video CTV News: Murray Oliver on the bird flu scare 1:47
Q Can my pet cat/dog contract bird flu?
There is no evidence that bird flu can be transmitted to cats and dogs. link
Actually, in Indonesia, the zoo animals that were fed infected poultry all died. There was a 100% mortality rate in felines. I guess we just be careful what we feed our pets. My concern is that if our dogs or cats go outside, and ingest something that has infected feces, can they contract the bird flu? And/or if you have a pet bird indoors, would you need to worry if it gets here?
Re: video of dead dogs, I’d just like to point out that I saw 2 dead dogs, both appeared emaciated, and it was winter and snowing. That being said, I hope they test all dead animals and all living humans in the area.
I know that I have read in more than one source that dogs, cats, mice, and pigs can get this virus, but I can’t put my finger on the sources right now.
Yes, dogs and cats can become infected with H5N1 and die. Outside they can encounter a live or dead bird or come in contact with old or new feces on the ground and infect humans. Even if they don’t become infected with the virus, they can bring some bird feces back inside on their paws. I have a cat and a dog. They will both stay inside if a pandemic starts. They will not go outside at all. They can both use a litter box. I have stockpiled animal food and litter supplies.
Excellent points on the pets tracking things in or being possible carriers themselves. Food for thought, and need for further planning on my part. See….that’s why I come here. You picked a great big whole in my tidy plans…..planning…thinking…overcoming. We will get there!
I remeber watching my dog lick up bird feces under my bird feeders. Something there she liked. She did this all the time.
From Feb 2004: Bird flu passes to cats and tigers http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3506000/3506379.stm
By October it killed 23 tigers in one zoo. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/19/health/main650091.shtml
This virus kills mammals.
What we have not discussed is what happens if the virus gets into the local pet population. It’s one thing to cull millions of asian chickens but how many Americans would be willing to cull their own pets?
viralprotein
How about fleas of pets? A flea bites a cat that ate the sick bird. Then are the fleas or mosqitos transmitters of the disease to humans after snacking on infected blood?
While most people view Mosquitoes as little Flying Hypodermics because of their ability to inject viruses like West Nile and Malaria it turns out that they can’t deliver influenza.
According to a paper published in Cell, the mosquito’s immune system contains a TEP1 protein that destroys all influenza viruses by latching onto the pathogen’s surface so that phagocytes can recognize and engulf the foreign invader.
Science Direct/Cell March 2004
Since there is a homolog for TEP1 (telomerase associated protein 1)it would appear that raising the plasma levels of TEP1 in mammals could be a promising anti-viral treatment.
viralprotein
I went on our local community health watch section of the news just this afternoon and it said local veterinarians are concerned due to the high rate of dog deaths sweeping the US. They called it canine influenza and then quoted the CDC as saying that this “canine influenza would ‘probably’ not be contagious to humans.” This was on an Indiana news website….
Yes, there have been many dog deaths already from a strain of avian flu. Cats are also susceptible. The virus was first observed in racing greyhounds in this country.
The tigers who died had been fed dead chickens.
Awhile back I heard the same report about the strain of avian flu and dogs. They warned the dog can get it at the dog groomers or if you would go away and place him/she in a kennel. I stopped taking my dog for awhile to the groomers.
I have horses…has anyone heard if the flu can be passed to them. I worry because I have a lot of birds in my stable and I sometimes have to clean the bird poop out of their feed trough.
Please go to the pet center website at thepetcenter.com. The report dated january 12th said the canine flu is related to a horse flu that has been around for awhile. No links to the avian flu.
Mother of five,are you certain about the transmission from chicken`s infected to animals eating the meat dieing?I have over fifty free range chickens,often my dogs run through chicken sh*t and of course being dogs they sniff everything.Me and my wife have discussed what to do with this beautiful mix of heritage breeds,if infact h5n1 arrives,impossible to keep them locked up,i will have to kill them all,we have already a type of H5 about 150 kilometers from our house,found in ducks at the Nova Scotia -New Brunswick border,we watch our birds for any signs of sickness but it is tough,there are so many chicken diseases that if we knew now back when we started we would`nt have bothered getting them two years ago
AFAIK, the responsible pet owner doesn’t let his pets (dogs or cats) wander around and therefore the pets of the responsible pet owner won’t be passing anything around. However, your pets may well catch the flu from you. It has happened in my household. The dog very nearly died.
Simon, I’m not sure what to tell you to do. We own a whippet (part of the greyhound sight hounds) and this canine influenza was first noticed in the greyhounds that race at the tracks. Who knows where it first originated. Of course, my concern now is the dog foods. In Turkey they traced it to the dog foods. Where do they get their dog food? Is it imported from the US—does that mean our dog foods are contaminated? which brands? There are so many questions. I am concerned that when the BF gets here that I won’t be letting my dog outside. I am going to stock up on sawdust and old newspapers. That’s not the best idea for your multiple outside dogs. But, yes, I would think you do need to be concerned about what to do about your dogs. Even if you didn’t have chickens, being outside could be a hazard…. I understand that all the cats in the Jakarta zoos that ate contaminated chickens also died. We have two indoor cats and so I’m not as worried that they’ll catch it. However, I do have a question re indoor birds? It sounds crazy, but if anyone owns indoor birds, like cockatiels, for example, are you thinking of nixing the pet? or, being indoors, it won’t be a problem? So many questions??????
I can’t see how a bird indoors and in a cage could contract the virus. Is that possible. I could only imagine if the cage was by an opened window with a strong breeze, and an infected bird on a branch near the window. Otherwise, How?
The chickens we have will be done away with as soon as we hear the bad news,the dogs eat IAMS which i know is made up of animal byproducts,the crows come and fly around with a mix of other winter birds,i have now a strange feeling watching them in the morning,all water sources and food now is left inside,but i do realise the day will come,which is a shame alot of our chickens we have hand raised,and people always reemark how nice our yard looks with a large mix of color,does anyone else have chickens
No, only since there is a town ordinance prohibiting keeping them. Nothing flashier than a strutting rooster, and more matronly than a hen. So I keep ceramic chickens on a kitchen window with ferns. I think it is a shame, they are part of a rural landscapes much as grazing horses in the fields. Is it William Carlos Williams, the physician poet who wrote something like “Much depends on a white chicken against a red wheelbarrow.” Its one of my hundreds of thousands of mental images that pops into my head now and then. We won’t be seeing many white chickens against a wet red wheelbarrow.
Someone mentioned mice getting this virus. Now that is frightening, I think I’ll put more mouse traps out when I go home. Until now I only worried about Lyme, Hanta and mouse droppings.I feel like sighing, the fog is getting thicker and thicker outside. Peasoup.
Not that it matters, the actual poem is “so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.” To me a lovely image.
Thanks for everyones input keeps me informed an up to date. I have already prepared with food and water just before the y2k.
And the water and food are still good. Thats 5 years ago. Of course I have food in the back of my freeser that has been there that long. Good Idea to toss my freezer items in the trash tomorrow.
I’m hearing that bioremediation is now being considered in China and Vietnam to fight the Avian Flu.
Simon…I had a backyard flock up until about 2 months ago…We hand raised them and they were our pets…I gave them away to the Amish.My kid got a nasty bacterial bug (possibly from the poo,but none of my other kids got it,whereas many kids at school did have it)…Those beautiful birds were and are not worth the health of my family.
I would cull the chickens and put them in the freezer. Stop feeding local birds and use that money for prepping and feed your dog inside the house from now on so as not to attract outside mice or birds….thats what we did. We actually gave our chickens away just before winter and stopped feeding the birds two weeks ago.
The vaccine that they now start to use on poultry in Europe, is it available for pets? anyone with veterinary contact that can check this out?
One thing to consider about quarantining dogs: anxiety. I know that some of you live in suburban or rural areas and your dogs are probably used to running around quite a bit. One of my labs is about 10 or 11 now (we adopted her so we don’t exactly know). About 2 acres of our yard is invisible-fenced and she pretty much goes in and out as she wishes since I’m a stay-at-home-mom. Lately she hasn’t been tolerating the cold so well and so she has been inside a lot. I think that she might be suffering anxiety since she has been scratching herself like crazy and the vet didn’t see anything obviously wrong. I’m considering antidepressants for her because she is starting to bleed from the scratching. I just can’t stand to see her in distress.
You need to cull her and put her in the freezer
Laura-
send the anti-depresSants to grumpy anon. FedEx!
Laura in PA at 09:10, try changing her diet. I can recommend either Purina One or Nutro Max Natural. Either should cause dramatic improvement in her coat and skin. When I got my dog he suffered from itching (no fleas) and scratched constantly, a switch to Nutro made the difference. And my daughter began using Purina One for her dog after getting a free sample. I can’t believe the difference it has made in his appearance.
add cold-pressed vegetable oils into the food, sunflower, safflower, walnut, flax, olive, et al
Kim, thanks for the suggestions. She was on Purina One and Pedigree for a few years. I had heard from a breeder that they were good. Since then I’ve tried a specially formulated food from the vet to see if it was allergies. That didn’t work and now he wants to have her on raw hamburger meat only for a month. I did it a little, but I don’t see any difference. I might keep trying, but I want her to get some immediate relief in the meantime. I’ll try Nutro Max Natural, though.
But… just to keep this on bird flu, it did make me aware that someone with a big, active dog might want to do a dry run to see if your dog might go stir-crazy.
My poor dog spent the first year and a half of his life in a shelter, so he’s a little neurotic but is perfectly content to be inside the house by himself for long periods (much bigger than the little cage I found him in at the shelter!). Another thing that might work is simply taking your dog on a leash out for walks. Since she’s averse to the cold weather and not willing to go out much, she probably needs more excercize, and walks will be good for both of you. Also, if you suspect anxiety, a NylaBone will do wonders to relieve stress. I get my dog the really hard one, for “power chewers”, it isn’t harmful like Greenies. It is just a chew “toy” shaped like a bone, comes in various flavors (although I sure can’t smell anything, but my dog can), and is made of super-hard nylon (I think they make some that are edible, that’s not what you’re looking for). It is my dog’s security blanket, he takes it outside with him and brings it in with him when he comes back inside, and whenever he’s stressed he grabs it (and holds it between his paws like a giant lollipop). NylaBones are available most everywhere, just get the size and hardness most appropriate for your dog. Oh yeah, they also are really good for your dog’s teeth. Every time I take him to the vet they want to clean his teeth… until they look at them and see that there is absolutely no tarter buildup (he’s five now).
I am planning on having a footbath just inside the door if BF hits for my golden retriever to step into each time we bring her in from a potty break. I’m hoping the bleach water won’t damage her paws over time but don’t know what else to do.
Yeah, my dog is going to tear the house apart if he’s inside all the time. Oh well, he already pretty much does. Laura in PA, if you continue to suspect food problems, you might want to check out one of the “holistic” dog foods, like Solid Gold. That company also has a line of nutritional supplements (which I haven’t used). My dog loves his Hund-n-flocken (and I love to say it—”Hund-n-flocken!”) and his beef and turkey jerky. I think that, in a pinch, my family could probably eat his dog food, too (see how I worked in the flu preparedness angle, there?)
Laura in PA: We just started giving our lab fish oil capsules and Omega 3–6−9 capsules. No special name, just that they get all three omegas. I think I did just see that fish oil is more bioavailable to them, but not certain. Her coat is perpetually dry, and she scratches a lot. The oils have helped a great deal. Another suggestion is to double the dose the first month. High dose omegas do a lot to reduce inflammation and skin problems. Do some research, ask a vet, but I found that grocery store vitamins were less expensive than the vet brand.
I’m sure I’m in the minority in my opinion….I have a dozen free ranging pet roosters, and dogs, and cats, and about 1000 wild geese that live on my front pond. Since there is nothing I can do about getting rid of the geese, I dont intend to do anything about any of them. While the dogs are in and out, the 20 barn cats arent coming in the house. I’m not going to kill or give away my chickens. They have jobs to do, just like the cats. As farmers, with herds and flocks to care for, we can’t just hide under the bed. We will be outside, in the barns, in the fields, all day long. They are as likely to contract the flu from the people here as we are from them. We will be in contact with yard birds and bird poop and the usual range of bugs and cooties. That’s just the way it is. There is risk in everything that you do.
IMO, by the time it hits here, having gone H2H2H…it will be much more important to deal with the grid failure, food/water/medicine/fuel shortages, and avoiding snotty nosed sick people than animals; ergo, the serious prepping.
Saddle, you and me think alike. I’m living on the edge of a city right now but I can’t wait to get back to a rural life. I miss my Khaki Campbell ducks and cashmere-producing goats so bad sometimes I can’t see straight.
SaddleTramp, me too! Even though I live in the burbs, I’m not sealing myself up in my house, or my dog either. I would rather die at the hands of Nature than to be cut off from it and have my soul wither away! I’ll be out in my garden tending the veggies and flowers, hopefully listening to the birds singing.
Allq,
In Alaska, when the mushers run dogs, they put booties on them. Snow can be ice and ice can be hard and cutting when the dogs pull at it. The dogs get to like their booties. Maybe that would help in your case.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Allquiet, you might want to try a test run on the bleach bath. Last summer I wanted to wash the concrete around our pool to get rid of some mold, so I used Clorox bleach for outdoors. My dog ran around on the concrete as the bleach was soaking. I tried to keep her away from it but she kept just busting out to try to follow me. It seemed to bother her paws and it was quite a time trying to wash it off.
essential oils 2–10% Dilution for paw spray. clove, tea tree, eucalyptus, thyme, orange…non-irritating.
200lb. baby boy vegetarian Mastiff loves seaweed soup for omega3′s naturally.
I have some information on the dogs in southern Florida that got sick in 2005. The local paper here ran a story that Equine Flu jumped to greyhound in 2004(?) and then in 2005 it jumped to other types of dogs. On the Recombinomics web page they call it H3N8. Initially people though it was Kennel Cough.
Steve-
Good reminder. others here have animals who suffered through one of the bouts.
hey this is Nicole do you know how many animals die because of littering? is this ture that every time you litter you kill 2 animals?
thank you for your time regards Nicole
Laura in PA-my ‘middle’ dog is allergic to something in the house- vet can’t pin it down further without putting Chewie through a billion tests, but it seems to be something inhaled (although he scratches and chews his paws- no sneezing, etc.) So every AM he gets a big bite of peanut butter and 50 mg of Benadryl- symptoms are gone!
“although he scratches and chews his paws- no sneezing, etc.”
What are you using to clean your carpet, rugs, flooring? If your dog is not sneezing but is scratching and chewing at his paws it sounds to me like he’s getting something on his feet that is the cause of his allergies. Lots of animals are sensitive to the chemicals we use in our homes. Think about this then look for an alternative, more natural, solution to clean your flooring. I bet you will see an improvement in his allergies.
my kind brother sent me an ebook on survival, slightly boring as he and I know all that stuff from years gone by… however there was one chapter that got me thinking. it was about city people who will be abandoning thier cats and dogs in the country at the first opportunity. yes you know who you are. you think they’ll go wild and live fine, and you know? they will! feral cats are hell on all wild life even stuff people would like to eat and dogs… well dogs form packs and they can be a bit smarter than wolves.
you doubt me? cats and dogs eat and drink… poop and tear things up but you love them just the same. the hardest thing on earth to do is kill something you love. you’ll release them into the wild first
“honey” “we’re out of dog food” “what are we going to do?” ralph wonders to himself if muffy will eat rice, then it occurs to him to wonder what muffy would taste like served on a bed of rice.
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