Monday, January 18, 2010

Canine Influenza Update

I chaired a continuing education meeting of the Greater Des Moines Veterinary Association last Tuesday on an unrelated topic but since we had 40 to 50 local veterinarians there, at the end of the meeting I asked the audience for a show of hands if they had seen any confirmed cases of Canine Influenza. No one had so I asked if anyone had seen any suspected/unconfirmed cases and 4 or 5 raised their hands. The big question is whether or not to vaccinate. I've heard that some boarding and grooming establishments are requiring it. Most infectious disease experts believe it will be everywhere eventually like distemper and parvo. I'm leaving it up to the individual dog owners to decide and a small percentage are opting to vaccinate to be prepared for when or if it becomes endemic in this area.