A very sad story & input needed

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Hi,

I apologize in advance for the very sad and somewhat lengthy tale I'm about to tell. The reason I'm sharing it is to hopefully protect my & my family's remaining dogs :( 

About 2 weeks ago, my sister's friend's dog became very ill and suddenly died. The dog suddenly began vomiting and being very lethargic- she took her dog (about 5 years) to the vet and while there overnight, Lucky died in his sleep :( My sister was of course concerned about the safety of her schnoodle Odie, who had recently played with Lucky, and also my doodle (Reggie), my mom's dog, and my other sister's 2 doodles, Bentley and Oliver. She told us all what happened - that the vet was not able to determine what killed Lucky, but that we should all keep a close watch on our dogs, since they had all played with Odie recently. We were all so sad for Lucky and our friend. :(

About 3 days later (last Saturday), my sister's standard goldendoodle Bentley, 4 years old, vomited twice in the night. He was still acting playful and energetic, so she didn't get too worked up - our dogs all throw up at lease once every couple of weeks, eating grass, too much rawhide, etc. About 2 days after that, he began vomiting more, and acting lethargic, (though no fever or diarrhea) so she took him in. The vet performed a bunch of tests and xrays and couldn't figure out what was wrong, though his white blood cell count was really high and it showed a lot of gas in his GI system- they hooked him up to an IV and gave him an antibiotic, no improvement in 24 hours, so decided to do a surgery to see if there was something stuck in the intestines that could be causing the gas/infection. The results of the surgery were that nothing was IN the intestines, but the intestines and bowels were not moving/working. 24 hours more of IV and antibiotics... Bentley briefly got a little better, walked around and pooped outside, seemed very happy to see my sister, then a couple of hours later suddenly took a turn for the worst and passed away :( He really was the most wonderful dog and companion, and as I'm sure you all can imagine, our family is just devastated by his death.

While our hearts are broken over the loss of Bentley, we are also very concerned for the well-being of the other dogs :( Though most of the info above is what I was told by my sister, at one point she was too upset to call the vet so I called for her (the vet happens to be our very sweet uncle) and talked to him about what was happening. I asked about Parvo (the other dogs are all puppies and have recently been vaccinated) and he said no, Parvo symptom is low white blood cell and Bentley's was high. I asked what he thought was happening, and he said his best guess was that maybe Bentley ate something that was toxic to his system. He said that he thought if it was some kind of contagious disease, the other dogs would have fallen ill by now. My family and I have wracked our brains - we are all SO careful about what our dogs are around, so we cannot figure out what he could have ingested that would have poisoned him. The clinic is doing additional tests to try to figure out what happened, but my fear is that we'll never know.

I guess my reason for posting is this - has anyone experienced or heard about an illness like this? We are all stunned at how quick and serious it was - Bentley was SUCH an active and healthy young dog, and this appeared and killed within a span of a week. What could have poisoned him to affect his GI like that? Could it have been some kind of tick? (He has had lyme disease, though they are vigilant with the flea/tick treatment). Or was it some kind of virus/bacteria? Could he have gotten it from Lucky? (He didn't play with Lucky, but Odie did, and Bentley played with Odie... could Odie have carried the illness without getting sick?) Are all of our dogs at risk? They are all behaving as usual, although Bentley's brother Ollie has been crying a lot :( but they DO all, all of a sudden, have very runny noses and are sneezing/sniffing A LOT. Could that be allergies? Or indicate something more serious? My sister said Bentley wasn't sneezing/runny nose before he got sick. We are all trying not to panic, but are worried about our beloved dogs :(

Any advice or input would be very appreciated.

Best,
Stephanie

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

We can guess all sorts of things here and truly there is no way of knowing.   I'm Very Sorry.  So Sad :(

There is a fungus in the Great Lakes Region that causes severe and sudden death in dogs when inhaled.  No, I am not saying this is what happened as I have no idea, but I do see you are in WI, so it is good to know about blastomycosis,

There is a video attached plus more information. 

“The lake has something to do with it,” Dr. Ghantous explains, “because soil by the water is the primary place to get that disease.”

A majority of cases are seen in the spring because the conditions are ideal for the fungus.

“Limping, an unexplained limp, coughing, or skin lesions,” are all things to look for, said Dr. Ghantous. “There really is not a great way to prevent this from happening, unless you are going to put your dog in a bubble, and not let them do dog things.”

So those hiking around old rotted logs, or wood piles, rivers and streams, wet land, The Great Lakes Regions,  etc please know the early signs and  symptoms   BLASTOMYCOSIS

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good call, Joanne. North Central Wisconsin is the area where blastomycosis in dogs appears to be most prevalent:

http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/142853065.html

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Thanks Karen.  My computer is so slow I can barely use it anymore.  There are other links and a severe problem in WI as we speak but I can't seem to get them to work. Anyway, all of us should read about this and know what to do. This is an Emergency situation.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/respiratory/c_multi_blastomycosis

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

We are having record numbers here in Ohio this year.  Wet, moist, summer, lots of rivers and streams, and woodland. 

Really, what can you do but know to seek care ASAP and even then, there really is not a good chance  :(  Fast and Furious.

Know though, this is not transmitted from Dog to Dog as I understand it, but from spore to dog, so your question about dogs being contagious with Blasto is no  WRONG

"This condition is only rarely transmittable from animal to animal, or from animal to human. In the event that transmission does occur, it is when the animal has an open and draining wound, and it comes into contact with an open wound on the human, or the discharge from the animal's wound gets into the humans eye. Taking care to avoid these circumstances when caring for your dog will be sufficient prevention"

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/respiratory/c_multi_blastomycos...

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Joanne, Your posted site for petmd is so informative.  I put it in my 'favorite places' under dog health.  Thank you for this gift, it's like having a Merck manual for dogs in our home.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

From the article: Experts say North Central Wisconsin leads the world in Blastomycosis cases. But preventing this fungal infection can be difficult.

... it's almost always caused by inhaling spores from moist soil. The spores then germinate in the lungs and establish themselves.

[Stephanie & Reggie]

This is really scary - I'm going to do more research on this. Thanks, Joanne for bringing it to my attention. I can't believe I didn't know about this horrible fungus at all until today! To think dogs can get it just by breathing and being dogs... so sad :(

The symptoms I looked at for blastomycosis don't really match up with Bentley and Lucky's symptoms - L & B were vomiting a lot, very lethargic, and B had no fever or diarrhea, but gas build up in his stomach, and his intestines and bowels weren't moving. It sounds like some of the main symptoms of blastomycosis  are fever, eye discharge/inflammation, problems breathing, and skin sores. None of which B had. But whether or not it's the cause of Bentley's death, it is definitely something dog owners in this area should be aware of! 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Awful.

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

So very sad..  But wouldn't you think that a Vet practicing in the area with such a huge possible problem would be aware of the problem to begin with and be on the lookout for animals with signs and symptoms?...Just a thought

I hope they find an answer and no one else has to lose a precious pet!!!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Elizabeth, one of the articles linked does explain it is often masked or thought to be something else.  A biopsy is required and even then, it may be too late to treat.  So, yes, Vets admit this one is tough to identify right away.

In that, we also should know at least a little and suggest a test at the time.  It doesn't hurt to be informed.   How does ones vet know we were hiking in the stream and by old decaying wood?   Even in my yard, there is so much shade I have had to really pick up the dead rotting branches that fall out of the woods.  I have a stream back there. Just a great place for fungi!    Hey, and a lot of dogs are given that great Stick from the ground! 

[Leslie and Halas]

A dog on our flyball team had blasto last year.  The docs thought it might be lung cancer for a long time, and it took weeks or a couple of months for the blasto to really respond to the meds.  Another couple of weeks of very little response to the blasto meds, and they would have called it lung cancer and possibly started chemo.  Max is OK now, but he had to retire from flyball.  His age and the stress on his lungs are just too much for him to run flyball.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

This is so very sad and more than a little concerning. Seems any one of us could be affected by this mysterious, sudden onset type illness. I'm sorry I don't have anything to add as far as what this could be, but I hope you get some answers soon. I'll be watching this discussion closely.