Chicago PetSmart confirms one case of dog flu

The dog flu seems to be making a small resurgence in Chicago.

In April, more than 1,000 dogs contracted the virus. Now, a South Loop pet hotel is reporting they have one confirmed case of Canine Influenza.

The PetSmart pet hotel and doggie day camp have stopped taking reservations and are asking pet owners to come get their pets. For dogs that aren't picked up, PetSmart says they are receiving medical attention just in case.

“In about May and June we saw almost nothing, almost no dogs were coughing at all and probably the latter part of June and into July we are starting to see more cases again,” said Veterinarian Joanna Krol.

She also said they’ve started seeing a lot more dogs come in with a cough and other symptoms. Krol owns the Animal Care Center in Chicago and says it could be that if the dog hasn’t been exposed to it, and they are around it, they will probably get sick.

“A lot of new dogs are coming to the area in June and July, that’s when people move out and a lot of people move in, so we may have new dogs that have never been exposed to this virus and we are getting a second wave of all these new cases coming in,” Krol said.

She said recently that she’s heard of a handful of confirmed dog flu cases, including this one in the South Loop.

”We have seen multiple cases of canine respiratory illness in dogs in our South Loop Pets Hotel location. At this point, we have one confirmed case of canine influenza,” PetSmart said in a statement Wednesday evening.

The facility is now taking precautions to stop the spread. Once all the pets have left the facility, they will begin the cleaning process which will consist of 72 hours of disinfecting.

Owners say the dog flu is a concern.

“Because it was around before and it caused a lot of the parks to close and there were some deaths and stuff, but it’s all about just being cautious of everything,” said Joe Seidel.

He and his dog Benny had to stay away from dogs in the spring and hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

Some of the symptoms to look out for include a cough, runny nose, fever and acting lethargic.

Click play above for more on this story from FOX 32's Anita Padilla.