Can animals catch the flu just like we do?

Cats and dogs do catch viruses that can cause flu-like symptoms. Although the virus is different your per will also manifest the same symptoms, more or less, as we do when we catch a cold. That happens mostly when your pet’s immune system is not at its best performance. For example, puppies are much more at risk of catching infectious diseases that cause these symptoms. And just like with us, it can happen when they are cold, when they are stressed or when the nutrition doesn’t provide them with all the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

How do I know my pet has the flu? What are the symptoms?

Your pet’s symptoms are very similar to our symptoms. He might have one or more of these symptoms; runny nose and eyes, coughing, sneezing, may have fever, lethargic, loss of appetite.

What are the causes?

Why do animals get sick? Why do we get sick? Viruses, bacteria, parasites, all pathogens are there, all the time. So why do some individuals get sick while others don’t? In theory, we should all be prepared to fight whatever pathogen we accounter, our immune system is responsible for that. It is highly intelligent and has all the tools to recognize a foreign invader, attack it, and remember it for the future. But sometimes our immune system is not winning that’s because it is weaker than it should be.

So the real question is:

what are the causes of my weak immune system?

Stress

when an individual is stressed a hormone called cortisol is released from the adrenal gland into the bloodstream. Its role is involved in the fight or flight response- a mechanism that prepares us for an emergency, for example, by releasing glucose for immediate use of energy, and help increase blood pressure so the heart pumps harder and faster. One thing it also does is lower inflammation response- it lowers the immune system function. While cortisol is very useful in certain situations, in the long term, it’s harmful. It exhausts the body’s energy, metabolism, and immune system. This is how stress is a major cause of so many diseases.

Poor diet

Nutrition is another major component of good health. Like every human, animal, plant, or even object, each needs its energy source or substance that will allow it to perform at its very best. Plants need water, not orange juice, electric devices need electricity, not water, cars need gasoline and we need proper food. We all know what is proper food but nonetheless, we ignore it. We will never put something other than gasoline in our car but we do that with our body because we saw that it continues to work. Although it seems to be working it is getting weaker. By not getting what it really needs we are abusing it.

With our pets, it’s the same. Of course, it is not easy to cook proper food for our animals when we don’t even do that for ourselves, so we get industrial food. Industrial food is very convenient and easy, and it’s not all bad. Just choose the best quality food you can afford for your pet because by getting all the nutrients he needs you can save a lot of money on treatments in the future.

Age

Younger individuals are weaker in that sense because the immune system is not yet fully developed. This is why it is especially important to provide all that one needs normally but in even higher proportion: Calm, quality food, joy, and love. The same goes for older individuals. To avoid your pet from getting weaker as he gets older, make sure everything in his life supports its best interests. Help him keep his body unexhausted.

Emotions

They are so important, and not just the lack of stress, but the presence of positive emotions like joy, love, confidence, safety, and fun. If one is not stressed but completely bored out of life, his immune system will also get weaker. It lacks the principle source for your immune system’s energy- life force.

Can it be dangerous? Can my pet die from the flu?

As we said, the flu in animals is not our flu. The viruses are different. Some can be very dangerous if not treated, and especially in young animals, it can be fatal. For the first 8 weeks, your puppy/kitten still has antibodies from his mother but after that, he remains vulnerable. This is why your vet will recommend you get your pet vaccined as soon as possible (at around 8 weeks of age he will get his first vaccine).

Is it contagious?

Normally pathogens, especially viruses are specie-specific. That means one virus will prefer one host where it can replicate and do its damage. Accidentally viruses can encounter other host but will just use it as transport or reservoir without causing any damage. So if your cat is sick he will be contagious only to other cats, the same goes for your dog. The disease will not pass from you to your pet and vice versa. However, you can get in contact with a virus by touching a sick cat and then transferring it to your healthy cat. Viruses can survive for a few hours on material that are not their host, like; clothes, shoes, metal … This is why it is very important your keep high hygiene.

What can I do to help my sick pet?

The best thing you can do is preventing it from happening in the first place. As we said before- Quality food, calm, hygiene, positive emotions.

But, if your pet is sick the first thing you should do is help him feel better on a physical level and then go treat the real cause. It would be best if you take him to your vet first, he will measure his temperature, listen to his lung, evaluate if the situation is serious, and if he needs medicines. These are things normally a pet owner won’t do at home and therefore won’t know which is the correct therapy.

However, if you do have the means, you can perform yourself a first checkup just to assess the situation:

• Temperature: You can check your pet’s temperature with a thermometer inserted in the anus with a bit of vaseline oil. Till 39-celsius degrees is considered normal.
• Discharge: from eyes, nose. You can help him by putting on a vaporizer, that will help with the congestion and clean his nose and eyes with a warm humid towel.
• Coughing: if your pet is coughing it means the infection has spread somewhere from the trachea to the lungs. Coughing is a defense mechanism that tries to expel foreign particles, mucous, or pathogen away from the respiratory airways. In some cases, your vet will prescribe you an anti-inflammatory drug to treat the inflammation. In more complex cases an antibiotic might be needed to treat a secondary bacterial infection.
• Lack of appetite: Your pet is not eating because he is busy fighting the infection. The body is less occupied with digestion. You could get him a puppy or kitten food, which is much more caloric and tasty. Mix it with some tepid water and feed him in small quantities during the day. You can add some vitamin B complex to help him get his strengths back.
• Fluids: He will also probably drink less but you need to make sure he gets a lot of fluids. How? You can prepare a soup, with some meat flavor, let it could down and give him, it’s tasty and the salt will help with the water absorption in the body.
• warm– keep him warm. Just like for us, cold weather makes them sick, lower the immune system, and delay healing.

Can I give my pet human medicines?

Never! Don’t ever try to give your pet your medicines without first consulting a vet about the exact active ingredient and the exact dose. Some are the same as ours but others can actually kill your animal, for example, paracetamol can kill your dog.

Are there also natural or homemade remedies for my pet’s flu?

Medicines are great for easing symptoms and making you feel better. It’s much easier to start healing when one feels better and has passed the initial suffering. So, depending on your pet’s situation, sometimes some pain killers are necessary, at least at the beginning. If it is mild you can always go for the approach of making him stronger, by giving him vitamins, the correct food, vaporizer.

What is the metaphysical cause for my pet’s flu?

The chakra associated with the respiratory system is the heart chakra. That means this chakra is closed. When the heart chakra is opened, love to god/universe, to others, to oneself, and thus to life, is flowing.

When it is closed, there is a block in this flow, a lack of love either for god/universe, for others, or for oneself, and with that comes the need for isolation. Prana, or life force, doesn’t flow freely, the chest area, where the respiratory system is, is vulnerable and the virus will attack there.

A symptom is a magnification of the real cause, so the question you should be asking yourself in order to find the cause is:

How does it make me feel?

“The flu makes me want to isolate, I want to stay in place. I don’t want to move. I feel safe in bed.”

If this feeling is a magnification of the emotional cause, that means the initial feeling is a need for isolation. Why? Maybe you need a break from your routine? A break from life? You don’t want to handle your daily chores, just for a while, without feeling guilty about it. The flu gives you a legitimate cause to stay in bed. If This is how your routine is making you feel the solution is this:

Change the routine. Some change needs to be made. You can make a changeade by letting life flow, enter into the flow, let go of resitance and trust. Maybe the change is the resistance itself.

Please, let me know your thought, your doubts, if you have any questions, some topics I did not cover, contact me, I will be happy to help!