Last year, the virus took hold in Los Angeles, resulting in more than 1,300 cases from July 2021 to January 2022.
This summer, it showed up in Birmingham, Ala. “And it exploded,” said Dr. Lindy Alverson, the chief veterinary officer at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. “Day cares were closing, groomers were closing.”
The Humane Society, which suspended canine adoptions for six weeks, had to euthanize several severely ill dogs before the outbreak ebbed, Dr. Alverson said. Now, after a brief respite, the virus is back, she added.
Cases have also been reported in Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas and elsewhere, experts noted.
And influenza is not the only respiratory infection making the rounds. In Charlotte, N.C., veterinary facilities and doggy day cares said that they had seen a surge of coughing, sniffling dogs this fall. “By mid-October it got really bad,” said Kim Lovingood-Owens, the co-owner of NoDa Bark and Board. “We closed for an entire week, sanitized the building.”
Some local dogs have tested positive for flu, while others have contracted different respiratory pathogens, such as the bacteria Bordetella bronchiseptica.
In recent weeks, Charlotte Animal Referral & Emergency, a veterinary hospital, has seen a flood of dogs with respiratory infections resulting in severe pneumonia. “We are running out of room to place animals, we’re running out of oxygen to put them on,” said Dr. Kelly Lang, an emergency and critical care veterinarian at the facility. “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before.”
At Operation Kindness, the peak of the outbreak has passed with no canine deaths, although some dogs are still finishing up their courses of treatment, Mr. Jamison said. Last weekend, adoptions at the shelter resumed, and 21 dogs found new homes.
“It was so nice to finally see some dogs get adopted,” Mr. Jamison said.