After a recent case of H3N2 influenza was detected in a dog in Calgary (that presumably originated in the US), there’s not much to update, which is hopefully good news. Things have been quiet. On one hand, that’s a bit surprising, because flu is highly transmissible and there’s basically no pre-existing immunity in the Canadian
Canine influenza has been identified in a dog in Calgary, Alberta. It is suspected to have been acquired from dogs that participated in a dog show in the US near the end of September. As expected, H3N2 canine flu is the cause (not H5N1 avian influenza, which has been detected in a number of poultry
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I wrote about dental therapy dogs and the potential benefits and risks associated with having dogs in dentists’ offices to alleviate patient stress. A pilot study (Gussgard et al, Clin Exp Dent Res 2023) has since been done looking at the impact of therapy dogs on
Dog gets diarrhea, then dog gets metronidazole (or another antimicrobial).
That’s a pretty rote approach to diarrhea in many areas, and one we’ve been battling for years, because there’s no evidence that antibiotics help dogs in these cases (and increasing evidence that they might even hurt).
Trying to get veterinarians NOT to prescribe antimicrobials in
We’re getting reports of potential canine parvovirus infection in vaccinated dogs in some parts of northern Ontario. Parvo is a nasty but vaccine-preventable disease, and available vaccines are very effective. True vaccine breakthrough (i.e. infection in a fully vaccinated individual) seems to be rare with canine parvo, but no vaccine is 100% effective, so it
Vaccine hesitancy by pet owners has been in the news a lot recently, largely due to a recent study about the prevalence and consequences of vaccine hesitancy among dog owners in the US (Motta et al. 2023). The survey-based study reported 37% of respondents think vaccines can cause “cognitive issues, like canine/feline autism”
Avian flu caused an uptick in discussion about health risks associated with feeding dogs and cats raw meat, based on the possible (and still pretty tenuous) link between raw poultry and a large number of H5N1 infections in cats in Poland.
The link between raw diets and flu infections is new, and something
If we know one thing about influenza A, it’s that there will always be something new with this virus.
A recent study out of China (Meng et al. 2023) describes what seems to be a new canine flu strain. Is it a concern? It’s hard to say at this point, but having more flu strains
(TL:DR… check out the TikTok version at the bottom)
When I was a newly graduated veterinarian in general practice, I gave puppies and kittens their first rabies vaccine at 16 weeks of age. That was the standard at the clinic and a common practice elsewhere. Now, if I ask audiences of veterinarians when they vaccinated
There’s nothing too earth-shattering here, but a few useful changes pertaining to rabies regulations are coming to Ontario as of July 1, 2023.
