Mysterious dog illness detected in South Carolina | News

The Veterinary Services of Aiken posted on Facebook its response to the disease.

One of the biggest changes is that the animal hospital will no longer be accepting new boarding reservations until further notice, the post said. For those choosing to keep their existing reservations, the veterinary office will be monitoring dogs for any symptoms including coughing, fever, lethargy and nasal discharge.

They also encourage everyone to get their dogs vaccinated for canine infectious respiratory disease, commonly known as kennel cough (Bordetella), and canine influenza. These vaccines are not shown to prevent CIRD, but can help to support the dog’s immune system, the post said.

In order to prevent the disease from spreading in the examination areas at the vet's office, all dogs exhibiting symptoms of CIRD are being kept outside of the facility in the car until its examination. This is to prevent dogs from spending a long time in the waiting room, potentially spreading the infection, the post said.

The Veterinary Services of Aiken also discourages dog owners from visiting dog parks, pet stores, grooming facilities and any other places where dogs gather.

Nick Calcagno, a dog owner, said he’s not too concerned right now. It doesn’t affect his holiday plans because he has family in Charleston, But, he said, if he had to board his golden retriever Hazel, he would be worried.

Megan Mussman, owner and manager of Dog Culture in Greenville, a dog day care that does grooming and boarding, wrote in an email to The Post and Courier that any illnesses they’ve seen in the past few weeks have been pretty typical in her experience, but if they notice anything out of the ordinary they isolate the dog and call the owner immediately.

While they have always been vigilant with cleaning procedures, over the past month they’ve introduced additional cleaning steps to further protect the dogs in their care, Mussman wrote.

She added that no out-of-state dogs can visit at this time; the priority is local clients and keeping the community’s dogs healthy.