Posted on 04/17/2015 1:17:22 PM PDT by Daffynition
Many urbanites use doggie day cares while they work long hours. Paying others to exercise their pets, owners can forgo long walks and enjoy guilt-free pooch snuggling in the evenings. While usually a healthy experience for the dogs, the day care environment, with dozens of pets mingling, contributed to an epidemic of dog flu in Chicago that is spreading in the Midwest, experts say.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Doggie flu ping
This dog flu is spreading in Wisconsin too. I read that elsewhere. Just a heads up.
Your dog does not need doggie playtime. He just needs you.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
You put large number of similar living things together and you get outbreaks.
A couple years ago ... our Lab needed a surgery and vet expected him to stay 1 overnight. The vet practice said we had to have him get a *dog flu* shot B4 he could spend the night. [dog already had his rabies and distemper]
I was livid b/c it sounded as if it was just another way for the vet to inflate the bill. And if the dog flu is a virus, I don’t know how it can prevent it. Although I grumbled, we went ahead with it anyway.
*As for the CIV [canine influenza virus] vaccine, it does NOT prevent infection. It reduces viral shedding once infection is present, and it may lessen the severity of symptoms and their duration. But it does not keep your dog from acquiring the influenza virus.*
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/02/20/dog-flu-vaccine.aspx
My dog caught kennel cough at the dog park.
This is scary. My son just left for a short term job in Guam. His friend and I are sharing dog watching. I think we should stay away from dog parks.
My dog loves doggie day care. He has a second set of humans to dote on him and several other dogs to play with. He befriends mini doxies and Chihuahuas, and he has a special Pomeranian “girlfriend”.
Until I can retire, it’s the next best thing to my being home with him. Before you say “don’t get a dog unless you can care for it”, we didn’t choose to...he was our daughter’s. We ended up with him after she got married and moved out.
We don’t frequent dog parks, haven’t for years. We do take the dog to the dog beach, but avoid the fenced in dog park area. We just use the trail from the parking lot to the beach, avoiding the fenced in park, then let him run on the beach and swim in the Gulf.
Three dogs ago (that sounds weird)...but that is when we realized that a trip to the dog park usually resulted in a respiratory illness or viral illness.
My wife and I were never sick until we put our little daughter in day care for a few months. During that time, we caught five of the three colds and flus that were going around.
Get your dogs out of government-run daycares.
I’ve always had a neighbor to care for my dog if I’m going to work later than usual-when I lived in the city, I would either return the favor, or pay them a few dollars. Out here, you can barter with a neighbor for dogsitting.
I hired private sitters for my own cub-never took her to a daycare facility when I lived in the city-a private sitter costs less, you have total control, and your child or dog does not compete for care with a dozen or so others-there are germs being carried and spread at daycare facilities, whether they care for humans or dogs...
The kennel my dog goes to requires kennel cough vaccine every six months. I won't bring him to the groomer anymore because they don't require it.
Another shot my dog has is the one for Lyme Disease. Lyme isn't a problem here like it is in MA, but I'd just as soon he has it in case it does happen in these parts. Lyme Disease is a killer for dogs.
Over some years, eventually....you’d develop immunity to the bugs she brought home.
LOL
And *no more free lunches*!!!
I hope your poor baby recovered quickly.
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