Unusual respiratory illness found in dogs in at least a dozen states

INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN) — If you’re a dog owner, think twice about bringing your pet around many others.

Veterinarians said an unusual respiratory illness is increasing in at least one dozen states, including Indiana.

You’ve probably heard of kennel cough – a common infection in dogs that’s rarely life-threatening.

“I took her to the vet to get some other vaccines, and I left her in the car and said, ‘My dog’s doing this coughing. Is it okay if I bring her in?’ No, no, no,” dog owner Julian Kroin recalled from a recent vet visit.

Veterinarians are watching what the Indiana Board of Animal Health said may be a “more complicated” variation of kennel cough that sometimes lasts longer and doesn’t respond to treatments.

“And in very rare cases, we see dogs that become significantly more ill than what we expected or what we’ve seen in the past, even some cases where they develop pneumonia and require hospitalization,” Veterinarian and BOAH Director of Small Animal Health Programs Melissa Justice explained.

Because the disease is not reportable in Indiana, how many dogs have gotten sick is unknown. For the past few months, veterinarians have been testing for pathogens typically seen in kennel cough, but Justice said those tests are coming back negative.

“We don’t know if we’re just not testing at the right time in the infection process to identify those commonly seen infections that we’re used to or if we have a new pathogen,” Justice said.

Justice said although we still don’t know much about this new infection, dog owners shouldn’t panic.

“I don’t want people to be fearful, and we certainly don’t want people to significantly alter their plans to the point where they’re not traveling or things like that,” Justice said. “I’m also recommending that people make conscientious decisions. If your pet doesn’t need to go to the puppy daycare or if it doesn’t need to go to the dog park in order to maintain normal, happy, healthy behavior, then maybe choose not to go at this point.”

A few dog park regulars, like Larry Jones and his golden retriever, Dory, said they thought they had already brought the illness home.

“We tried antibiotics, and it didn’t really seem to do anything, but it went away, and everything’s fine now,” Jones recalled.

Now that their dogs are all happy and healthy again, it’s business as usual at the park.

“There’s some things you can’t do anything about,” Kroin said. “I didn’t want to change my whole lifestyle. I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal.”

Luckily, Justice said labs are conducting advanced tests, and we could have some answers within a few months. She recommends making sure your pets are up to date on vaccinations and calling the clinic if they start showing any respiratory symptoms.