Highly contagious dog flu ‘knocking on our door’: Beaufort County pet boarders requiring dog vaccines

As a recent dog flu outbreak continues to spread across South Carolina and Georgia, pet boarders and doggie daycares in Beaufort County are requiring clients to get their dogs vaccinated.

Evergreen Pet Lodge and Southpaw Pet Resort both informed clients that they would begin requiring the Canine Influenza vaccine after the highly contagious virus was confirmed last week in eight states, including South Carolina.

After multiple cases were confirmed in Charleston and at least one case was confirmed in Savannah, Stuart Campagna, co-owner of Southpaw, realized that the Beaufort County area was surrounded, he said.

“I thought ‘this is an absolute no-brainer, and it’s time to get our clients’ pets vaccinated,’” he said.

At first, Campagna said he considered merely informing clients of the outbreak and encouraging vaccinations. But in the end, he said, “We require rabies and other types of shots, so why one earth would we not require this?”

“Our job is to keep pets happy, healthy and safe,” Campagna said. “And with the potential of having canine influenza knocking on our door, it seems irresponsible to not to require it.”

Southpaw provides boarding and daycare services to about 150 dogs each week, and they will all be required to complete the canine influenza vaccination by July 13.

“Hopefully its all a big nothing, that would be great,” he said. “But I’m going to take the position of better safe than sorry.”

The full vaccination process takes about a three weeks to a month to complete. The vaccination includes two shots, two weeks apart. About a week after the second shot, the dog’s immunity should last about a year.

While Campagna realizes the process may seem like an inconvenience for clients, almost all of them have shown support for the new policy and are thankful Southpaw is taking a proactive approach, he said.

Symptoms of the flu include coughing, a running nose, low energy, lack of appetite or a fever. Dogs remain contagious for four weeks after contracting the flu.

Most dogs recover at home in about two weeks without any complications, but it can progress to pneumonia if left untreated. Dogs diagnosed with the flu should be kept isolated from other dogs for four weeks, according to the University of Florida’s Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, which initially reported the outbreak.

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Highly contagious dog flu ‘knocking on our door’: Beaufort County pet boarders requiring dog vaccines."