Be on Alert: Mystery Illness killing dogs

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

Canal Fulton is 15 minutes from my home but Cincinnati is 5.5 hours away.  Recognize the symptoms and get help right away.  For me, I may have waited until the next day to seek help.  Bloody diarrhea is common in parasites and I may have just thought my dog caught something and gone in the next day carrying my stool sample.

CANAL FULTON, OH (WOIO) -

Experts are still trying to get to the bottom of what killed three dogs at a the Pet Spot in Cincinnati.  The dogs were extremely lethargic, had bloody diarrhea and were vomiting. Some may have thought what happened at the Pet Spot was an isolated incident, but in just the past week, four dogs with similar gastrointestinal symptoms showed up at the Elm Ridge Animal Hospital in Canal Fulton. 

Dr. Melanie Butera says the dogs she treated had the same symptoms as the ones in Cincinnati.  One even died. 

The illness comes on fast.  Some dogs survive, but it's important to get medical help as soon as your dog is showing signs of possibly having the sickness. 

"There is no next day with this. The dogs can do down hill within 48 hours, so we are just urging people, if your dog acts sick, to go to your vet especially if you start to see vomiting or bloody diarrhea," says Dr. Butera.

Dr. Butera says the problem may be more widespread than originally thought.  She says other veterinarians in the Canal Fulton area have also reported seeing dogs with symptoms of the mystery illness.

19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

This is scary but thanks for posting, Joanne.  I hope they can find the cause soon.  Good to be aware because I would have thought the same thing as you.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

How scary!  We are leaving Tuesday to drive home to FL from Michigan and will be towing a very large boat.  We were going to take the route home that goes through Ohio - as heading that way would take us through fewer mountains but this makes me think I don't want to do Ohio rest stops with the boys  :(     Over cautious - probably.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This is so frightening, but points to how important it is to seek medical attention with these symptoms.  Sometimes I think I'm "over cautious" and then when I hear something like this I'm glad that I am that way.  Thanks for sharing RJ.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Today's NEWS

My thoughts are that many vets have seen this illness but until now, have not reported what they have.  Does the animal world have a CDC?

Here is today's article in my local newspaper.  A little more in depth than what an evening news reports.  By the comments in the paper more owners and vets are coming forward to say they have experienced the same thing so this may be a lot bigger than just a few dogs