Veterinary professionals and government health agencies are warning pet owners of a respiratory illness affecting dogs in multiple states. The cause remains a mystery.
In August 2023, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) had started to receive report cases of an atypical canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRDC) spreading in the Portland metro and Willamette Valley areas. As of writing, more than 200 cases have been reported to ODA by veterinarians.
In a report by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Andrea Cantu-Schomus, communications director with the ODA, says the cases appear to be “viral.”
“Based on the epidemiology of the cases reported at this point, the cases appear to share a viral etiology, but common respiratory diagnostic testing has been largely negative,” Cantu-Schomus wrote in an email. “A handful of cases do test positive for M. cynos, but that agent is not believed to be the underlying causative agent.”
According to a report by the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association, the cases reported to ODA appear to primarily fall within these clinical syndromes:
- Chronic mild-moderate tracheobronchitis with a prolonged duration (six to eight weeks or longer) that is minimally or not responsive to antibiotics;
- Chronic pneumonia that is minimally or not responsive to antibiotics;
- Acute pneumonia that rapidly becomes severe and often leads to poor outcomes in as little as 24-36 hours
In a Fox12 news interview, Dr. Kurt Williams, director of the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostics Lab (OVDL) recommends pet owners to keep their dogs at home and avoid contact with other dogs.
“It would be prudent, first and foremost, to make sure your dog is fully vaccinated,” says Dr. Williams. “I think it would not be a bad idea to perhaps avoid possible situations where your dog is mingling with many other dogs. So, at a boarding facilities, or dog parks, or something like that.”
The mysterious respiratory illness seems to have spread across other states. In an interview with Today, Dr. Gina Kettig of the VCA Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, CO, says they have been “seeing a plethora of these infections.”
“We are using our isolation ward heavily,” Dr. Kettig tells Today.
The ODA is currently working with pathologists and virologists at the OVDL and the Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory (USDA NVSL) to find the causative agent behind the illness.
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