A north suburban animal hospital is warning dog owners about a serious fungal infection in the Chicago area that can become life-threatening in otherwise healthy dogs.
It’s called blastomycosis, “a fungal infection that dogs and humans can get,” said Dr. Abby Ostronic, an internal medicine specialist at Veterinary Specialty Center in Bannockburn.
“In the soil, it lives as little buds,” Dr. Ostronic said, “and dogs can inhale it, most commonly, and from the lungs, a response happens.”
Ryan Christopher’s dog, Kasper, became sick with the illness last month and recently died from it.
“He loved to dig at the ground, trying to stir it up, and we never realized that that would become an issue,” said Christopher. “He started getting lethargic, not as active. Then came a cough.”
Christopher and his wife took Kasper to a vet. They found a tick on him and treated him with antibiotics, but he never got better. The couple was told to take him to the Veterinary Specialty Clinic.
The diagnosis: Blastomycosis.
“Because he had been misdiagnosed, we had other medications already through his body,” he said. “We had to flush that out, so we had to wait a week before we could begin treatment. So that is crucial because every single day, he was getting worse.”
Dr. Ostronic noted this level of reaction does not happen in all dogs.
“Some dogs are exposed to it but don’t get infected,” she said. “Kasper was on high-flow nasal oxygen therapy for four out of five days he was here, because his lungs were quite involved. There is no vaccine or preventative measure, so we recommend dogs live their best life and we do our best to screen for it. Right now is when we are seeing the most cases of the year.”
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Symptoms dog owners should be on the lookout for include coughing, limping, changes to the eyes and wounds with discharge.
“We are here to help spread awareness of this bad disease I have never known about,” Christopher said. “It happened so quickly. I could never imagine this happening to our loved one.”
If you are concerned about this illness, ask your vet to screen for blastomycosis.
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