The Chattanooga area is seeing an unprecedented number of cases of canine respiratory illness, particularly canine influenza, leading veterinarians to recommend people keep their dogs away from other dogs and a local animal shelter to limit its intake of new dogs.
“I would definitely have to call this an outbreak,” Marisa Shulman, medical director of Riverview Animal Hospital, said by phone. “In Chattanooga at least, this is way more than we usually see.”
Shulman said she became aware of an increase in cases in Middle Tennessee through her role on the board of the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association before the outbreak spread to Chattanooga.
Riverview Animal Hospital does not test every dog that comes into the office. However, dogs tested there and at other facilities across the city reveal an increase in cases of influenza as well as other respiratory viruses and illnesses caused by different bacteria, Shulman said,
Jim Hammon, a veterinarian at Northgate Animal Hospital, said his office is seeing six or seven dogs with respiratory illnesses a week instead of the typical six or seven cases a month.