Veterinarians sounding alarm about mysterious illness affecting dogs nationwide

EVANS, Ga. (WJBF) – The animal hospital is a place no one wants to see their dogs for Thanksgiving but experts say if you aren’t careful, that might be what needs to happen.

Dr. Ian Scholer is a vet at Hilltop Animal Hospital in Evans. “I really heard about it the same way everybody else did, it kinda came out of nowhere,” said Scholer.

While no cases have been reported in Georgia, several have been reported elsewhere.

“All of a sudden, we heard about 200-plus cases in Oregon in a very short amount of time. So, it kinda took a lot of us off guard,” said Scholer.

While it is still in the very early stages, vets have determined a pattern that comes with the illness–even though the exact cause has not been found yet.

“We’ve seen enough dogs treated at this point that we know it tends to present similar to kennel cough in the early stages. A lot of times we can see other respiratory signs like sneezing, watery eyes, runny nose, and things like that but these dogs tend to run a low-grade fever as well,” said Scholer.

According to Scholer, the illness starts out with a cough similar to the kennel cough. But in extreme cases, it has progressed to severe pneumonia that requires immediate hospitalization.

The dogs that tend to be behind on medications and antibiotics are the ones seeing the severe cases, whereas if they are up to date, they do not.

“Dogs that have been treated aggressively–fairly early on–tend to have a good prognosis,” said Scholer. “It’s still an extended course of disease, but in the dogs where we’re getting them started on supportive antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for the cough, they don’t seem to be developing this fatal pneumonia that the more severe cases are doing.”

Scholer says the primary symptoms to look out for are coughing, runny eyes, and unusual changes in behavior.

“If they’re coughing, and they just seem off–they don’t have their normal energy levels, they’re not eating the way they’re used to, they’re laying around a lot more–those are some of the early signs that we need to go ahead and get checked out by a veterinarian as soon as possible,” said Scholer.

And with travel expected to be at an all time high for Thanksgiving, Scholer says it’s another reason to keep your dogs at home if possible.

“There’s gonna be a lot of boarded pets, there’s gonna be a lot of traveling pets. There’s gonna be pets coming from other areas that could potentially be spreading these respiratory illnesses that we’re seeing,” said Scholer.

Vets like Scholer say even if you aren’t traveling for the holiday, you should still make sure your dogs aren’t gathering in large groups.

That could also mean not taking your dog to the dog park, just to ensure their safety.

However, Scholer says if your dog is up to date on vaccines and otherwise healthy, they should be okay to enjoy the outdoors.

But if they are experiencing symptoms, they may need to get checked out.

For more information about Hilltop Animal Hospital, click here.