Dog flu?

[djswizz]

My kennel informed me that the dog flu is becoming a concern. It started out in horses in the tracks, but now has moved over to dogs, through Greyhounds I believe he said. Told me that once a dog contracts the virus, it kills the dog in 15 days. Very quick and very painful to the dog. He's seen dogs die because of it and it was not pretty.

Anyway, wondering if you all heard the same thing and if you took any steps for the vaccination ? He said it the vaccine works great... Wanting to ask before I made a call to my vet.

[mcbosco]

Is this the same flu bug that killed ONE 15 year old Whippet last year?

[SubMariner]

My kennel informed me that the dog flu is becoming a concern. It started out in horses in the tracks, but now has moved over to dogs, through Greyhounds I believe he said. Told me that once a dog contracts the virus, it kills the dog in 15 days. Very quick and very painful to the dog. He's seen dogs die because of it and it was not pretty.

Anyway, wondering if you all heard the same thing and if you took any steps for the vaccination ? He said it the vaccine works great... Wanting to ask before I made a call to my vet.

Now, I'm not a vet, nor do I play one on TV. However, our breeder (who's also a vet tech) is not all that concerned about this "outbreak". She advised us to save our money; that it's really not an issue.

[djswizz]

If this were a concern, I'd gladly spend the $100 or so on a vaccine to keep my dog alive and/or protected from something that might occur to him. Outbreak or not... Just like flu shots for humans. But I hear what you're all saying about this... I'm going to ask my vet about it to be sure. He's a FTer as well so I trust his judgement over a dog kennel. Just looking for opinions from you all!

[SubMariner]

I'd gladly spend the $100 or so on a vaccine to keep my dog alive and/or protected from something that might occur to him. Outbreak or not, it's something that could happen. Insurance I'd say...

Hey, no one here is saying that we won't spend money to keep our dogs healthy. However, during our visit to the vet last month for a minor problem, the vet's assistant was really pushing us to get this vaccine. However, when questioned further, not only could she NOT come up with a case of flu since she'd been with this vet (nine years!) but admitted that unless you are consistently kenneling your animal in a place where they are exposed to new dogs, the risk is EXTREMELY low.

FWIW,