This might not be the best time to take Fido to a play group.
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Area veterinarians’ offices are seeing numerous cases of canine influenza, which is highly contagious and can be fatal.
Naperville Animal Hospital has suspended all surgeries and boarding and grooming services while the flu remains a presence, according to senior receptionist Sydney Campbell, who reported that the Ogden Avenue facility has treated nearly two dozen cases daily, for the most part, since late March.
“It dipped, but then we saw it pick up again,” Campbell said.
None of the patients has yet succumbed to the flu, she said, nor have any of the numerous dogs treated for the virus at Wheatland Animal Hospital, a staff member there said.
The staff member, who would not giver her name said symptoms can include coughing, lethargy and sometimes vomiting. In some instances, the animals are being admitted for treatment and she was unsure if the facility was keeping track of how many flu cases were being seen.
She said if the flu case is severe the animal is kept at the hospital and given fluids and antibiotics.
Staff members at Naperville’s Boulder Terrace Animal Hospital haven’t yet seen any cases of dog flu, but “we are doing a lot of vaccinating for it,” said an employee who also would not to give her name.
Campbell said lack of appetite and a disinterest in fluids are other common signs of dog flu, and some of those sickened will cough up a white, mucous-like material. She emphasized that the illness spreads easily.
“This is airborne,” Campbell said. “It also stays on surfaces for varying amounts of time.”
The veterinary practice is taking extra precautions, using bleach to disinfect surfaces and keeping sick dogs in quarters well removed from areas where healthy animals are housed.
“We talked with a (Chicago) specialist, and he said this is the worst he’s seen since 2008,” Campbell said.
In the meantime, while some dog parks in Chicago and the suburbs have closed while the flu remains active locally, off-leash dog areas in forest preserves in and around Naperville are still open.
“If there was something erupting in our dog parks, I’m sure someone would call us or notify us on our website,” said Cindy Cain, public information officer for the Forest Preserve District of Will County, which operates a dog park in the Whalon Lake Forest Preserve in far southeast Naperville.
Just one call has come in about the flu so far, Cain said Thursday, and that was an inquiry.
Users of the district’s dog parks must provide proof that the animal is current on rabies and kennel cough vaccines, Cain said. If reports of dog flu do begin to come in, the agency will respond with information about the outbreak, she said, and how to minimize exposure risk.
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, which has dog parks in the Springbrook Prairie and Greene Valley forest preserves, hasn’t heard about illness among its four-legged visitors either.
“Nothing has been brought forward for us to even respond to at this point,” said Sue Omanson, director of communications.w
Dog groomers in Naperville also have seen very little in the way of viral impact from the flu.
“We have not seen anything at our salon, and we haven’t gotten any calls from people about their dogs getting sick,” said Jenny Krezel of The UpScale Tail.
Dog Patch Pet & Feed, which has grooming services available, has yet to see any flu either.
“I know that the groomers are little more diligent about checking for vaccines when dogs come in,” staff member Jenny Lewin said.
Dogs going out of the shelter run by DuPage County Animal Care and Control are being inoculated against the flu, although there have been no diagnoses of the illness so far at the Wheaton facility. It’s a new piece of protocol put into place, county spokeswoman Joanna Kelly said, after the department consulted with Chicago animal control authorities to ensure the proper response is being made to the outbreak.
Dog owner and advocate Jonathan Jenkins said he has seen no signs of a flu problem when he has worked as a volunteer at the county shelter, or at other animal agencies where he gives his time.
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Walking his three dogs – two of his own and a pit bull mix he is fostering – in downtown Naperville Friday morning, the Elmhurst resident said he doesn’t think the uptick in dog flu cases is cause for alarm. Still, he’s aware of the risk and keeps it mind when he and his furry friends take excursions to Chicago’s lakefront.
“We’ve avoided the beaches downtown as a precaution,” Jenkins said.
For those who really want to play it safe, there’s no place like Fido’s home.
“If people are concerned, obviously keep your dog at home,” Cain said. “You don’t have to go to the dog park.”
Twitter @scarlman