Posted on 09/23/2005 8:06:40 PM PDT by neverdem
Permission to Crosspost
The New Canine Influenza, Greyhound Disease, Race Flu, Equine Influenza, Avian Flu
The New Canine Flu, which has killed so many greyhounds is now in the domestic dog population. There is no treatment and no vaccine. It has jumped species, (by feeding greyhounds raw horse meat, which was infected with horse influenza), (horse influenza is avian flu, which jumped species from birds (avian flu), to horses(horse influenza). The avian flu has now moved to racing greyhounds and domestic dogs and the indications are that there may be a potential problem for humans. It is deadly and it is on the loose. It may just be a matter of time. The CDC is watching the disease.
There is no central tracking agency with report and stat capability for dogs that will get the word out to all vets in the US.
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05130505/H3N8_Domestic_Dogs_United_States.html
The domestic dog population is at present risk.
This week on my net groups I saw many anecdotal accounts of $100,000 show dogs dying while packed in ice and hooked up to IVs, with high temps. No one knows what is wrong with these dogs and the vets do not know what they are treating. I think it is Greyhound Influenza or Race Flu.
Show populations are now infected and the majority of veterinarians have never heard of the disease. Isolated individuals know this but the country as a whole does not. A few days after exposure at dog shows, dogs are traveling back to their home states and infecting the local populations. Many dogs are dying needlessly. It is not kennel cough.
The period of incubation is 2-5 days. It is airborne, can be transmitted by inanimate objects, and clothing. Virtually all exposed will contract. The morbidity is 80% with 20% being sub clinically affected and shedding the virus. The course of the disease is four weeks. There are two forms, milder and very extreme. Two weeks into the viral disease the dog looks like he is getting over the cough and then bacterial infections become an acute problem. Oft times the owner has reported the dog is well, only to find that a short time later an acute bacterial infection has taken over the dog, in a matter of hours. The owners think the disease has run its course only to learn it hasn't gotten started yet, so dogs are dying needlessly.
My vet thinks earlier rather than later treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics are the best way to treat the disease. With proper vet care perhaps there will only be a mortality of 1-5%.
The information needs to go out so that all vets will know this is not kennel cough, so they will not VAX for kennel cough while ill, and so they can monitor beyond the two week period.
It has been almost impossible for me to understand how in the last four days i have contacted state vets who have never heard of the new influenza, all the while, the people with the info on the disease, refuse to release it nationally.
The AVMA has info that will go out next month. How many will die prior to that? I have begged and cajoled them to do this, so perhaps we are making some headway, however, we need info to go out ASAP.
APHIS says it is not their job.
The people who are handling research on the initial outbreak in FLA., are contacting local, (FLA) BUT not national sources to disseminate information.
Below is a link to a photo album in which i placed the FLA Veterinary Alert and Advisory, which was put out by the FLA VET MED ASSOC., at the request of the State Vet. It is not on the state website.
http://photobucket.com/albums/y249/citycolumbus/
In my conversations with the researchers at the U. of FLA. I was told, by the lead researcher, who owns greyhounds, that they have no responsibility to provide this info to other states or to other vets. (BTW, Is some of the research funded by the gaming organizations?) (My state,GA., the state of FLA., and three highly placed individuals at Pfizer, told me to call the researcher.) The researcher said to me that cultures do not need to be done on potential affecteds, and she denied that the illness is from horses, though she is quoted in articles as applauding the Cornell researcher who identified it as horse influenza. The FLA state vet said:"We know it came from horses."
The researcher is working to do a contracted vaccine with " a company." She is working on a paper. She did not want to discuss the influenza though her name, email and number appears as the contact source on the state of FLA Veterinary Alert and Advisory that went out to all FLA vets. I was told by some at Pfizer that Pfizer is not the company who is helping her develop the vaccine.
The researcher said the FLA VETERINARY ALERT AND ADVISORY should not be put on the net. However the FLA state Vet, Dr. Thomas Holt, told me, on Fri., Sept 16, 2005 to put it on the net..."Feel free to use it."
AGAIN< I have spoken to state vets who do not know anything at all about this illness even though the state of FLA. put out memos on the influenza in August 05 in the state of FLA., without notifying other states.
If the researchers are correct there will be a national epidemic. When a disease is in a mobile population an epidemic is possible. Large groupings of dogs, such as shows, kennels, rescues, etc., are at risk.
Most vets across the country have never heard of the disease. A treatment protocol has not been developed. They are treating it as if it is kennel cough. All vets need to be informed about it ASAP! Many of us concerned dog people would like to see state statistics compiled on the illness and the eventual treatment outcomes.
We need you to get the word out.
What can you do?
1. Request that your state vet put this info on the state website, and that he send this info to all accredited vets in his state requesting that all vets report the incidence of the disease, diagnostic tests and the course of the illness to the state. Each incidence of illness needs:
a. Live cultures performed at a diagnostic laboratory
b. Written reports on the disease by the attending vet
2. The AVMA needs to act now and provide ALL information regarding this disease to all members, pls contact them and ask them to contact all members with info. Please ask them to put something up on their website.
AVMA email:
avmainfo@avma.org
WEBSITE:
http://www.avma.org/
3. Put the FLA VETERINARY ALERT AND ADVISORY ON YOUR WEBSITE.
4. Contact the State Vet of Fla., and ask him to provide the FLA Veterinary Alert and advisory to all state vets, and to all state vet med associations, and to put it up on the FLA state Ag website:
FLA State Ag:
http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/index.html
Email for FLA state Ag Commissioner: commissioner@doacs.state.fl.us
State Vet:
pls contact him:
Dr. Thomas Holt
Phone: 850 410-0900
FAX: 850 410 0915
email: holtt@doacs.state.fl.us
We hope this will lead to better understanding of the disease, its mode of transmission, stats, treatment, and vaccine. WE HOPE THIS WILL SAVE LIVES!
Please help us get the word out.
Deborah Owens
That's my Weimador!!
Our big black lab mix doesn't come to bed immediately, he waits till he thinks we are asleep. Then he sneaks up, very quietly, and curls into a tiny ball at the foot of the bed. I have to smile if I am awake to see this... It's very very cute. He's very gentle and can tuck himself into a tiny space... not bothering anyone!
Successfully in the bed, THEN he starts the push campaign. Slowly over the next few hours, he spreads out and begins to push us, ever so slowly. Very sublety... like a glacier, he spreads out. By the time we wake up, feet hanging off the bed, he's taken over the whole dang thing.
ROTFLMAO
Thanks. I have horses in the fields all around me.
oh yea, our Yellow Lab was as laid back as you could get. Mild, gentle. Don't raise your voice to him or he would go into the utility room and stay there. Sometimes, all you had to do was put both hands on your hips and if he saw that he would march right into the utility room. :) He was soooooo sweet, sooooo loving. We had him for 13 years and he enriched our lives and those of our family. Everyone loved him. He loved everyone. He was pretty smart though.
Today we have a mix from the humane society...she is aussie shepherd and spaniel. She too is loving. Gentle and mild. Knows how to hit the door handle to make the sound for us to hear. Talk about smart....wow. She has to top all of the animals we ever had. She is brilliant. No kidding.
God what would we do without animals????????????? Had doxies too. They keep you on your toes. We're honored and blessed to have animals in our lives aren't we?
Enjoy those laid back (waaaay laid back) friends...They are the most loyal friends we'll EVER have. :) Now go take them for a run. :)
WE thought the same thing. We thought actually out of the black, choc and yellow that the yellow was definitely more mild and laid back. It's important though to get them neutered unless you are going to breed them. Neutering males is very helpful...helps them calm down. The yellow was easy to train and gosh, he looked at you as if to say:
"What now? What can I do to make you happy? Those eyes....those big, brown beautiful eyes. We'll never forget the day they closed forever. Oh, breaks my heart to talk about it. Brings tears to me just thinking of it. He was our sweet angel.
Enjoy your Sweet Boy. :)
Somebody had to say it.
Isn't this how Planet of the Apes starts?
When she was younger and sprier, my black lab would run ahead of me to the bedroom, jump on the bed, and stretch out diagonally. How one dog could occupy so much space..
Thanks for posting this. I'll have to ask my vet about it.
It's not just a cartoon - go to the guy's website: he sells sweatshirts/tees/etc. with all kinds of canine-related images on them. This is just the Lab image.
Let me guess...it originated in Asia.
An expose' on bed wrestling by Weimaraner owner Susan Thau has some words of warning for new owners:
The age old sport of bed wrestling has been practiced between dogs and humans for centuries. It is very subtle, slow-moving, and can take all night, so it isn't much of a spectator sport. To the combatants, however, it is very intense.
It starts out with one or two humans placed lengthwise in a bed, with a dog curled up at the bottom near their feet. For a human to win, all he or she has to do is stay in the same spot until morning. This is not as easy as it seems.
For the dog to win, it takes cunning, persistence, patience and the agility of an eel. The dog has won the wrestling match when it has worked its way from the bottom of the bed to the top, with its head on the pillow and its body under the covers, stretched out to its utmost length--but crosswise in the bed. The dog must do this without actually waking the humans, who will have nightmares about being crushed, and will find themselves in the morning desperately clutching the edge of the mattress to keep from falling on the floor.
No reliable statistics on the incidence of bed wrestling could be found, but in a unofficial survey about half of the owners questioned admitted to sharing their beds with one or more gray ones.
LOL - It helps just to know others understand ;~D
We have a 4-year old rescue dog who claims to be a Lab, and he has papers to supposedly prove it.
We are, however, convinced that he is a manipulative alien, posing in cute doggy body in order to be waited on hand and foot by humans.
Greyhounds are real sweethearts and couch potatoes. Love it when Barnes & Noble have a dog day for them and their owners bring them in with their cute bandanas on!!
One owner walks by our house with hers and it's something to see her greyhound and my two mini dachshunds!!
Smart family!! They are the cutest 'big' dogs in a small body!! I love mine and wouldn't trade them for the world.
Check out the Dachsie Board and meet all the other owners there who are crazy about their puppers.
http://www.dachsie.org/vbb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&f=29
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