Salmon Disease Warning for Dog Owners

[CamJam1]

We just completed our third trip to the Oregon coast in the past two years, but this time we had to cut it short as our dog came down with Salmon Disease, aka Salmon Poisoning, something we knew nothing about until now.

It's quite common in the Pacific Northwest all the way from Northern California to British Columbia, and comes from dogs eating fish or other critters that are infected with a bacteria found in parasitic flukes, or flatworms. It's fatal in 90% of dogs if untreated but is highly treatable if caught early.

Our dog is ALWAYS on a leash, but dogs being dogs, they'll sometimes eat things they find on the beach before you can stop them. We suspect that's how our dog contracted it, but we'll never know for sure. We spent a lot of time on the beach while we were there.

Our sweet pointer, Paisley, is now fully recovered but it was a trying few days for us. First of all, finding a vet on the Oregon coast that will take any pet on an emergency basis is a chore in itself. We found only two 24-hour vet clinics near us, one in Portland and another in Corvallis. The Portland clinic never returned our calls, so we had to drive 120 miles to Corvallis, in the middle of the night in POURING rain to get her treated, as the vet said delaying treatment to the following day would reduce her chances of surviving.

I have friends who live in Oregon whose dogs have never had it, but it's so common that it's the first things the vets there suspect when a dog won't eat and appears listless. They call them "salmon dogs". There was another dog there with it when they were treating ours. Thank goodness we were still in Oregon when Paisley got sick. Our vets in Arizona would probably never even know to look for it!

[carybosse]

Thanks for the warning, would never have thought of such a disease.

Our Springer is allergic to something, possibly chicken. We have to watch her diet closely. We found a treat that doesn't bother her, good, old animal cookies. She loves them, with no ill effect.

Sales lady at a local pet food store suggested we try a different dog food, and as long as she doesn't get anything unusual, she is fine. The reason this thread caught my eye? The new dog food contains salmon and sweet potatoes. It works great for her, and when I saw this thread with dog and salmon in the title, I almost panicked.

[dizcom]

So glad your dog recovered! We had heard of the salmon thing before but haven't seen it. Our baby beagle just recently got a similar infection with parasites that come from birds. We got her in for treatment right away, but it took time to work through it. She wouldn't eat or drink and grew steadily more tired, preferring to stay in her bed all day and night. We were very worried for her, but she's been growing stronger and today she barked for the first time in two weeks. Can't tell you how happy we were to hear her voice again.