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We are curious how all of our readers are dealing with canine influenza, but we are being homebodies this summer to avoid the doggie flu.
Doggie Flu sounds bad!
As you have probably heard, canine influenza is again in the news. We have no intention of adding to unnecessary panic or bad information, so we will simply link to our own veterinarian’s canine influenza information page. We hope that you find that information helpful and encourage you to speak with your own veterinarian if you have concerns.
The timing is somewhat fortunate for us since we are entering the summer months. We are blessed to live at a high enough altitude where we rarely see high temperatures (Tuesday’s high was 75ÂșF (24ÂșC)), but if we drop off the mountain to go into town (or even lower to our “big city,” Asheville), we would be faced with summer temperatures. Maybe not as hot as the rest of you, but way to hot for spoiled mountain dogs! We don’t venture into town much in the summer and certainly don’t try RVing.
Add in the flu, and we are quite content just hiking our neighborhood – where we almost never encounter other dogs and hanging out around Sibe Quentin.
We could just nap under these ceiling fans!
What about you, dear reader? Are you being vaccinated? Are you avoiding dog gathering areas such as shows and dog parks? We would love to hear from you!
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Our girls are up on their vaccinations, since we live on the outskirts of the hot ATL. đ Protected, we are!
With the exception of Woofstock at the beginning of the month, I think our solutions is just going to be to mostly avoiding other doggies. In the summer we tend not to go out as much anyways. It is a toss up who hates the hot weather more anyways, Leena (the actual husky) or me (the human who pretends to be more of a husky than Leena).
With luck, I’ll be closing on a new house in the next few weeks, so she’ll have a whole new space to play with, and maybe setup an outdoor mini sibe quentin for her here đ
Our G-Pa is taking us (Randi and Chloe) Saturday to us vaccinated…..
My girls are not going to dog parks or public gatherings currently. They have a huge yard to play in, so that helps. I try not to give them extra shots if I can avoid it. But I understand those who might need to be vaccinated. Got to keep these pups safe!
I also wanted to say thanks for the link to your vets info on the canine flu, very informative!!
We avoid vaccinations due to diabetes and gave up dog parks long ago. Our dogs just hung around with us and didn’t interact with other dogs much anyway. If we go out of town, we hire a sitter to stay in our home as we also have a cat. The best has been a vet tech recommended by our vet. One note I’d add is about letting dogs splash around in streams, etc. They can be exposed to so many pathogens like leptospirosis from mainly, raccoons. The vaccine for it is dangerous for most but the healthiest dogs. We once lost a rescued dog to liver failure shortly after that vaccine. The herd and family live in such a great location. I wouldn’t often venture far from there either.
We have 4 dogs and our standard poodle has a heart block, he is on medicine and is doing fine so we will be very cautious, so we are doing mobile grooming and completely staying away from contact with other dogs as the risk is too high. From what we understand if one gets it the other dogs wil come down with the flu quickly.
We decided to not attend dog shows for now. They are the biggest risk, as many people travel from show to show, state to state, in their RVs. The risk of them spreading the virus to other dogs is too great.
Our long -time mobile vet comes tomorrow for annual check ups , so I am going to ask him. Usually for us summer is a time for the mals to hang around the house so we don’t meet many dogs in the warm months (we are outside Raleigh NC) but we have a carribean vacay next month which means my malamutes go to a nearby pet resort/vet hospital for boarding. So I am concerned. We board them in a shared , air conditioned secluded “cabin” with a doggie door to their own section of fenced off artificial turf, and don’t sign them up for the play groups they have- so I am hoping that will reduce their exposure. I am not one for doing extra vaccines (even bordatella) unless we are boarding them when it is required, this will be one of those years (sigh). My vet is reasonable with vaccines meaning he doesn’t push annual vaccines after their puppy rounds except Rabies so I will trust his advice.
With two special needs dogs (epileptic and cancer survivor) we try to avoid extra vaccinations. Luckily our pups rarely come into contact with other dogs, and our outings are generally confined to walks around the neighborhood. Hope everyone’s furry friends stay healthy and cool this summer!
My vet wasn’t so concerned about the flu vaccine but… we just got the Lyme vaccine ! Didn’t know there was one until our visit last week for our usual shots and checkup . Ticks are especially bad in our area this year maybe because of our mild winter. They were already on a flea/tick pill and still are but this is extra insurance!
I had my dogs vaccinated for the first time. This is the first year there is a dual strain vaccine and the drug maker is making the three week booster free. My older dogs would be at high risk I have one show dog and one working dog so the potential for exposure is too great. I will tell you this is the first year my vet really stressed getting the vaccine even w mt old man who has epilepsy and other medical issues (gotta love line breeding)
Much love to the herd and if you could send some of that cool weather to us in PA
I had my dog, a mini schnauzer, vaccinated a few years back due to the fact she comes in contact with many dogs. Since she is groomed every 7 weeks her vet and I decided it was the best choice as she has other health issues. Since she goes with me so much feel it was better to err on the side of caution. We do get the hot humid weather living in Delaware. Lol
Hugs to the adorable herd.