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Bird flu and your dog

Doggone Well Staff by Doggone Well Staff
March 4, 2025
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Bird flu and your dog
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We all know what it feels like to have the flu. Fever, body aches, coughing, congestion, chills, sore throat . . . in general, feeling like you’ve been hit by a 10-ton truck.

You may not know that dogs can be infected with the flu as well … specifically, the highly contagious canine influenza. (It’s important to note that the canine influenza virus is completely different than the flu virus that infects humans, and cannot be passed to humans.) Symptoms of the flu in dogs are similar to those in humans but typically much milder — in fact, some dogs will show no symptoms at all.

Today, however, there’s a new virus on the block that has the potential of becoming much more dangerous to our dogs: the H5N1 virus. Commonly known as the “bird flu,” the avian influenza virus has killed almost 13,000 wild birds and 163 million poultry in the U.S. alone. This recent strain is considered “highly pathogenic,” causing severe disease and death.

As has been widely reported, this virus has now spread from birds to mammals: specifically, dairy cows and humans who work with them. (Since the beginning of 2024, 77% of all cases of avian flu in cattle have occurred in California.) Avian influenza has been found in wild animals here as well, including mountain lions, raccoons, fishers, skunks, bobcats, seals and most recently black rats. In Butte County, more than 38,000 birds were confirmed to be affected by the virus in January.

That’s where your dog comes in. Most of us know that our pups love to roll in smelly things, especially dead things. If the carcass is that of a bird, the attraction can be even more compelling. Since the virus is so easily transmissible, simply having contact with an infected dead bird or animal could result in your dog becoming infected. While the chances of dogs developing avian influenza are very low at this time, the landscape of this virus is changing rapidly. Barn and feral cats have now begun to be infected, becoming either severely ill or dying from the illness.

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Signs of infection in pets include severe depression, profuse discharge from eyes and nose, fever, lethargy and low appetite, breathing difficulties and neurologic signs such as tremors, seizures, incoordination or blindness. Recent investigations link food — unpasteurized milk and raw or undercooked meat and poultry, and retail pet diets containing raw meat — as a source of infection.

Although some of these symptoms can be associated with common respiratory illnesses, it’s best to contact your veterinarian, who can run lab tests to exclude H5N1. Be sure to tell your vet if your dog may have eaten a dead bird or other animal or consumed raw milk or meat.

To keep both you and your dog safe during this outbreak, if you find a dead bird or other animal on your property or on a walk, make sure neither of you come into contact with it. Prevent your dog from chasing water fowl such as ducks or geese in local parks or waterways and keep them away from wild birds, poultry and cattle. Keep your dog’s food and water out of reach of wild birds or rodents.

Obviously, prevent your dog from eating dead birds or other animals, and do not feed them raw meat, poultry or unpasteurized milk.

Unfortunately, we have no idea what the coming months may mean for this disease or if the virus will suddenly begin to affect our dogs in large numbers. The best we can do is take measures to protect them and be vigilant.

Joan Merriam lives in Nevada City with her new golden retriever Frankie, her Maine coon cat Indy, and the infinite spirits of her beloved goldens Joey and Casey. You can reach Joan at joan@joanmerriam.com. And if you’re looking for a golden, hop on over to Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue.



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