Thre’s been a lot of talk about canine influenza (also known as H3N8), a contagious respiratory infection of dogs discovered about five years ago. No dog has a natural immunity to this flu, which has spread to 30 states thus far.
Recently, a vaccine was released to protect your best friend from symptoms including coughing, sneezing, “runny noses,” and fever. This flu can sometimes (but rarely) develop into pneumonia, which can be life-threatening for your dog. It is transmitted through interaction with infected dogs in common areas that are breeding ground for bacteria, such as a dog park. It’s highly communicable, and virtually every dog that is exposed to the virus becomes infected. Most recover within two weeks.
Here’s the part where we were going to tell you how much it’ll cost for you to get this vaccine for your dog. However, calls to the desks of both the SF SPCA animal hospital and Pets Unlimited came up dry. The person we spoke to at the SF SPCA had not heard of the virus, let alone any vaccine for it, and the person we spoke to at Pets Unlimited said they couldn’t discuss price without hearing from our vet. Calls to several, smaller vets netted similar “the what flu?” results.
If your vet offers the dog flu shot, will you do us a favor and let us know via email or in the comments?
