News
Looking for causes of dog illnesses
The Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Division of Animal Heath is working to find what’s causing dogs to become sick.
For the past several weeks, reports of severe dog illnesses have been reported in several parts of the state, but what’s causing the sickness is unknown.
“While we continue to work diligently to identify what is making these dogs sick, we are asking Ohio’s veterinarians to help by contacting our laboratory for consultation if they suspect they are treating a related case,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Forshey. Veterinarians can also help by sharing information on what pet owners should look for and how they can protect their dogs.
To help identify what’s making dogs sick, the Division of Animal Health is also asking dog owners to contact their veterinarian if dogs are showing symptoms, which include vomiting, bloody diarrhea, weight loss and lethargy.
As part of its investigation, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has also reported for the first time, the presence of canine circovirus in the state, but the State Veterinarian says it’s too early to say canine circovirus is the cause of the dog illnesses.
“The laboratory confirmation is important because the virus is newly isolated, however we are not prepared at this time to confirm that canine circovirus is the cause of the dog illnesses,” said Forshey. “Because the symptoms being exhibited can also be linked to other known illnesses, additional analysis and information is needed to determine if this virus alone or in co-infection contributes to illness and death in dogs.”
My first thoughts are what all dogs involved have in common. Such as when they were given their boosters.
I’m always suspicious of vaccines.