Don't give your dog swine flu!
Don't give your dog swine flu!
A dog in suburban New York is the first in the nation confirmed to be carrying the same strain of swine flu that is infecting humans, experts said Tuesday.
The 13-year-old mixed breed male, which is recovering, apparently caught the virus from his owner. But Michael San Filippo, a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said there's no evidence that the flu strain can be transmitted from a pet to a person.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that animals can carry and spread flu viruses, but such cases are rare and people should not be afraid to enjoy their pets.
Among pets, cats and ferrets have previously been found to catch the swine flu strains from humans, and at least one cat and one ferret have died, San Filippo said.
He said the veterinary association is recommending that people with ailing pets wash their hands often. If swine flu is suspected in either owner or pet, he said, "isolate yourselves from each other, which we realize is only possible to some degree."
Ann Hohenhaus, spokeswoman for the Animal Medical Center in New York, said if a pet or an owner is sick, "Don't play kissyface with your dog or your cat or your ferret. You wouldn't with your kids if you were sick, so don't do it with your pet."
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- Posted on December 23, 2009
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well to be honest I dont get how a dog can get swine flu i thought only humans could get it but i guess not and i dislike dogs so i dnt know what to say but give your dog medicne and give them a treatment and keep them clean and have up to date shots
well never in the world that a dog could catch the swine flue from their owner and it's good that the dog recovered but does that mean we will have to give our dogs swine flue shots to.
I didn't know that a dog could get swine flu. I would feel so bad if my dog had swine flu and i had to seperate us. I feel so bad for the people that have to do that and have been around the animal their whole life.
This story is really interesting to me because I would have never guessed that a dog could catch the swine flu From its owner.but How can a dog get swine flu?
A dog getting swine flu? umm well thats a little weird! who would have thought pets would get the flu? great now i have to be on the lookout for mine!!
This story is really interesting to me because I would have never guessed that a dog could catch the swine flu From its owner. I wonder if the dog had the same the same symptoms that a human has. How do you diagnose a dog with the flu? I hope a dog can not give the flu to other animals, because I have other pets and I would hate for them to catch it also. I feel bad for the dog because I know how bad I felt when I had the flu last year. My body ached all over and I was so hot from the fever. When you have the flu you are supposed to stay hydrated. It would be hard to make a dog drink water if he doesn't want to. They might have to be admitted to the animal hospital to receive IV fluids. Maybe the owner was able to get some Tami flu for the dog so he would get better sooner. I wonder if there will be more cases of swine flu in animals and if someday people could get the swine flu from their family pet?
How can a dog get swine flu? Poor dog i know it is the worst time of his life. He must be wondering what happened and is someone going to help him.
How can a dog get swine flu? That poor dog! That is so sad! I feel bad for that dog! I wonder how he feels! Probably sad.
I can't believe that animals can also get the swine flu. When I heard of the swine flu i only thought that humans can get the swine flu but now since I heard that pets can also get the I gonna take more care of my dog. The swine flu has to stop cause it killed more than 10000 people so we have to take more caution.
This guy had a pet dog and the dog got a virus called "swine flu". The dog was 13 years old at the time and got the swine flu from his owner. Eperts said that this was the first time of knowing of a dog carrying the same strain as humans. this is a very wild situation for everyone, Nt olny do you have to watch out for people that have swine flu but if you have it you have to be cautions bout being near brothers,sisters, parents,grandparent and now pets! Idnt think it was possible for your pet dog or cat to get the swine flu.Tis blows my mind of how things can happen to you and then spred to not just poeple but to pets and animals. So take caution, so that you will not spred swine flu to others!