With these patients, they wound up doing full lab work, including a complete blood count chemistry panel looking for overwhelming inflammation. Trenholme says that usually when temperatures are as elevated as what they were seeing, “We start worrying if is this a severe viral infection or is this a patient that’s actually septic?” Initial therapy is prescribed based on likely respiratory pathogens and information about the coverage provided by various antibiotics.ĭogs with more severe symptoms may need more aggressive treatment, such as hospitalization (with isolation) and provision of IV fluids, oxygen support, nebulization, and coupage. If a bacterial cause is identified or strongly suspected, then antibiotics may be indicated. “It was probably only or two cases a week that were extremely severely affected.” In addition to having an abnormal set of vitals, these patients also typically had a very elevated heartrate. And their pulse oximeter was in the 80s when normal is around 95. Trenholme says dogs who had purple or cyanotic mucous membranes were really struggling to breathe. Acute pneumonia that rapidly becomes severe and often leads to poor outcomes in as little as 24 to 36 hours.Chronic pneumonia that is minimally or not responsive to antibiotics.Chronic mild to moderate tracheobronchitis with a prolonged duration of 6 to 8 weeks or longer that is minimally or not responsive to antibiotics.Nationwide, reported cases appear to fall primarily within three general clinical syndromes: In Colorado alone, veterinarians report that they’re currently seeing double the number of cases that are typically seen during a canine infectious respiratory disease outbreak, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture. That’s what’s happening in these clusters, and that’s what’s got veterinary professionals and pet owners worried. This infection is part of the canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC), a syndrome of diseases that can be caused by several different-and often highly contagious-bacterial and viral pathogens in which coinfections are common.Ĭlinical signs are frequently mild and self-limiting but some individual cases progress to severe disease and, in instances, death. The number of cases are estimated to be in the thousands nationwide, although official numbers aren’t available because currently there’s no definitive test for the illness and because symptoms often mirror those of many other ailments. Just what’s going on with these clusters of coughing dogs across the country? What is this mystery respiratory infection?Ĭolorado is one of at least 10 states to have reported cases of this new respiratory infection, including Oregon, Rhode Island, Florida, and New Hampshire. Trenholme, medical director at AAHA-accredited Evolution Veterinary Specialists in Lakewood, Colorado, told NEWStat that she first noticed the uptick in the number of dogs coming in with a cough last September: “It was maybe seven to 10 dogs a week, at the start.” You start supportive care and they don’t respond,” says Nicole Trenholme, DVM, MS, DCVECC, DACVAA. “The ones who go down, who die, it comes on rapidly, very rapidly.
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