Part of the increased awareness is because of the coronavirus pandemic; people accustomed to looking for the telltale cough and other signs of covid-19 in humans are also on high alert for respiratory symptoms in their dogs.
Cocuzza’s German shepherd-American Eskimo mix, Talula Barkhead, is healthy but elderly at 11 years old and probably due for a canine flu booster, while Maizel, a 10-month-old “Australian cattle dog, Australian shepherd, everything else mutt” might benefit from protection, too, Cocuzza said.
Maizel, a puppy, explores the world with her mouth, forcing Cocuzza and her husband, Steve Trickey, to run after her at the dog park with a constant refrain of, “Drop it! Drop it!”
Concern over keeping dogs healthy has led some businesses to take extra precautions; Perfect Pet Resort in Anne Arundel County hasn’t seen dog flu at its boarding, training and day-care facility, but it canceled its annual Santa Paws photos to be extra-safe.
Lori M. Teller, president of the American Veterinary Association and a Houston-based veterinarian, said there’s no reliable way to track canine influenza because cases are not required to be reported like the coronavirus or rabies.
“There does not appear to be a significant increase in the number of cases,” she said, “I think we’re all just more hyper-alert to respiratory viruses being passed around, whether it’s the canine or human population.”
Veterinarian Dan Teich, medical director and founder of District Veterinary Hospitals, said he hasn’t noticed an uptick in respiratory disease at any of his three locations, which are all in D.C., but there have been some isolated cases in Maryland and Virginia.
It’s a testament to people’s relationships with their animals that the first sign of illness in a dog tends to warrant at the very least a call to the veterinarian, he said.
“It’s dogs, and people have much more interest in dogs than they do in people,” he said. “When people see a threat to their dog, they take it in many cases more seriously than they do a threat to their own health.”
Dogs with a mild cough who are eating and drinking as normal should isolate for two weeks, Teich said. A subset of dogs that have influenza will develop symptoms such as excessive coughing day and night, nasal discharge and restlessness, and secondary bacterial infections in severe cases that can lead to pneumonia and more advanced respiratory disease, which can be treated with antibiotics. Very young, very old or immunocompromised dogs can also be at greater risk for severe disease.
Veterinarians can give dogs a canine influenza test that usually takes a few days to return a result and probably won’t alter treatment, which consists of supportive care, but he said it’s helpful to have a diagnosis to prevent spread of the virus.
Teich also recommended the canine influenza vaccine, which is part of a category of “lifestyle vaccines” for dogs that go to day care, the kennel or frequently visit dog parks.
“That vaccine is highly effective, very safe and can prevent the onset of clinical disease. It’s very similar in nature to getting an influenza vaccine if you’re a human,” Teich said of the two-dose bivalent dog flu vaccine.
A vaccine could have prevented Salvatore Hunter’s pit bull Pippa from contracting a serious respiratory illness two years ago during a kennel stay in Pennsylvania. After a trip to Seattle, Hunter picked up Pippa with a hacking cough and weeks’ worth of medication.
For weeks, Hunter had to isolate Pippa, who missed her usual walks around their dog-centric Brookland neighborhood.
“It wasn’t fun,” said Hunter, who works in distribution. “She was miserable. She was super lethargic. She could hardly walk around without hacking up a lung … She was a very sad dog.”
Today, Pippa and his 2-year-old English sheepdog, Pearl, “my big fuzzy wuzzy,” are fully vaccinated.
“We all love our dogs like our children,” he said. “They’re part of our family, and we’re willing to do everything we can to make sure they are happy and healthy.”
Christine Klippen, an emergency room doctor at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Friendship Heights in D.C., said that respiratory disease is always an issue and that canine influenza appears to be a more virulent type disease not seen in the Washington area for about six years.
As with people, dogs contract illnesses the more they socialize after a period of isolation, she said.
“We see this every year,” Klippen said. “We see it every summer. We saw this when quarantine restrictions were lifted. They went to dog parks and weren’t up on their vaccines. We saw cases in the emergency room.”
She said it’s understandable that dog owners might worry but cautioned against panic because most cases of respiratory illness in dogs improve with “good old-fashioned TLC.”
“I think people are just scared in general, especially as we’re coming out of dealing with a global pandemic and dealing with stuff with kiddos this fall. It doesn’t surprise me,” she said.
