Can your pet catch the swine flu from you?

PORTLAND, Ore. - It’s the first case in the nation: a cat in Lebanon, Ore. dies from the swine flu. Is your pet at risk of getting the H1N1 virus from you and vice versa?

Dave Rebmann said his cat, Buddy, got sick about a week after his niece had battled a case of the flu, presumably H1N1.

“[I] didn’t think much of it,” Rebmann said. “Then he started breathing heavier, started getting concerned. By Wednesday, I guess it was too late.”

Dr. Steve Milner of Milner Veterinarian Hospital in Oregon City said he thinks another cat may have H1N1 as well.

“We want his lungs to look like this,” he said pointing to a black spot on the cat’s X-rays. “This whitish, hazy look is fluid in the lungs.”

Milner said he has a call into the cat’s owners to see if they’ve had a run of the flu in their home in the last week.

“We’re worried about cats, ferrets, pigs obviously, and some birds we worry about,” he said. “For the most part we don’t worry about dogs. It (the flu) seems to like certain species better than others.”

While it is now clear humans can give the virus to pets, can pets give it to humans?

“At this point we haven’t documented the spread from a cat to a person, but to my thinking, it sure is possible,” Milner said.

To prevent the spread between humans and pets, avoid sneezing or coughing on each other, avoid contact with saliva or nasal secretions, limit handling, and wash your hands frequently.

Symptoms to watch for in pets include, coughing, sneezing, lethargy, and swelling and redness around the eyes.

While there is a vaccine for people, a vaccine for pets has not been developed.