It's not impossible. I hear it's incredibly rare.

But I'll join you: at the beginning of March, my son and I both had the worst upper respiratory infection I've had in years. We coughed, he had a high fever he couldn't get rid of, I had a low grade fever I couldn't get rid of. It lasted until two and half weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago, the girl cat got an upper respiratory infection. Last week, the boy cat. While it's supposed to be rare for it to cross species, I KNOW we gave the cats what we had. Neither cat is ever sick. Not for their whole lives have they gone to the vet except for check ups and rabies shots. He's 9 and she's 12. That's an awfully big coincidence, I say.

I've been told cats can get many of our viruses but dogs can't..but I don't know for sure. I know I questioned the vet yesterday about strep throat in dogs, my boys have it...I was told dogs won't get sick with strep but will carry it and continue passing it around.

Food poisoning, but dogs are more resistant to a lot of that. But it's possible. Do you give the dog any human food at all?

As long as you all got better. If we all started getting ill like that, especially suddenly, at the same time, I'd definitely check my CO detectors and make sure I wasn't getting carbon monoxide gas poisoning...

Our dog just had a bout with a "stomach flu". Because she wasn't eating and has a habit of eating things that don't digest (rocks, screws...ouch) I took her to the vet. X-rays showed nothing stuck in the digestive system, but vet gave her an injection to slow the activity of her intestines, antibiotic that was supposed to get rid of the "bad" bacteria and a probiotic to replace the "good" bacteria. The vet specifically warned us to be very, very diligent with hand washing etc. as we could "pick up" the same illness.

So, possibly cross species infection is rare, but a concern.

Yes, it's possible. It's called zoonosis.

Zoonosis is a term used to discribe any bacteria, virus ect that can be passed from human to dog. Its not a specific illness on its own. I recently researched this word or I wouldn't have known lol

If the problem was either toxins already created (food toxins) or some sort of chemical (and on that note, a chemical -cleaning, insecticides, etc) that somehow all were exposed to) all might become ill. I'm certainly not suggesting at all that any chemical was improperly used in the home, but nonetheless accidental chemicals can come in from neighbor insecticide spraying, an object brought in that unknowingly had chemical on it, etc.

It is odd. I'd be suspicious of anything all of you shared: air, water, food(?). Did anyone (human or otherwise) in your household not get sick?

Are all of you completely recovered now?

I know an entire family that got salmonella from raw hide treats. Dog chewed the treats and licked hands and faces, etc. They all got sick, including the dog. But it took a while to figure out where it came from. I remember the mom saying "How can I get sick from a dog treat? I didn't chew any raw hides" lol!

Dances.

It's just the three of us, we were all sick. I got it last and am feeling pretty good today. My husband started getting sick first and he's OK now. The dog was given a shot so she seems to be feeling OK now but after the shot wears off, I don't know. I'm keeping a very close eye on her. She acts OK though. OH and she also was given an anti-diarrhea med for two days so right now she does not have diarrhea. It's times like these that I wish she could talk...HA! She is eating and seems to be hungry when it's meal time, I'm not having to coax her to eat at all.

Carbon Monoxide sensor is not showing anything. I do know that some other people that are friends of some friends have had this stomach bug just last week. There is a bug going around where we live. She doesn't eat our food either so it's not that. I supposed there COULD have been something in our water...I had not thought of that. It's certainly possible, we have not heard of a boil warning here.

Edit to add: Dances, that's a possibility!!!!! I just opened a new bag of raw hides, the same brand we always get. How did they figure out the raw hide was contaminated? Did they have it tested at the vets?

Giardia infection (giardiasis) can definitely spread from dog to human and vice versa. My vet warned us to be careful when my dog had it once. She said it was one of a few that was fairly easy to cross species. It will cause serious stomach distress and illness.

It's definitely possible to happen.

One of the many reasons why I never get rawhide treats! Plus the toxic soup that it is processed with.

"Do any of you know if it really could be that the dog and people could have the same bug? Have y'all had this happen in your home before or heard of it?"

To answer your question-yes,our little Papillon has had the "flu" exact same as us at the exact same time.

I remember a friend of mine feeding her dog a raw diet and the vet advising her to be careful because dogs can get salmonella from contaminated food the same as people. So friend started cooking the dog's food. Based on that, it seems if it was a food borne illness it could be passed from human to pet or from pet to human.

raven, the fecal sample was tested for giardia and it came back negative. I suppose it could just not have shown up yet. She is tested annually for giardia/parasites and has always had a negative result. She had just been tested last month during her annual exam in fact.

One other experiment is that I had just opened a new package of dog biscuits a couple days before she got sick. I suppose it's possible they could be bad, anything is possible. I won't know until she is all better and I can test by giving her one. I don't really think it would be that. They are made by Wellpet company the same company that makes Wellness dog food. It's her regular biscuit that she's been eating for years now.

Maybe try looking to see if there are any recalls on the foods or treats you feed her. I'd hate for her to get better, eat a treat and get sick again.

I don't see any reports of recalls on her food or treats.

It doesn't sound like the flu. The vet told me dogs can catch the flu from humans.

Maybe they meant the "stomach flu" which is different from influenza.

I immediately also thought of giardia.

Its not impossible if it was food poisoning and the dog ate scraps from the table, thereby, all 3 of you ate the same tainted food.

Anglophilia, she tested negative for giardia. We gave a sample when she was there on Monday and the tests came back Tuesday, they called me and told me it was negative for giardia/parasites.

Jem, my dog didn't eat our food though. I was talking to my neighbor and he said he wasn't feeling very well yesterday. That makes me wonder about the water idea. He did say that they drink filtered tap water but then again, what about showering and brushing their teeth, I bet they use just tap for that!

Not sure how they linked it to the rawhide....I think maybe they had been recalled or something from Costco?

Dances.

A local holistic pet store won't even stock rawhide. It's a horrible product. They do sell beef bones, bully sticks, etc. Any bone should be fed to the dog under supervision so that they don't choke.

Yep my vet told me rawhide is the biggest cause of blockages.

Dawn, as far as getting salmonella in a raw diet for pets, there are many, many more cases of salmonella in recalled brands of kibble. Most vets are against a raw diet, since they get kick-backs from pet food companies selling their products in their clinics. Science Diet and Canin are two that immediately come to mind.

Dr. Karen Becker is a phenomenal vet, high-in demand speaker, bird and animal rehab (hawks etc) and advocate of a species appropriate raw diet.

Jasdip yes! Thank you :) So many people and vets say all these things about raw diets when I've heard of more issues with kibble having salmonella. And the pet food companies also have their hands in the vet schools also.

There is a strain of flu that is sweeping my neighborhood. Its very contagious and it makes the victim very sick for three days.

Just as an update: My dog is doing great and seems to be back to her old self again. I, on the other hand, was feeling good but then yesterday I felt nauseated again all day and didn't have an appetite. Today I feel pretty good. Mine started Monday afternoon and I slept for almost two days straight. My husband is well now.

Which might perhaps suggest it is an environmental contaminant. Unless you have a bug that your body hasn't completely gotten rid of. Or you are still weak, felt poorly because of that. If you keep having relapses, see a doctor.

I wanted to give an update. Since this all happened, 2 weeks ago. I've been very strict with her and watching her like a hawk at the dog park. I gave her back the raw hides and she experienced no ill effects from that, that was a week ago. Then, just yesterday I decided it had been long enough to try giving her ONE of those Old Mother Hubbard treats, they are very small...like a puppy sized biscuit. Today she has diarrhea again! I think I found the culprit! Hopefully just the one tiny treat will just work its way through her system and she will be OK. I knew that I had just opened a brand new bag of these right before she got sick, she has been eating this same brand and variety for a couple years now. It was one of the only things she could eat without issues and she LOVED them. I don't know if they changed the recipe and added something that makes her bowels upset or if they are contaminated? I just contacted the company to explain what happened. I'll let you know how they handle this.

I received an e-mail reply from wellpet and they said that there has been no recipe change. They asked that I call them to discuss the issue. I will probably call them tomorrow, I wasn't in the mood to deal with this today. If there is salmonella or something in this batch, they need to recall it before some dog dies from it. You just don't expect it to be something like a dog biscuit, especially one that you've been buying for years. I could see someone continuing to just keep giving these to their dog until the poor thing dies from it...because they just never put two and two together.

Sorry your dog is going through this! Also sorry you've been sick. For us it's been sudden onset complicated allergies for both dogs. One of my dogs can't eat the denta-bones but can eat sweet potato and chicken strips. The other one can only eat the denta bones and goat hearts. So I sympathize. :(