If it wasn’t bad enough with a triple epidemic of COVID-19, RSV, and influenza, there is now an outbreak of Canine Influenza in Green Country.
Actually, it is not a novel virus. “It has been around the United States for probably twelve to fifteen years, it has just never made it across the border into Oklahoma,” said Dr. Mike Jones, a veterinarian at Woodland West Animal Hospital in Jenks. “We have had it around us for a while but for whatever reason, Oklahoma has always been spared a little bit.”
The strain Dr. Jones and his colleagues have repeatedly diagnosed is H3N2, which is highly contagious.
When asked about the severity of this Influenza, Dr. Jones said: “It is viral,80 to 90 percent just kind of run their course, and you are going to have anything from sneezing, coughing, runny nose, runny eyes to full blown pneumonia. If you get a secondary pneumonia it can be fatal.”
The holiday season causes concern for Dr. Jones because of people boarding their pets. “With Christmas coming up, you have these large boarding facilities, especially like ours next door, we don’t want everyone to board for Christmas and go home with the flu.”
The good news is that there is a vaccine. Dr. Jones said Woodland West has set up a vaccination clinic. “ If you are going to board for Christmas, if someone’s pet is going to board for the holidays, I would find a place and get a shot. You have to get a booster three weeks after the initial. You need two boosters to get good immunity, but one is better than nothing. We are vaccinating about a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five a day.”
Currently there is a table set up outside the animal hospital to sceen dogs coming in to be treated.” So right now, we are having clients pull in,they set up an appointment, as of this moment, we are having our vaccine clinic outside. They jsut pull on up, we ask the basic questions,If they have been in a boarding facility recently, if they are showing signs andsymptoms. Once they are all checked out, we get them fully checked out and we go about the vaccine and we just let them know to come back in three weeks,or call and make an appointment in three weeks. We go about the booster and we let them know they are not fully covered until three weeks after that.” said Erin Andrews Woodland West, who was screening and administering the vaccine.
The price of Canine Influenza vaccine ranges from $37 to $60 a dose,depending on the health-care provider. This may or may not be in addition to an office visit fee.
