Dog Flu

My husband and I would be DEVESTATED if anything happened to our Molly (in White, Brown and Black)  - as would be our niece (in perpetual pink.)

My best friend, who is in veterinary medicine, just sent me this article from the New York Times, which touts a new vaccine (no doubt the only time I’ll ever post about a vaccine), that may save smaller puppies – especially Shih Tzus and Pugs – from a terrible flu. This was all I needed to read:

“When Dr. Crawford began studying it in January 2004, it had come to her notice as a mysterious cough and pneumonia that killed a third of the greyhounds at a Florida dog track. By the next year, she had found it in seven states and had shown that it could be passed by dogs who just rubbed noses on the street or shared a water dish, and that humans could carry it on their clothes. There was a brief flurry of fear that it would kill 1 percent to 10 percent of the country’s 70 million dogs.

It has proved about as deadly as Dr. Crawford predicted. She estimates that by itself, it kills 5 percent of the dogs that catch it.”

If you are lucky enough to have a small, snorting, furry creature run your home, please ask your vet about this new vaccine.

Woof!