Bird flu and dogs: How to protect your pets as cases of deadly virus rise – National

After a dog in Ontario recently contracted Avian Flu and died, experts say pet owners should be more vigilant – even if the risk of transmission to mammals remains low.

The infectious strain, called H5N1, also known as avian influenza, is a highly pathogenic form of avian influenza A virus and circulates more easily among birds. Although it is rare for it to spread to mammals, their numbers are increasing across Canada.

The dog from Oshawa, Ont., was infected with bird flu after chewing a wild goose and then developed “clinical signs,” the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced on Tuesday. The case was confirmed on April 1 and the autopsy, which showed that the respiratory system was involved in the death, was completed on April 3.

Although the CFIA has said the risk of humans and pets contracting the virus remains low, Scott Weese, a veterinary internal medicine specialist and professor at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, said pet owners should always exercise caution as the risk is not zero.

“That dog could have easily been missed because if they hadn’t noticed the encounter with the bird, it wouldn’t have triggered any test,” he said. “So is this the only dog ​​that has been infected in Canada, or is this the only dog ​​that we have diagnosed? It’s hard to say.”

1:55Why the spread of bird flu has some experts warning of the need for a human vaccine

Overall, pets infected with bird flu are rare, but the problem comes when “you have a lot of background noise,” he explained.

“If it’s a rare chance, a one-in-a-million chance, but you get millions and millions of birds, that one-in-a-million chance starts to become more common.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the ongoing circulation among poultry as worrying. At a WHO press conference on Thursday, infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said transmission from poultry to mammals is “always of concern”.

“As a pathogen that has this zoonotic risk, this spillover risk, the concern is whether it has this aspect of amplification,” she said. “This is something the organization takes very seriously as pathogens that have epidemic and pandemic potential.”

Transmission between mammals usually occurs when an animal eats or chews a bird, said Levon Abrahamyan, a virologist at the University of Montreal.

“These cases are very rare, and they occur when there is very direct contact with a large number of virus particles,” he said. “And that can happen with a dog or any animal, including a human, in close contact with a high concentration of virus.”

That’s why bird flu has been transferred more to “opportunistic carnivores,” such as foxes, raccoons, skunks, ferrets and ferrets, Abrahamyan said.

For example, last month eight skunks found dead in the Vancouver area have tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza. British Columbia health officials said skunks may have contracted the virus by eating infected wild birds.

When it comes to infected pets, Abrahamyan thinks hunting dogs are most at risk.

Duck hunting in Canada is usually in the fallbut if bird flu continues to spread across the country, the virus could still be present in September and October.

“In the case of domestic dogs, it is very rare that the dog can catch it. But a dog that may be more at risk is the hunting dog,” Abrahamyan warned. “I would strongly recommend that hunters take precautions now that we have highly pathogenic influenza in wild birds.

“They should watch their dogs because a dead bird has a higher possibility of having the virus because you don’t know what caused the death.”

Bird flu affects all types of birds, such as ducks, swans and geese. This particularly affects those who tend to stay in groups or congregate. The virus is transmitted from bird to bird through secretions, feces and contaminated food, water and equipment, according to the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety.

It can also be deadly, so when scavenger animals like skunks (or even a dog) eat an infected bird, they can catch the virus too.

“We don’t want the dogs to roam where they have a close encounter with, say, a goose, because geese tend to stand still,” Weese said. “Your dog comes up and barks at it and the goose will bark back. And it’s that close contact that we want to prevent.

If there’s a park that dog owners enjoy but it’s inundated with geese this time of year, Weese said it’s probably not a great place to take your pet. , because the goal is to “reduce this bridge between wildlife and domestic animals”.

4:27Bird flu virus spreads to mammals

Weese said he has two dogs of his own and lives in rural Ontario. So there are ducks and geese everywhere.

“I’m not too restrictive with my dogs, but I’m not going to let them go goose hunting in the pond. If there’s a dead bird, I’ll definitely drive them away and be more restrictive. But I’m not going to completely leash them in areas where I know you don’t see a lot of birds.

As for feeding pets raw meat, Weese said if a dog is on a raw meat diet, there shouldn’t be any risk of bird flu because that’s the same as buying poultry at the grocery store.

“There is no flu risk there,” he explained. “The poultry is really very well supervised. They do not enter the food chain if they are infected.

But he warned that dog owners should not hunt their own birds to feed their dog, or have their own backyard poultry, as these are ‘big sources of amplification’ of the virus.

With bird flu cases steadily increasing in Canada, Weese said bird feeders can pose a risk, especially to “the birds themselves, as feeders are mixing sites.”

“You bring together birds that might not otherwise get close. And you also create more risk of secretions and bird poop getting on the feeder. So it could be a place where you’re going to amplify the virus if any of them have it,” he said.

There is also the danger that the bird feeder will attract more animals close to the human and animal population.

He recommends keeping cats indoors if possible, but acknowledges that can be difficult to do in some situations.

“If you have a particular outdoor cat, it’s probably not good to have a feeder because it creates a greater chance for that cat to catch a bird and the cat is then more likely to catch a bird. sick bird,” Weese added.

If people want to keep their feeder or birdbath this spring and summer, Abrahamyan recommends washing it frequently with a mixture of vinegar and soap, to maintain a clean environment.

“You don’t want your bird feeder or bath to become a source of transmission for this virus, so clean it regularly and you should be fine,” he said.

0:31BC SPCA wants you to remove your bird feeders, for now

In December 2022, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of British Columbia (BC SPCA) urged residents to remove their bird feeders, warning them that they put birds, including large- horned owls, bald eagles, great blue herons, ducks and geese, and crows – at risk of virus.

The BC SPCA has called on people to remove seed and suet feeders, to discourage birds from congregating and potentially spreading disease.

These feeders create “unnatural congregations” of birds that can transmit the virus to each other or contract it from other bird droppings on the ground under the feeder as they search for fallen seeds, a said the organization.

– with files from Simon Little of Global News