Veterinarians are sounding the alarm as they see a growing number of coughing dogs.
Wendy Brown’s three golden retrievers — Bridge, Dooley and Lulu — are among the dogs who started showing symptoms earlier this November.
“Dooley started doing kind of this huffing and also seemed to feel quite lethargic,” Brown recalled to “Good Morning America.” “Not too long after, Bridge began to exhibit the symptoms. But his were louder, more boisterous. I thought it was his stomach because he made like a retching sound.”
Initially, Brown thought her pets had a typical kennel cough but when their symptoms didn’t subside, she knew it was something more serious.
“The vet started him on a 10-day cycle of doxycycline. Today was day 10 and he is not a lot better,” Brown said.
Brown, an Idaho resident, said she’s still not sure what could have caused her dogs’ illness in the first place.
While research is underway, veterinarians say the mystery illness is highly contagious and can be fatal. Reported symptoms so far have also been typical of a kennel cough and they include coughing, sneezing, nasal and/or eye discharge and lethargy.
“Instead of that dry cough where the dog felt good, it was now this wet cough where the dog felt sick,” Amanda Cavanagh, the section head of the urgent care service at Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, told “GMA.”
Experts like Cavanagh said any dogs showing signs of consistent coughing should be brought to a vet to be examined.
“We can ultrasound the lungs to see if there is a problem that is related to pneumonia or the contagious pneumonia that seems to be going around,” Cavanagh said.
Cavanagh also recommends keeping any coughing dogs away from other dogs and for two weeks after the cough goes away.
She was abandoned with the largest tumor on her face and suffered for a very long time without any assistance
Meet Honey, This is the poor soul Dumaguete Animal Sanctuary rescued today. Honey was dumped in severe condition with the biggest tumor on her face. She was in discomfort for a long time since she was swollen and infected.
” We are with her now at Animal Wellness getting X-rays to find out if this mass is treatable. Her early blood tests revealed that her organs were working OK, but she is anemic. She was also found to have heartworm.
They will put her on anti-inflammatory for 2 weeks and also work on raising her red blood cell count. She will then require surgery and chemotherapy. She stands a high chance of living a regular, happy life!
She need to do surgery to remove the mass, followed by chemo if it is cancerous. Given the position of the tumour, surgeons will need to do the procedure at Animal Wellness, where they have gas anaesthetic, giving Honey the highest chance of survival.
Her red blood cell count is still low after 15 days in the center, therefore she will have a transfusion. Hopefully, surgery will be performed soon after.
“Day 17: Honey’s operation has just begun. Just before she was sedated, she was photographed with Rina and Rudylyn. We will do the procedure at Animal Wellness since gas anaesthesia is safer for more serious instances. Because the tumor is so close to her brain, the procedure will be lengthy and complicated.
Day 19: Honey’s surgery was as successful as it could be given that the tumor had grown around so many of her facial and optical nerves. Unfortunately, the nerves controlling her left eyelid had to be severed, leaving her with a little droop.
The tumor was huge, and as a result the surgical wound is large. She is eating chicken which is a good sign. She will be able to live a normal life even without it. She is already eating on her own, but her face is still swollen from the operation and inflammation, so doctors are hopeful she will eat more once that subsides.
She is still in the very early stages of recovery from such an invasive surgery, and each day she survives without complications, is a blessing. She made it through the procedure!!! Honey is still deemed critical, but she is awake and breathing.
“We just had the results of Honey’s tumor biopsied and unfortunately it’s malignant. Doxorubicin is the most effective chemotherapy treatment for the type of cancer she has. We must act quickly to halt the spread of any cancer that may still be present in Honey’s system.”
She hadaother tumor in her vagina but the amazing news is that the tumor in her vagina has shrunk by 60 percent since she started chemo and she has only had two sessions so far.
After more than 3 months, she’s gaining weight and is generally in good spirits despite being on chemo. Her prognosis is still uncertain because chemo affects the organs, but we are confident she will recover completely.
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