What Are Symptoms of Dog Flu?

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about what are some symptoms of dog flu. Now what we're talking about is dog or canine influenza. Canine influenza has been around for a while. It's a mutated version of horse influenza virus. What primarily has been shown in the last couple years, especially in 2007-2008, is it's shown up in shelters, and so a dog will bring this virus in and infect an entire shelter. The symptoms basically are revolving around the airway, and you get a persistent cough initially, plus or minus fever, sometimes leading to yellow nasal discharge, and sometimes pneumonia. There is no vaccine for canine influenza at this time. One hundred percent of dogs that come in contact with it, and it is airborne, that is the way they get it, can become infected with it. About eighty percent of dogs that actually get exposure become infected and show symptoms. About eight percent of dogs, at least at this point, that get canine influenza can die from it. So it can be fatal. The other important thing to know is that there are multiple other diseases out there, like plain old kennel cough, and upper respiratory allergies and airway disease, that can look or sound like canine influenza. So if your dog was at a boarding facility or a shelter, and there is a cough, or if there's a cough anyway, check with your veterinary clinic. They are the ones that need to make that diagnosis of what canine influenza is, or kennel cough, or heart disease, or whatever that cough can be. But, at this time, there is still no vaccine and it is still is very, very contagious."