How to Protect Your Dog from The Flu

As in humans, climate changes influence your pet by causing them to catch a cold or even the flu. Although they aren’t serious diseases, it’s not at all comfortable for a dog to feel sick. Therefore, it’s better to know how to prevent these conditions.

There are several things you can do to keep your dog from getting sick with the flu. In this article, you can find out why dogs catch the flu, how to prevent it and what the symptoms are. Let’s start with the latter.

Symptoms of flu in dogs

There are different viruses that can cause your dog to catch the flu or a cold. The most common and contagious is parainfluenza. Although it’s known that these diseases can be caused by adenovirus type 2, which is the cause of kennel’s cough.

However, in both cases, whether it’s the virus that caused the this disease, the symptoms are the same:

• Sneezing. Your dog can sneeze for several reasons because just like humans, any dust molecule of dust, pepper or other substance can cause your dog to sneeze. However, when they are repetitive it’s a symptom of the flu or cold.
• Mucus. Yes, dogs also lose mucus when they have a cold or flu. It will look like water falling from their nose and it will be very uncomfortable for the animal. Make sure their snot doesn’t have any because it could mean that there are greater problems. If this happens do not delay in going to the vet.
• Cough and difficulty breathing. Watch your dog and see if they have trouble breathing such as making the slightest whistling sounds when breathing and cough. A cough, sometimes, by force, could lead to vomiting. Watery, congested eyes can also be a signal of this viral infection.
• Headache and general malaise. This will be very easy to recognize, because the dog will spend the day lying down and not wanting to do anything, with a sad look on their face. It’s also possible that they can lose their appetite. A good technique to solve this is to wet their food with warm water.
• Fever. This is easily recognizable by touching their nose if it’s dry and very hot, your animal has a fever. A fever should not last more than two days. If after that time the fever persists, go to the vet.

How to prevent flu in your dog

As you can see, the symptoms that your animal will show if it has this viral infection are not pleasant at all, so it’s important that you learn how to prevent the flu.

One of the best ways to prevent the canine flu is by vaccinating the animal. Yes, the flu vaccine in dogs exists and it’s very effective.

It’s very important to monitor the hygiene of the places your dog usually spends time at because this disease is very contagious. So if other dogs at the park, the veterinarian or other places, have it, it’s very likely to infect your pet.

It can only be spread from one dog to another. So, don’t worry about the dog infecting the children or even you.

Keep in mind that the cold can be a common denominator for your dog to get the flu, so keep the animal warm when the winter season arrives. Also if you bathe them at home, do it with warm water and dry them as much as possible.

It’s not difficult to prevent this canine disease or to take care of your animal that has it. With a little attention and affection, everything is possible.