Dog Flu Making The Rounds

Flu season is right around the corner. But people aren't the only ones who are vulnerable to influenza. There's a new strain of the bug showing up in dogs nationwide.

The Early Show resident veterinarian Dr. Debbye Turner

Because this strain is new, she says, there's no vaccination for it, and dogs are very susceptible.

She visited one boarding facility where an infected dog started an outbreak. The virus quickly spread, prompting the kennel to temporarily close its doors to do a thorough cleaning job.

"We're using hospital-grade disinfectant," says Debra Bennetts, a spokesperson for the Best Friends Pet Care Center in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. "We're doing multiple cleanings of the same surfaces, rinsing, cleaning again, rinsing. Every square inch of the facility is being scrubbed."

In late August, a few dogs at the center came down with what staffers thought was the common respiratory infection known as kennel cough. But a week later, some of those dogs developed pneumonia.

"At that point," Bennetts says, "we knew we were dealing with something more serious and we made a decision to close temporarily to stop the spread of the illness."

Within a week, the facility was completely empty. Nearly 100 dogs contracted the disease, and 15 became so sick that they had to be hospitalized.

"After we started seeing five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 cases of this, all within a 10-day span, (we knew) this wasn't just kennel cough we were dealing with," says Dr. Heather Troyer, a veterinarian at the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus, N.J. "This was something else that was very severe."

A series of tests revealed the culprit was canine flu, which dogs have no immunity to, Turner says.

"If they come into contact with the virus, almost all of them, 100 percent of them will develop antibodies and probably have some sort of clinical signs," says Troyer.

The only way to stop the spread of the disease is to completely clean the affected area, Turner points out, adding that's what Best Friends is doing.

"In the case of this particular kennel," Troyer says, "they did everything right. They acknowledged the disease. They researched the disease. They did everything right."

It's been a two-week process to get the facility clean.

Best Friends has 42 locations around the country, Turner says. The Chestnut Ridge location is the only one that has had an outbreak, and it plans to reopen this weekend.

Turner says that there's no epidemic nationwide but, "Because it's never shown up in dogs before, they have no immunity."

The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm asks Turner how dog owners could tell that their pet has contracted the illness.

"Kennel cough is a hacking cough and the dog usually feels fine otherwise," Turner says. "With this disease, you'll see a soft, moist cough. You're also going to see a fever in the dog, a high fever; nasal discharge; rapid, shallow breathing; loss of energy; and loss of appetite. Generally, that's when it's gone on to pneumonia. …

"You're able to support the pneumonia with antibiotics and fluids, but we don't have a cure for this. Again, there is no vaccine at this point."

Turner outlines some precautions dog owners who need to board their pets should take.

"People shouldn't panic," she says. "They should take their animals to boarding facilities and groomers. But ask important questions. Ask, 'Has there been a respiratory infection outbreak in that facility recently? Were the affected dogs tested either for kennel cough or for the canine flu? Did they disinfect, and what other measures are they taking to contain the disease when it does break out?' Be smart, but there's no need to panic."

Turner stresses that dog flu hasn't shown up in humans or cats. But, "Humans can transmit it from dog to dog by carrying it on us. It's spread just like the cold or flu. So proper hygiene is what's needed."

A final note of caution from Turner: "Make sure if your dog is sick, don't take them to a kennel. If they've had a sick dog, maybe that's not the kennel you want to go to right now."