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Highly contagious respiratory disease affecting dogs in Hilton Head, Bluffton
BLUFFTON, S.C. (WSAV) - Several dogs in Hilton Head and Bluffton are being treated for a highly contagious respiratory disease.
It started popping up about three weeks ago and most vets say they're seeing about 5 cases of this respiratory illness a day.
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Vets say its a bad cough that causes inflammatory issues, gagging, vomiting and, for some, pneumonia.
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While it's not deadly, the respiratory disease is proving to be highly contagious. Vets say it's resistant to previous vaccines, but it does respond to antibiotics.
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No dogs have died and it's not contagious to cats or humans.
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Source: https://www.facebook.com/HeritageAnimalHospital/
Heritage Animal Hospital, LLC
August 6 at 2:34 PM ?
We are currently seeing an influx of dogs presenting with coughing and respiratory illness in the last few days. Just today we have seen 5 cases and they have ranged from normal activity with mild coughing to extreme coughing, fever, lethargy, and secondary pneumonia. We are testing these pets for 11 different respiratory viruses and bacteria known to cause coughing so that we can determine what is affecting our dogs. That being said we believe it is affecting lots of dogs in Bluffton and Hilton Head and reports are starting to appear in different states. For the health of your dog, if you are able, please hold off grooming appointments, exposure with other dogs at doggy daycare or just on walks, and if possible avoid boarding facilities until more is known about this respiratory illness. As soon as we get more information from our testing, we will send an update.
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Heritage Animal Hospital, LLC
August 10 at 2:50 PM ?
Respiratory illness update**
While we wish we had more to share unfortunately we still do not have much more information than earlier in the week. We have received the respiratory PCR results from 4 of our patients, all are negative for the 11 disease causing organisms in the panel. The respiratory PCR test is checking for bordetella, canine influenza, and parainfluenza just to name a few pet owners may be familiar with. We are continuing to test our patients so we have as much information as possible. This test requires about 3 days processing time, so it is taking longer to get the information we need.
We are seeing this respiratory illness affect both vaccinated and unvaccinated pets. So we again encourage you to keep your dogs away from other dogs and out of the grooming and boarding facilities if possible.
While we don't know quite yet which respiratory bug is causing this, we do want you to know that our vet's medical treatment of our affected patients is working and they are feeling better after starting medications.
It has been a thought that we may have a new or mutated virus that may be causing this and we are also taking steps to send our samples to virus discovery program in California just to be sure we are staying on top of this.
We will do our best to keep you updated but rest assured we are doing all we can to care for your furry family members. We also want our clients to know we are keeping our sick patients separate by keeping them to one room and having them use a different entrance so that they are not in direct contact with our lobby or healthy patients.
Thank you all for your patience and we will post again soon!
---------------------------------------------------------
See also:
Mysterious disease spreading among Virginia dogs
BLUFFTON, S.C. (WSAV) - Several dogs in Hilton Head and Bluffton are being treated for a highly contagious respiratory disease.
It started popping up about three weeks ago and most vets say they're seeing about 5 cases of this respiratory illness a day.
...
Vets say its a bad cough that causes inflammatory issues, gagging, vomiting and, for some, pneumonia.
...
While it's not deadly, the respiratory disease is proving to be highly contagious. Vets say it's resistant to previous vaccines, but it does respond to antibiotics.
...
No dogs have died and it's not contagious to cats or humans.
--------------------------------------------------------
Source: https://www.facebook.com/HeritageAnimalHospital/
Heritage Animal Hospital, LLC
August 6 at 2:34 PM ?
We are currently seeing an influx of dogs presenting with coughing and respiratory illness in the last few days. Just today we have seen 5 cases and they have ranged from normal activity with mild coughing to extreme coughing, fever, lethargy, and secondary pneumonia. We are testing these pets for 11 different respiratory viruses and bacteria known to cause coughing so that we can determine what is affecting our dogs. That being said we believe it is affecting lots of dogs in Bluffton and Hilton Head and reports are starting to appear in different states. For the health of your dog, if you are able, please hold off grooming appointments, exposure with other dogs at doggy daycare or just on walks, and if possible avoid boarding facilities until more is known about this respiratory illness. As soon as we get more information from our testing, we will send an update.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Heritage Animal Hospital, LLC
August 10 at 2:50 PM ?
Respiratory illness update**
While we wish we had more to share unfortunately we still do not have much more information than earlier in the week. We have received the respiratory PCR results from 4 of our patients, all are negative for the 11 disease causing organisms in the panel. The respiratory PCR test is checking for bordetella, canine influenza, and parainfluenza just to name a few pet owners may be familiar with. We are continuing to test our patients so we have as much information as possible. This test requires about 3 days processing time, so it is taking longer to get the information we need.
We are seeing this respiratory illness affect both vaccinated and unvaccinated pets. So we again encourage you to keep your dogs away from other dogs and out of the grooming and boarding facilities if possible.
While we don't know quite yet which respiratory bug is causing this, we do want you to know that our vet's medical treatment of our affected patients is working and they are feeling better after starting medications.
It has been a thought that we may have a new or mutated virus that may be causing this and we are also taking steps to send our samples to virus discovery program in California just to be sure we are staying on top of this.
We will do our best to keep you updated but rest assured we are doing all we can to care for your furry family members. We also want our clients to know we are keeping our sick patients separate by keeping them to one room and having them use a different entrance so that they are not in direct contact with our lobby or healthy patients.
Thank you all for your patience and we will post again soon!
---------------------------------------------------------
See also:
Mysterious disease spreading among Virginia dogs
