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November 5, 2009

Pets, it turns out, can get the swine flu too

Our colleague Jill Rosen over a the Unleashed blog gives us the scoop on the Iowa cat who came down with, yes, you guessed it, the swine flu.

The cat recovered and officials believed the pet contracted the virus from someone in the household who was already sick from it. The H1N1 virus has been found in pigs, birds and ferrets too.

The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners are reminding pet owners that some viruses can pass from people to animals, so this wasn't unexpected. Note to cats and dogs: stay away from your sneezing owners.

Looking for more info on protecting your pets against the virus? Check out this piece by the NYT.

AP photo

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Swine flu/H1N1

Comments

no one should treat their pets bad just because of this, they shouln't get rid of them or blame them either. They don't have the blame for what is happening with this swine flu.

Posted by: pet lover | November 5, 2009 7:12 PM

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About Picture of Health

Kelly Brewington came to the health beat a year ago after covering everything from education and government to race and immigration in her 11 years as a reporter. Since then, she has tackled stories on autism, heart failure and acupuncture used to treat drug addiction. She’s been fascinated by medicine since childhood, when her doctor dad and nurse mom gave her Gray’s Anatomy coloring book to play with. She also blames her early exposure to the field of medicine for her hypochondria.

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