions with other dogs (dog parks, play time, etc.).

Again, this is his recommendation for my area. You may want to check with your vet to see if it's spreading where you live.

I think we're just going to burrow in for the winter and order all our meals by telephone. I've decided that's easier than wading through all this flu information. You never hear about the great Hermit Flu of 1986.

smoochieface wrote:I think we're just going to burrow in for the winter and order all our meals by telephone. I've decided that's easier than wading through all this flu information. You never hear about the great Hermit Flu of 1986.

*LMAO* I agree Kendie... I'llbring the gang down and join you!

Penny's not at risk - my little pug thug doesn't play well with others, so she isn't around a lot of other dogs.

And Sam, don't you need to change your signature line???????

Oh great. Just what our pugs need - more vaccines!

While it's not the swine flu, the dog flu is prevelent in our area. It's the dog flu we first started hearing about a couple years ago. I just got the first vaccine for mine. My vet said they've seen some cases and in most the dogs end up with pnemonia which is a real issue for flat faced breeds. Lanie has a narrow trachea and when she had kennel cough it was collapsing when she coughed (my vet was patient and snapped an x-ray while she was coughing.) Basically at this point, with Lanie's issue, I got all mine the vaccine. They do go to the groomer and will be boarding in a few weeks. My vet said the scary part is the a dog will be contagious for several days before it actually shows symptoms so people aren't aware and don't keep them away from other dogs.

I think it depends on your area and whether or not there are a lot of cases. When I first asked my vet about it he said there was no need for the vaccine in our area because they hadn't seen any cases. It took over a year, but when they did start seeing cases, they started offering the vaccine.