Please be aware of a health alert that has affected two Humane
Societies in Wisconsin. The disease started as outbreaks in Las
Vegas and Miami Florida and is now in Waukesha Wisconsin.

The illness is called streptococcus equi zooepidemicus and is caused

by a bacteria. It can be treated by penicillan or amoxycillan if

caught within the first hours of symptoms. The shelter was able to
successfully treat 2 extremely ill dogs, and currently are treating
all of the dogs with anitibiotics as a preventative.

It is unknown how illness is spread. In Waukesha, they had 7 dogs
die from an extremely fast moving illness. It initially presents as
kennel cough, but rapidly leads to high fevers -- 106 or 107, labored
breathing and then death. From start to finish it's

about 10 hours -- which is very scary. Dogs who were seemingly
healthy

are deathly ill and then dead by the next day.

Tissue samples were sent to the state lab, necropsys was done on 2

dogs, and samples were sent to other labs throughout the US before it
was diagnosed.

I was informed today that kennel cough is making its way through
Chicago area boarding facilities and doggie parks. Keep an eye on
your dogs.

Thanks for the heads up. I have 8 dogs and would hate to lose any of them.

Thanks!! I forwarded to my daughter as she likes to take her dogs to dog parks, and I've previously warned her those are breeding grounds for ailments....

Thank you for that information on that, as I live in florida.

you are welcome- I own 2 dogs that were rescues and one came from animal control last Thursday- she seems to be doing well...

bumping for the pooches

Thank you for your alert.

Sadly, though, as with all viruses, they just seem to come from nowhere. And, usually antibiotics, as in humans, do not work.

I remember when Parvo virus hit. It was horrid. Dogs at AKC sanctioned dog shows dropping dead left and right. Thank God, the Parvo vaccine has been a regular vaccine for years.

AND, there was the mid 80's virus epidemic that had dog show dogs dropping like flies. With that, the vets were immediately giving the dogs an antibiotic and they snapped right out of it. Except for the idiot vet (mine was out of town) I rushed my top winning English Springer to. My Springer almost died, the vet did not give him an antibiotic until as a last resort. All he did was give him fluids intravenously! If it had not been such an emergency, I would not have gone to that vet, but he was right down the road from me and my Springer just suddenly collapsed.

The best thing you can do really, is make sure your dog is vaccinated, fed good quality food, kept away from stray animals of all types, and the yearly check up with its vet.

Lindyy

I would add to that keeping dogs away from wild animals, if you live in an area where they thrive, like I do.

We have a lot of raccoons here, and they can sometimes carry rabies.

I thought they only came out at dusk, since they are nocturnal, but I learned they can sometimes come out during the day, too!

More information:

http://www.utexas.edu/safety/ehs/animalmakesafe/faq.html#day