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Canine Illness Alert!

Discussion in 'Chicago' started by Gilles27, Jun 16, 2008.

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  1. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

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    #1 Gilles27, Jun 16, 2008
    For those of you with dogs, especially within the city of Chicago, be very careful. Over the past couple months there has been a city-wide epidemic of kennel cough that has affected thousands of dogs. The strain is stronger than the one against which dogs are vaccinated, and it's incredibly contagious. Be very careful in areas of high concentration, such as parks, shopping districts and highrises. Do not allow your dogs to use any communal treat or water bowls typically found outside businesses or restaurants. Be careful going to parks, using elevators, etc. There were reports that it was canine influenza, and on Friday the Tribune ran a story about one area vet that received confirmation through blood titer testing that some of their dogs were in fact afflicted with canine influenza. This is significant because these are the first documented cases in Illinois, ever. Canine influenza, if not controlled, can be fatal to dogs. Especially those that are younger, older or immunodeficient.

    If you're in the suburbs, be careful as well if you take your dog anywhere. These things rarely stay contained and it's very likely that it will find its way outside of the city. Symptoms begin with a small cough, reminiscent of when a dog eats too quickly or pulls on its leash. But other signs include flu-like symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea and/or general malaise. It's species-specific, but be extra careful to wash your hands any time you come into contact with a dog. It's not very stable, but can still be transferred dog-human-dog.
     
  2. Darolls

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    #2 Darolls, Jun 16, 2008
    Jack,

    Thanks for the heads up.
     
  3. Noel

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    #3 Noel, Jun 17, 2008
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  4. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

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    #4 Gilles27, Jun 17, 2008
    Haha! He looks great! Seriously though, be very careful the next couple weeks. This outbreak is starting to wind down, but don't make any assumptions about other dogs. What has been especially frustrating is in the different approaches vets have taken to treat this. I'm not medically trained, but I get all the feedback from clients, and can easily draw correlations between which treatment methods are working and which ones aren't. So, to reiterate, avoid common areas, carry him when you're on the elevator, don't use communal treat or water bowls. Basically, avoid interacting with other dogs. If you go anywhere bring your own treats and a water squeeze bottle for him. My dogs learned to drink from one and it helps avoid dirty water.
     
  5. Carsleuth

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    #5 Carsleuth, Jun 17, 2008
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  6. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

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    #6 Gilles27, Jun 18, 2008
    Ruby has her "happy" face perfected, doesn't she?
     
  7. Carsleuth

    Carsleuth F1 Rookie

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    #7 Carsleuth, Jun 18, 2008
    Haha I believe a piece of cheese was on the line at the time...
     
  8. carlagio

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    #8 carlagio, Jun 24, 2008
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  9. Carsleuth

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    #9 Carsleuth, Jun 25, 2008
    That is a cool table, where do you pick one of those up??
     
  10. carlagio

    carlagio Formula Junior

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    #10 carlagio, Jun 25, 2008
    It's my original tires from the Mercedes that I had a piece of glass cut to fit on top.
     
  11. loudvette

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    #11 loudvette, Jun 25, 2008
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  12. Carsleuth

    Carsleuth F1 Rookie

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    #12 Carsleuth, Jun 25, 2008
    Wow! Very cool idea!
     
  13. Chelle

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    #13 Chelle, Jun 27, 2008
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    Wasn't "Kennel Cough" but we had a horrible week with one of the dogs. Haley's dog Sean, the tricolor (mostly black) sheltie we bring to the VA show each year died this this week in the hospital. He was a pet therapy dog and very gentle with everyone. Was just 11 years old and died of kidney disease after a week in the hospital. Up until the night before he died I was sure he was coming home with us when he suddenly went downhill fast.. We didn't know that bad breath in a dog can mean Kidney disease, so I bought him all kinds of teeth cleaning treats and annoyed him by cleaning and brushing his teeth when it was a sign of more serious issues

    I was going to post a pic of him in the car, but can't seem to find one
    Happier times, here he is checking out one of his newborn puppies a couple years ago after Haley's Mom helped clean it up :)
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  14. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

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    #14 Gilles27, Jun 27, 2008
    Wow--I'm so sorry to hear that! Not to belabor a sensitive issue, but what was Sean eating? Sometimes these conditions are congenital, but in recent years there have been more and more cases of diseases being induced or at least exacerbated through diet.
     
  15. Darolls

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    #15 Darolls, Jun 27, 2008
    Haley and Chelle, you have my heartfelt condolences. He was such a great dog, as are your others.

    My sister and brother-in-law had to have their cat put to sleep this week; Nellie was 18. I've been in tears over Nellie, and now Sean!

    It's always difficult when we lose such great friends. :(
     
  16. Chelle

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    #16 Chelle, Jun 27, 2008
    Well I hope that if I pass what we learned on it will help prevent others from having to experience what we did.

    He has mostly only had the Iams food in the red bag, the last 5-6 years, and before that was Iams in the green bag. But he did eat a bit too much of the table scraps as well. All the dogs know I'm the pushover at home, if I have anything with bread or meat to it I'll tear off a few treats. The last few months he seemed to be less interested in dog food so I tried to mix things up a little by mixing in some canned Purina dog food and keep it interesting to him. We feed them separately as my dog will eat all of everyone's food if you let her. Two weeks ago he was fine and acting completely normal, and about 10 days ago he started throwing up at random. The vet said he kidneys were not doing well, but that we should be able to get him through it. He stopped vomiting and was switched to a bland diet, for a few days he had pasta with diced up boiled chicken, white rice, mashed potatoes, bread, stuff like that. He picked up a couple pounds and that showed me how to give him sub cutaneous fluids and the next day he was kinda shaky getting up, and seemed to be low on energy. We brought him back to the vet who recommended he be checked into the critical care animal hospital for IV fluids and possibly dialysis.
    He wouldn't eat for them, but would for us so we were there everyday and he seemed to be getting better as the toxins were getting out of his blood stream. Then all of a sudden he fell apart, BP went up, he developed a heart murmur he never had before (due to all the extra work his system was doing dealing with all the extra fluids), and he started to even look different due to retention of the fluids. I almost brought him home that night thinking we should let him be at home for what looked to be inevitable, but even then the Vet thought there was hope. The next morning Haley went there and it was obvious he wouldn't likely even make it home as his lungs were filling.
    Then he was gone.
    I don't know if me giving him too many treats of people food contributed and in my whole life I never brought a dog to the vet to clean their teeth until having shelties. That said - researching this I did see one site say that bad teeth can make an existing kidney issue worse. His teeth weren't bad, but there was a constant battle with plaque that I would remove as much as he would let me.
     
  17. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

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    #17 Gilles27, Jun 30, 2008
    Chelle,

    My deepest sympathies. That's such a difficult situation to be faced with. The human food you gave him, oddly enough, was probably the best thing for him. When issues like yours come up, it can be a little difficult to really know what happened without pathology results. In some instances it appears that there's a correlation between the condition of a dog's teeth and the kidneys, but it's rarely that easy to draw the line. What affects the kidneys could be backing up and having a secondary effect on the teeth, or vice-versa. Quite often there's a third element--something dietary--that is working at both ends. A particular food or ingredient may be causing kidney strain, and a side-effect could be dental staining. A perfect example was the Menu food recall last spring. Some times the condition can be congenital--the problem here is that most dogs have a degree of dental discoloration and plaque. The AVMA warns of the potential, but again they cite as many as 80% of cats and dogs exhibit signs of gingivitis by age 3, and that there's a possible connection to heart, liver and kidney failure.

    What's important is to practice good health sense for your pups. While vets do terrific work, especially with critical care, they do lack in other areas whether due to lack of training or orders from above. They don't spend much time at all studying nutrition, which is unfortunate since so many of the issues that affect our dogs can be addressed holistically. We have a couple vets in the area that have become very aggressive with retail sales. But they sell foods that annually make the Top 5 list of unhealthiest dog foods merely because of contracts the AVMA has with the manufacturer.

    We've always combined brushing our dogs' teeth with giving them raw meat bones. Not only do they love it, but the bones scrub their teeth clean and give them some healthy fresh marrow at the same time. Don't ever use a bone that has been cooked in any way--that is where dogs break teeth. I'll get off my soapbox now--again I'm sorry about your loss.
     
  18. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    #18 tifosi12, Jun 30, 2008
    Haley and Chelle, our condolences. We know the pain and it really hurts.
     
  19. Chelle

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    #19 Chelle, Jul 2, 2008
    Thanks so much Skip, Jack, an Andreas (an others who spoke offline) Haley says thanks too, she's just not talking about it much yet. This situation just re-emphasizes the importance of proper care and regular checkups for all the special loved ones in all our lives. Jack, I agree, have seen a lot of Vets pushing different foods hard, the hard sell there is practically as bad as at a hair salon. As pet owners/caregivers we are all responsible to try and be well informed.
    Chelle
     

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