Veterinarian: Mystery dog illness is in CT

A mysterious and potentially fatal illness has afflicted dogs in over a dozen states, with the largest cluster in Oregon, with roughly 200 sick dogs.

USA Today reported that cases have been confirmed in 14 states including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Florida.

While the state Department of Agriculture was unable to confirm cases in Connecticut, one local veterinarian told CT Insider that he has seen about a dozen cases.

“We saw 12-15 cases where dogs presented initially much like what is commonly referred to kennel cough,” said Dr. Anthony DellaMonica, of Guilford Veterinary Hospital. But as their symptoms progressed, these dogs seemed less and less like they were suffering from kennel cough. “Some of the dogs presented with fever, which we don’t often see in kennel cough.”

DellaMonica said the dogs had runny noses and didn’t respond to conventional treatments.

“Five or six of the dogs actually came back to our practice to see us again because they were not doing that well,” said Dr. Della-Monica. “We diagnosed them with pneumonia, which, again, is uncommon in adult dogs who have what we typically call kennel cough.”

Like other cases of this mysterious illness, Della-Monica and his team were unable to isolate a bacteria or virus causing the illness. He said none of his patients died from the illness, but they were sick for many weeks.

“Thankfully all our patients at our practice have recovered, we’ve had no deaths,” DellaMonica said. “Since the third week of October, we haven’t seen any new cases and I haven’t heard anything from neighboring practices.”

Infected dogs develop cough, fever, lethargy and loss of appetite. Some dogs develop pneumonia.

Pet owners are advised to watch their dogs closely for coughing, runny nose and low appetite or energy. DellaMonica said that using your hand to feel for a fever on a dog would be counterproductive as they have naturally higher body temperatures on average than humans.

Some of these symptoms are like “kennel cough,” a disease caused by several different pathogens. Kennel cough afflicts dogs that have been boarded in kennels, shelters or training facilities.

“The holidays can be a really rough time for dogs,” Della-Monica said. “Traditionally we have seen kennel cough outbreaks during or shortly after major holidays … but the dogs are typically not as ill as we’ve seen with this” new illness.

Unlike kennel cough, which responds to antibiotics, this new illness does not. This illness can also last far longer than typical kennel cough.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture told CT Insider in an email that some dogs have rapidly deteriorated after the onset of pneumonia in as little as 24-36 hours with “poor outcomes.”

The cause of the new illness is unknown. Preliminary genetic data from the University of New Hampshire detected traces of a mycoplasma -like bacterium in some of the sick dogs. Mycoplasma bacteria has more than 100 species that have been identified, and some, but not all, cause disease.

“This bacterium is very similar to the ubiquitous or common bacteria which resides normally in humans,” said Neha Mishra, a University of Connecticut professor who works in the Connecticut Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

It’s not clear if this, or any mycoplasma is causing this illness, explained Mishra. A handful of cases in Oregon tested positive for mycoplasma cynos, a part of normal canine microbe ecology that is sometimes associated with respiratory illness. Officials in Oregon do not believe that this causes this disease, however.

Part of the difficulty is that samples from these sick dogs are difficult to grow in cell culture, which complicates both treatment and diagnosis. Mishra said that typically when a dog comes in for treatment samples from the dog are tested for “antibiotic sensitivity” to figure out the best treatment.

Since this mysterious illness is difficult to grow in a lab and doesn’t appear to be one of the common canine viruses, that makes it harder to determine cause of the illness. Complicating matters is that running lots of tests can be expensive. Most pet owners pay out of pocket for veterinary care.

State Department of Agriculture spokesperson Rebecca Eddy told CT Insider that the state veterinarian had been speaking to the other state veterinarians in New England about this emerging illness since last April when it was first identified in New Hampshire. She said that local veterinarians had been reminded to notify the state of any unusual canine respiratory illness or deaths.

To keep your pets safe, Mishra and DellaMonica recommend pet owners avoid boarding their dogs in kennels. If your dog is showing signs of illness, you should also avoid bringing it around other dogs at the park, dog trainer or groomer.

“Best practice would be to avoid situations which there’s introductions of many dogs,” said Mishra. “I would say your best option is to get a dog-sitter or for the dog to be in a home environment where they are not interacting with many dogs.”

Eddy forwarded a list of recommendations to CT Insider that included making sure your dog was up to date on vaccinations, not travelling with your dog to outbreak areas and making sure your dog wasn’t drinking from communal water bowls.

If you suspect that your dog has this illness, it is highly recommended that you bring them to the veterinarian.

Local veterinarians can report unusual canine respiratory illnesses and mortalities to the state veterinarian’s office at 860-713-2505 or ctstate.vet@ct.gov.