New puppy and sick family

[Jennifer]

Lucy came to us Christmas Day. She turned 9 weeks old yesterday, and had 9-way vaccinations.

My son has had a respiratory infection, and the rest of us are getting it. Should I be concerned about Lucy getting it? Any particular signs I should look for?

Thanks for your help. We're very excited about having her join our family and want to take good care if her.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Congratulations on your new family member!

Dogs can catch colds and have respiratory infections, but the viruses that affect dogs are different from those that affect humans; they are not communicable from humans to dogs or vice versa. So no need to worry about your puppy picking up this particular bug. Some info: http://www.petmd.com/dog/seasonal/evr_dg_cold_germs_and_your_dog

[Jennifer]

Thanks, Karen. I always thought that too. A vet tech told me that she could catch illnesses from people, so I asked the breeder about it. He said it was a vet question, but that he would keep the puppy away from anyone sick.

The whole thing just made me very nervous.

Thanks for responding! Jennifer

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, there may be some illnesses dogs can catch from people, but colds aren't one of them, lol.

Keep in mind that many vet techs are trained on the job and have no formal medical or veterinary education. :) 

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

Congrats on your new family. You sound like a typical new mother doing her very best for her baby. I love you for it. This is the right place to ask. Good for you. The quickest surefire way that I get colds, flu or opportunistic viral or bacterial infections. is if someone, a human, who is ill pets my dogs, especially children. My dogs have never got sick from them or from me or vice versa. My theory is that the virus or bacterial infection gets transferred to me through the people putting their virus or bacterial infections on the fur. Then I pet or put my face in the fur or cuddle them in bed & I get sick. That's more than 50 years experience of lots of dogs & cats in my family. that's all the years I'll  admit to. The reason I have become aware is my journey to getting out of a wheelchair & finding ways to get well & get over chronic pain.  I documented everything that happens every 15 minutes. I wasn't looking for this, but I happened to notice it came up in my documentation.A serendipity conclusion.  Has anyone else noticed that? Puppy love from Inventing Joy & Furry folk

[Jennifer]

Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Joy!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]