Dogs at South Suburban Humane Society Fall Ill with Canine Flu-Like Symptoms

More than five dogs at South Suburban Humane Society in Chicago Heights are being tested for a canine flu that has sickened nearly 1,300 dogs from the Chicago area to Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio.

Five dogs fell ill Wednesday, followed by several more Thursday. A veterinarian from Forest South Animal Hospital obtained samples from the dogs for testing by Cornell University, to confirm or deny the presence of the new strain Influenza A H3N2 in the shelter, according to a notice on its Facebook page.

Symptoms of the flu include high fever, loss of appetite, coughing, nasal discharge and lethargy. To date, it has claimed the lives of six dogs in Cook County.

“In the meantime, we are proceeding as if we do in fact have it,” said CEO Emily Klehm in a statement on the shelter’s Facebook page. “We have traced the disease to our patient zero (the catalyst who begins a disease at a location) and we believe a stray that we took in introduced the disease to the shelter.”

Dogs with symptoms have been moved into a “dedicated” sick ward, where they are on treatment plans. Temperatures of all dogs are being monitored twice daily to identify any who might be more recently infected. The shelter is closed to intake and adoption for a minimum of 10 days, while employees and volunteers combat the issue.

“We are deep cleaning the shelter from top to bottom and outside daily,” staff wrote. “We feel that by acting quickly and treating rapidly, we have mitigated the outbreak.”

The shelter is in dire need of disposable gloves, disposable gowns, shoe covers, paper towels, bleach, blankets, 55-gallon garbage bags, and towels for use in cleaning. They also need hot dogs, for use in administering medication twice daily. The sick dogs are required to eat as much as possible, so volunteers are supplementing the sickest with chicken. An easy donation is to pick up rotisserie chickens at a deli/grocery store and drop it off to the shelter, according to the shelter’s Facebook page.

Donations can be dropped at the front lobby, 1103 West End Ave., Friday until 5 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Klehm will provide updates via the shelter’s Facebook page.

“We are openly sharing our situation with you because we want all pet owners to understand the severity of the canine influenza epidemic in the Chicagoland community.”

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