“It’s not just me, it’s just me!” Pet owners in Oregon wonder why “mysterious” dog illness may be overblown

He was diagnosed with pneumonia after Dozier brought him to work. “He went a total of nine weeks on three different types of antibiotics and a round of about three to four weeks of steroids.”

For now though, veterinarians tell NPR it’s wise for dog owners to take common-sense measures, like avoiding contact with sick dogs and making sure your dog is up to date on its vaccine.

Nichols worries about the exponential rise in fear among some pet owners. She and her colleagues noticed that some people were skipping routine health care, worried their dog would catch something at the clinic.

Some people may want to steer clear of “high traffic” public places like dog parks and if possible, boarding facilities, groomers and other crowded settings, says Dr. Ashley Nichols, president of the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association.

In Oregon, Williams is skeptical that would explain what he’s seeing in his state, saying it’s possible something distinct is happening in the Pacific Northwest.

The atypical respiratory illness that has killed more than 200 dogs in Oregon was the cause of his early examination of their lungs. He’s found some injury in the small air sacs, called alveoli, and bleeding from that into the lungs.

I don’t want to go out over my skis here, but I’ve looked at a lot of dog lungs in my career and these are a bit different, so it makes me think, maybe, there’s something out there.”

Source: Veterinarians say fears about ‘mystery’ dog illness may be overblown. Here’s why

Are There More Outbreaks of Mycoplasma in Dogs? The Case of Scott Weese, an Infectious Disease Veterinarian

“If there are a lot of sick dogs in your area, then it is reasonable to be more restrictive. He says to be more restrictive with your dog if it’s at high risk for disease.

While intriguing, Weese points out that Mycoplasma can commonly be found in dogs with and without respiratory disease. He says it’s way too soon to assume this is behind any of these outbreaks.

The go-to treatments for canine respiratory illness, which are known as “kennel cough,” are not effective and the veterinarians aren’t able to identify what’s making the dogs ill.

“Two things keep getting mixed up,” says Dr. Scott Weese, an infectious disease veterinarian at the Ontario Veterinary College. “Do we have more disease? And do we have something new? They aren’t necessarily connected.

“I get an email a couple of times a week saying, ‘hey, are we seeing more respiratory disease in dogs?” he says, “But I’ve been getting that email for like five years.”

However, Williams cautions this framing can be misleading because it gives the impression that a clearly defined disease is spreading. He says there’s a poor understanding of the cases.

Canine Respiratory Diseases Reveal a Dangerous Pathogen? Finding the Causes of Dogs’ Infections

They have been able to identify it in samples from dogs in New Hampshire that fell ill last year and from dogs in other states this year.

The uptick in illness doesn’t happen in a vacuum, either: Dog ownership in the U.S has gone up steadily, vaccinations have been disrupted in recent years, and the holiday season has led more people to board their dogs or bring them on travel and mingle them with other pets.

Respiratory disease in dogs wax and wane and the last few years have seen more “dramatic swings” where outbreaks last longer and take place across broader areas, says Dr. Weese.

Of the many possibilities, she suspects one could be a “pathogen soup,” essentially a mixture of co-occurring infections that are making dogs especially sick and prolonging their recovery.

Sykes, who founded the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases, says the observations that dogs are resistant to standard treatment is thorny because many dogs are treated unnecessarily with antibiotics, when, in fact, they have a viral illness.

The sample collected could simply be too small, or taken from the wrong part of the body; the levels of the pathogen can change from day to day, or the dog’s body might have stopped shedding it by the time the sample was collected.

There’s many reasons why the tests used for canine respiratory illness could come back negative, even if veterinarians in the country raise the specter of a new pathogen.

“We’ve checked about 20 different infections and many of them are negative,” says Beyer, who runs South Des Moines Veterinary Center.

Similar to other veterinarians in other states, she doesn’t see a lot of dogs dying from an illness. What’s puzzling is they can’t identify the causes of their illness.

I was horrified as my dog went off to his regularly scheduled doggy daycare without knowing he would soon be getting all of the germs from his friends.

I wondered if it was a high-risk situation. This was the same small circle of dogs he played with every week, but I had no clue where the others spent their time.

Copper, a tan-and-brown mixed-breed, spent October fighting for his life. A light cough, loss of appetite, and lower blood oxygen levels are what the Missouri dog experienced after first getting sick on October 7. He was hospitalized at his local veterinary hospital due to antibiotics not helping.

Copper spent a week in isolation, receiving oxygen support, IV fluids, and antibiotics. Even after returning home, with more antibiotics and an oxygen concentrator to use when he struggled to breath, Copper wasn’t out of the woods. He had to be rushed back to the hospital at one point for another night on oxygen support, and only now is he steadily improving back at home. “We felt close to losing him a few times,” Copper’s owner Kevin Mahoney says.