Recently, a new strain of Canine Influenza virus was identified as the cause of a number of deaths in racing greyhounds in kennels in Florida. The virus presents initially with symptoms similar to Canine Kennel Cough Complex, which include coughing, runny eyes, nasal discharge and lethargy. The major differentiating symptom is a high fever associated with influenza which is not typically present with Kennel Cough. This virus will go on to cause severe, life threatening pneumonia in a fair number of affected animals.
Canine Influenza virus is spreading around the country and has been isolated in Southern California in the past few months. Fortunately, no cases have been diagnosed in the Inland Empire, but it is probably just a matter of time until it reaches here. There is currently no vaccine available for Canine Influenza and all the vaccinations that are typically administered to our pets provide NO PROTECTION from it! The disease is highly contagious through inhaled respiratory secretions.
Considering the severity of the disease, one must be hesitant to take your pet to areas where unknown dogs are congregating such as dog parks and dog beaches. Click on the link below for more details.

Canine Heartworm infection is a devastating disease which leads to heart failure and death if left untreated. Just this week, we found a heartworm positive pet in our practice. This dog lives in Alta Loma and has had no travel history outside of this area. That means that there are mosquitos in our area that are carrying the heartworm larva.
Heartworms are transmitted to the dog by the bite of an infected mosquito. They inject a larval form of the worm into the dog. It then migrates and matures in the body until it lodges in the heart and pulmonary artery and grows up to be a 4 in worm. The worms cause the heart to have to work harder and eventually lead to heart failure.
Heartworm detection is done by a 5 minute blood test which can be run in the hospital. If the test is negative, we can administer a chewable tablet once a month to protect the pet from infection. If the pet is positive for heartworms, we can treat for it and will most often be able to clear up the infection. Unfortunately, this treatment is somewhat costly and can be dangerous to your pet.
If your dog is not currently taking heartworm prevention, I strongly advise you to have them tested and placed on monthly preventive drugs.

Looks like 2006 is going to be a banner year for cutting edge technology at ARPH. We have just contracted with a Japanese firm to install digital radiography (X-Rays) in our practice. We should be on-line in under a month if all goes well!
Digital radiography has substantial benefits over traditional film radiography, much in the same way the digital photography has taken over film photography. With digital radiology, we can acheive the following benefits:

• Decreased radiation exposure to pets and staff.
• Faster imaging with images available within 5 seconds
• Elimination of hazardous chemicals used to develop film.
• Ability to email radiographs to specialists
• Radiographs available at any computer workstation in the hospital