Please, PLEASE pass this around. Happened here in MI. Sue who has taken Bruja swimming before...
On Monday, June 25, 2007 I took my healthy 9 month old Border Collie
Vita swimming at approximately 6:30 p.m. Vita and two other BC
spent about an hour and a half diving off the dock, chasing the
Water Kong, and running
around. The temperature that day was just over 90 degrees, but none of the dogs
looked particularly winded or hot.
Vita emerged from the
water and looked as if she was going to vomit.
She threw up lake
water three times. I wasnt particularly concerned as she took in a lot of
water from retrieving and swimming so much and had seen other dogs do that in the past without complications.
After the third time throwing up, she lay down and closed her eyes.
Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and I began to suspect she may have
heat stroke. I immediately placed ice on her stomach and checked ! her gums.
They were=pink. I took her temperature which was 101.9, still normal. I then
called my Vet who said these conditions did not indicate heat stroke and said I
needed to get emergency medical attention right away.
Vita was not responsive and when I picked her up to put her in the car
she was limp and her eyes were still closed. Her breathing was slow and
her heart was racing. I arrived at the emergency clinic only a half hour from
the time she showed signs of distress. The ER Vet asked me what sorts of things
Vita had been doing all day. I explained that she was crated as I was gone
for the latter part of the afternoon and that upon coming home, the only other
place she went was to the lake.
Vita eyes were fixed and dilated and the Vet suggested there was already brain damage. After administering an IV and oxygen, the Vet called me in and said Vita was not responding and that it appeared that she was suffering from some kind of toxic poisoning. Her heart rate was 200. He mentioned that he had recently seen a couple of dogs who died from Blue Green Algae Toxicity.
I=told him that the lake had what appeared to be algae blooms on the surface of the
water. Neither of the other two dogs showed any of the signs that
Vita had and that neither dog took in as much
water as Vita apparently did. We
decided=to put her on a ventilator overnight and give her a "chance" to pull
through.
When I got home I did a Dogpile.com search of "Blue Green Algae
Toxicity in Dogs" and found some very disturbing information.
-Blooms can occur at any time, but most often occur in late summer or
early fall. They can occur in marine, estuarine, and fresh waters, but the
blooms of greatest concern are the ones that occur in fresh
water, such as
drinking
water reservo! irs or recreational waters.
-Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the
surface=of fresh
water lakes and ponds. The blooms can be blue, bright green,
brown, or red and may look like paint floating on the
water. Some blooms may
not affect the appearance of the
water. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom
die, the
water may smell bad.
-Swallowing
water that has cyanobacterial toxins in it can cause
acute severe gastroenteritis (including diarrhea and vomiting
-Liver toxicity (i.e., increased serum levels of liver enzymes).
Symptoms of=liver poisoning may takes hours or days to show up in people or
animals Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting
-Kidney toxicity.=20
-Neurotoxicity. These symptoms can appear within 15 to 20 minutes
after exposure. In dogs, the neurotoxins can cause salivation and other
neurologic symptoms, including weakness, staggering, difficulty breathing,
convulsions, and death. People may have numb lips, tingling fingers and toes, or they
may feel dizzy.
Vita had indeed exhibited salivation and signs of weakness, staggering,difficul ty breathing and vomiting.
At 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 I called the Vet and was told
that they took Vita off the ventilator a couple of times during the night
and that she=was not breathing on her own. I told him to discontinue the procedure
and to let her go.
I called the DNR here in Michigan and was told that Blue Green Algae
didn usually appear this time of year and I told the agent that the
conditions were that of late summer in Michigan, very hot for the last two days and
reminded him that Blue Green Algae can appear at any time. He told me not to
panic or to alarm other people. I told him that had someone else panicked, we
wouldn't be having this conversation right now.
Later that morning I found out from a neighbor that her two young boys
had vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps last week and her Doctor
suggested she bring in a
water sample. I do not know if she did or not.
I also talked to a woman from a neighboring county whose
neighbors dog ingested a lot of
water from a
pond and died suddenly a couple weeks
ago.
As of this writing, Wednesday, June 27th, I have not heard anything
from Michigan State where I took Vita for a necropsy and toxoligical panel.
For the time being, I would strongly suggest you watch your dogs
when swimming in small lakes and ponds as the potential threat of toxic
poisoning from Blue Green Algae is prevalent. Had I known that algae of any kind was
toxic, you can be sure my dogs wouldn=E2=80= 99t be swimming anywhere and that
Vita, whose name quite ironically meant "life" in Latin, would be alive today.
Missing you more than you can imagine.
May you rest in peace, Red Top Vita
09/05/06 - 06/26/07
Bob Tatus
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