CINCINNATI — A mysterious respiratory virus is infecting dogs across the country, but animal health care professionals in the Tri-State said they are not seeing an outbreak locally.
"We have seen somewhat of a mild increase in our number of cases that we think have respiratory disease that we think might be due to an infectious cause, and we haven’t in most of those cases been able to specifically link any specific virus or bacteria," said Sarah Mueller with MedVet Cincinnati.
Mueller said it’s possible these cases could be associated with the mystery virus, but they have no concrete evidence to support that.
"Right now, it seems like there have been some reports of increased infectious respiratory disease in dogs kind of popping up in different areas in the country," she said. "We don’t know if they actually all are specifically linked and we don’t know what is causing it."
Cases have been popping up across the country. In rare cases, some dogs have died.
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"We don’t have a lot of hard and fast data to confirm that it’s actually a true outbreak," said Care Center Cincinnati Medical Director Rachel Halpin. "These dogs that are getting sick right not they could just have the sort of typical kennel cough that we’ve seen historically in dogs for years, but it’s possible this may be a new type of virus that’s the information that hasn’t been discerned yet."
She said Care Center Cincinnati hasn’t had any cases they think could be linked to the mystery virus.
"I always think it’s really important for owners to be aware of the infections that are out there and know how to protect their dogs, but I don’t want to incite any panic that this is a huge concern for us right now," she said.
Halpin said what makes this mystery virus difficult to track is that its symptoms are similar to kennel cough.
"The typical symptoms is usually a dry hacking cough that can progress to developing a fever; sometimes they’ll have a decreased appetite," she said. "In really severe cases it can progress to pneumonia."
In addition to their appetite, Mueller said the coughing can impact their sleep and force them to put much more effort into their breathing.
Mueller and Halpin both said it is not uncommon to not know the cause of a dog’s illness.
"I mean, just like in people, anytime something new pops up it can take a little bit of time and testing to find out, is this just a different version of something we already know? Or is this something that is actually truly new?" Mueller said.
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Halpin added dogs that have underlying respiratory disease are at higher risk of catching respiratory diseases. Dogs with shortened noses are also at a higher risk.
"So the typical breeds we think of are Frenchies, bulldogs, those types of kind of smushed-face dogs. They don’t have as good of a respiratory tract as other dogs because it’s smushed down and they have a little bit more obstruction to their breathing," Halpin said.
Halpin and Mueller said if pet owners have noticed their dog acting strange or dealing with a bad cough, it’s always a good idea to get them checked out.
They both said the best protection against viruses is vaccination and minimizing a dog’s contact with other dogs.
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