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A new, sometimes fatal dog flu worrying pet owners across the country may have reached Utah.
West Bountiful veterinarian Pam Epperson said she has treated 10 cases of what she believes is canine influenza virus in the past two weeks.
The owner of Animal Care Center and Canine Rehab Center recently diagnosed her own toy poodle with the virus, as well as Keli Dowler's 2 1/2-year-old border collie mix, which she had just adopted Saturday from the pound.
The news worried Dowler, who had never heard of dog flu, after a friend told her it was a virus sweeping the country and killing dogs.
"It definitely did scare me," she said.
But whether the fear is warranted, at this time, is uncertain.
The dog flu was first diagnosed in January 2004 in Florida, according to Salt Lake City veterinarian Gary Peterson. The virus, which reportedly crossed over from horses to greyhounds at race tracks, has more recently been found in pets, with cases documented in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state.
It is commonly transmitted through the air between dogs in close quarters, Peterson said. The most susceptible places for a dog to catch the flu are places like kennels, "doggie day care" centers and dog parks.
Like horse flu, which has been around for about 40 years, there are no known cases of humans contracting dog flu from their pets, Peterson said.
Veterinarian Dennis Law of the Cottonwood Animal Hospital doesn't doubt that dog flu will make its way to Utah, if it isn't already here. However, he said he has not yet diagnosed dog flu in any of the animals he's examined.
Other doctors have told him a severe strain of kennel cough is going around, which the dog flu virus mimics. "There may be cases here we've overlooked that were diagnosed as kennel cough . . . but we have no concrete data to support that claim," Law said.
Utah State University extensions veterinarian Clell V. Bagley said the virus is so new that veterinarians have different impressions of the disease.
"I've not heard of any [case in Utah]," Bagley said. "I would doubt we would have any yet. But it's always possible."
Workers at some Salt Lake City kennels said they haven't seen any cases, but they're being careful.
"I'm well aware of it," said Brickyard Kennel owner Teri Dorton. "I'm watching for it."
To be on the safe side, she said she plans to administer antibiotics to all dogs at her facility that show signs of kennel cough.
Symptoms of kennel cough and the flu both include a runny nose, coughing and a fever. The temperature of a dog with the flu, however, will be as high as 106 degrees, Peterson said.
Epperson agreed there is only a small distinction between kennel cough and dog flu diagnoses, however, she says dogs with kennel cough will continue to be active, whereas a dog with the flu will be lethargic.
Around 5 percent of the dogs that catch canine influenza will die from it, Peterson estimated. "The incidence of fatality is really low."
There is no vaccine for canine influenza, though Peterson said researchers are more than likely looking into one. Dogs that come down with the virus now are treated with fluids, hospitalization and sometimes antibiotics.
There have been no cases of dog flu at Peterson's Town and Country Veterinarian Hospital, he said. In fact, he is still skeptical that dog flu has even reached Utah, he said, since there is no way yet to accurately diagnosis the virus. Nasal swabs, he said, only detect the virus during the first 72 hours and blood testing is currently only being used by a few researchers.
Epperson says she's 99 percent certain the 10 dogs she diagnosed had the virus.
Still, she urged pet owners not to overreact.
"The hype is way overblown," Epperson said. "I've seen no fatalities."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Has dog flu virus made it to Utah? , Differing opinions: Veterinarians disagree whether the sometimes fatal bug has hit the state's canines
* Canine influenza virus, also known as dog flu, is spreading steadily among the nation's dogs.
* Symptoms include cough, fever and a runny nose.
* No vaccine is available. Perhaps 5 percent of victims die.
* The virus is believed to have appeared when it jumped from horses to dogs, striking greyhounds at racetracks in 11 states. It then started showing up in pets around the country.