Yes, dogs or other pets can suffer from influenza but usually not due to the same strain as for the human beings. When you get the flu, what you immediately intend is to sniff Netflix, Nyquil but have you ever given equal attention to your beloved pet, who might get flu? Would you like to transfer your flu to your beloved pet? Certainly not.
Dr Colin Parrish, professor of virology at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine says there can be two cases if you’re roaming around sniffing with your fluffy pet. It may or may not catch the flu. He says pets especially dogs can get canine influenza but it follows a different pattern having other strain of viruses. In addition to it, he says there are no reports of human interaction with canine influenza while pets also do not often interact with human flu. Yes, they are different!
Most of the people having pets love their pets more than any other thing, thus human suffering from flu can get closer to his pet without any fear of pup having flu and vice versa. But a little care can make a huge difference. Because even if the viruses are different, the base of flu development is same in both organisms.
Symptoms You Can Take Care of
Dogs with flu may die from canine influenza, a respiratory virus. When dogs get such virus, they become sick, cough a lot, mainly do not feel well. Dr Parrish argues in 90% cases, dogs get recovered uneventfully. Like human flu, there can be many causes of this flu and their severity may vary as well. He further says doctors always do not know the causes of flu but they obviously can help in treatment.
Besides this, one of the major causes is a weak immune system as the dog is quite young or old, or get influenced by other pathogens.
Fortunately, the flu does not always flourish in the entire country and it can be diverse from different regions of the state. As its outbreaks have been widely observed in Chicago and the Midwest since three or four years while several hundred cases were reported in 2015.