MR. TWISTER
Cuddle Now,- Cuddle Later,- Cuddle Often
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 | | Barked: Sun Jul 1, '07 11:18am PST | |  | |  | | I received this from another member, but thought is wise to let you all know...
I recently recieved this email & just wanted to
share:
It is with a very heavy heart that I write this
and I apologize for its
length. Please, PLEASE pass this around.
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‘s 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 wasn’t
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’s 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 reservoirs 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.
-Some cyanobacteria that can form CyanoHABs
(Harmful Algal Blooms) produce
toxins that are among the most powerful natural
poisons known. These toxins have
no known antidotes.
-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.
-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,
difficulty 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’t
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 neighbor’s 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’t 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 |  |  | |  |
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I didn't know such a thing existed! Thanks for this post! We should all be more careful now.
