Those looking to give a four-legged, furry friend a loving home might have to wait as the Animal Humane Society in St. Paul is reporting a case of canine flu, causing adoptions to be put on hold for the time being.
A dog adopted this past Sunday, June 14, from the St. Paul Animal Humane Society, a Shar-Pei mix, seemed to be fine initially, but started showing symptoms of canine flu soon after getting to his new home.
The test results from the pup’s blood test and nasal swap came back positive for the H3N2 flu. Janelle Dixon, president and CEO of the local Animal Humane Society, gave a statement saying that it’s the first case of canine flu to ever be reported in the Twin Cities metro area.
The ill dog, a male that the shelter staff called Toga while the animal was under their care, has fully recovered at is currently living at his new home with his adoptive family.
But veterinarians are watching the development of the situation closely, as the CEO went on to add that soon after Toga, a second dog was diagnosed with pneumonia and is currently undergoing treatment and being tested for canine flu.
In an attempt to keep the flu from spreading, the Animal Humane Society has isolated each of the dogs at the St. Paul animal shelter with kennel cough or other symptoms in order to test them for canine flu and assess how wide spread the epidemic is, or see if the previous sick dogs were just two isolated cases.
The nonprofit organization has also sent letters to people who have adopted a new best friend sometime in the past 30 days, asking them to take the animal to a veterinarian, just to make to sure that they don’t need any antibiotics. Some of the symptoms affected pups will show include deep coughs, nasal discharge or even a fever.
Canine flu has been getting around lately as five (5) more dogs were reported sick earlier this year, in May, at a training and rescue facility in Detroit Lakes, in Minnesota. All of them recovered fully.
While canine flu isn’t a fatal or severe condition, it does affect a dog’s mood and can lead to pneumonia if left untreated.
The Animal Humane Society in St. Paul has put adoptions on hold until they can confirm that no other animal has been infected.
Image Source: dailypuppy.com
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