Health
Mystery respiratory illness hitting dogs has Mich. pet owners on edge
As a mysterious respiratory illness spreads among dogs in the U.S., researchers in Michigan are testing samples from sick canines while veterinarians are urging clients to educate themselves, try to stay calm and make sure pets are up to date on vaccinations.
There are no confirmed cases of the illness, which can lead to a prolonged cough or pneumonia, in the state, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The head of the state’s animal health diagnostic lab, meanwhile, is urging clinics to send in samples for testing.
Dr. Kimberly Dodd, the director of Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said vets see respiratory illness in dogs “not uncommonly.” For the most part, when dogs get a cold or a cough, it resolves on its own, she said. In some cases, antibiotics are warranted. What’s different about the mystery illness, Dodd said, is that dogs are developing a cough that’s not resolving as quickly.
“It’s lasting for weeks and weeks,” she said. “It’s less responsive to antibiotics. In other cases, there are reports of dogs who have developed sort of a chronic pneumonia that’s also nonresponsive to antibiotics.”
In some of the most concerning cases of the illness, she said, dogs have developed a pneumonia in which they get sick very quickly — within a day or two.
Michael San Filippo, a spokesperson for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said the organization has seen reports of the mystery illness ― official or anecdotal — from more than a dozen states coast-to-coast, but it’s not in a position to confirm the specifics. He also said the AVMA doesn’t know the number of cases or deaths.
In Oregon, the state’s Department of Agriculture has received over 200 case reports from veterinarians since September, a spokesperson said.
Vets from across Michigan have been sending samples from dogs with respiratory diseases to Dodd’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. They’re testing those samples to try to figure out the cause of illness.
Meanwhile, several local vets say they’ve been trying to calm worried pet owners, advising them to take precautions like ensuring dogs are up to date on vaccinations and weighing the pros and cons of boarding their dog.
“My reaction is to be not panicked, but to be diligent,” said Salem Township veterinarian Dr. Larry Letsche. Even though the state hasn’t had a confirmed case, “that’s not to say we haven’t had a case. But it’s very difficult to say whether we’ve had a case or not because of the fact that we don’t even know what this illness is at this particular point.”
Margo Patterson of Farmington Hills believes her dog, Oliver, died of the mystery illness, though it hasn’t been confirmed. She said the small dog, who was 14, was a “friendly, wonderful little guy” who never met a stranger.
“Oliver had the kind of personality that everybody loved him,” she said.
MSU lab tests samples from dogs
Dodd said the MSU diagnostic facility is part of a national network of labs whose priority is to test for high-consequence animal diseases that aren’t in the U.S., but would have a devastating effect on livestock if they came here. Though dog diseases are not something the network usually focus on, it has been looking at the mystery illness.
“Because this is such a big deal and appears to be a nationwide animal health issue, we are starting to work together to share information and share samples to try to get to an answer quicker,” she said.
Dodd said that the veterinary field doesn’t test for canine respiratory illness that often, because it typically resolves on its own. Dodd is encouraging vets to start sending samples to her lab, and she has seen more practitioners doing so amid the new mystery illness.
When a sample arrives at the lab, they do a variety of tests on it, looking for common viruses and bacteria that may be responsible for the dog’s illness. If it appears to be a type of bacteria, they will then see how it responds to different antibiotics, so they can advise the veterinarian about which antibiotic to use.
If the dog’s sickness doesn’t seem to be due to one of the common causes of canine respiratory illness, the lab will then use a technique on the sample called sequencing, which deciphers the genetic material in a bacteria or virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The VDL will compare the genetic material to that of other samples — including ones in other states.
Dodd said that the lab had not yet detected a cause of the illness for a subset of the samples it has received. But it hadn’t started to sequence the samples yet, and planned to start doing so on Thursday.
She said the samples could just contain normal bacteria or viruses that make dogs sick.
“But it also might be something novel. Right now, we’re in the process of ruling out all of the common causes — or ruling them in, right?” Dodd said. Finding a common cause then gives the veterinarian some peace of mind, she added.
Vets advise pet owners amid mystery illness
Dr. Lauren Zeid, a veterinarian at Burrwood Veterinary in Royal Oak, said the spreading of the mystery illness is “scary for pet owners.”
“I have a dog as well,” she said, “and so it’s just scary anytime there’s something new.”
The good news, Zeid said, is that the vast majority of dogs recover uneventfully from the illness and just experience mild symptoms such as a cough and runny nose. A small subset, though, can get sick very quickly with pneumonia and need to be hospitalized, she said.
Burrwood Veterinary has started to send samples from dogs with respiratory illness to the VDL to help the lab “get a better idea of what’s going on out in the field,” Zeid said.
Burrwood has been getting phone calls from clients seeking information about the mystery illness.
“Unfortunately … there’s not a ton of information,” she said. “There’s not a ton that we can do to help point them in the right direction.”
The veterinary office posted a video on its Facebook and Instagram accounts sharing what it knows about the illness and has sent out an email to its clients about it. Zeid recommends that all dogs receive the bordetella vaccine and the influenza vaccine if they haven’t already.
She said Burrwood has seen some dogs with what appears to be a typical kennel cough, but the cough lingers for a month or so. But she has observed that phenomenon in previous years, too.
Letsche, the veterinarian at Remrock Farms veterinary hospital in Salem Township, recommends that pet owners make sure their dogs are vaccinated, do not spend time around dogs that aren’t vaccinated and do not share food or water bowls with other dogs.
Jennifer Holton, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that if pet owners notice their dogs developing respiratory symptoms — such as coughing, sneezing or nasal discharge — it’s important for them to reach out to their veterinarian early on in the illness. This will allow the vet to send in a sample from the pet to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and will allow the pet to start being treated.
Letsche, who serves as president of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, said that at this time of year, respiratory illnesses are common in dogs, as many pets stay at boarding facilities during the holidays or visit grooming salons — places where they can be exposed to various bacteria and viruses.
Zeid recommends that pet owners be cautious when their dogs are around other dogs in these communal settings. She said that most young, healthy dogs will be fine. She noted that if you have to board your dog, ask the facility what its policies are.
One pet owner shares her story
Patterson’s 14-year-old dog, Oliver, died in mid-November.
The 18-pound Yorkie-poo started coughing in mid-October, and it became so bad that it kept Patterson up at night. They took him to Novi Veterinary Clinic, and the vet there said it sounded like kennel cough. The clinic didn’t respond to calls for comment.
The clinic tried treating Oliver — also called Ollie — with an antibiotic, and then another one, without success.
His health continued to decline. He wouldn’t take his medicine. He wouldn’t eat his food. And his breathing became very troublesome, Patterson said.
“You would see his whole little body kind of just lift off the floor” so he could breathe again, she said.
One Friday, Oliver spent the day at the vet, where they gave him a saline solution. The solution didn’t help, and the doctor said he was convinced that the disease wasn’t kennel cough, Patterson said. Kennel cough usually involves a “honking cough” and can be caused by a range of bacteria and viruses, Zeid and Dodd said.
The next day, the vet gave Patterson and her husband two options: another saline solution treatment or putting the dog down. After several more days, the couple chose the latter, because “nothing was working,” Patterson said.
She called the experience “heartbreaking.” She believes that the mysterious illness is here in Michigan.
“I think it’s just a matter of time before more dogs start coming down with this, if they don’t hurry up and find a vaccination for it,” she said.
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