Posted on June 08, 2009 by: WayCoolDogs

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Top dog diseases – signs and symptoms – refer to dogs spreading a wide variety of germs that are capable of making us very ill, with some people catching more diseases than others. If a person owns a dog and is concerned about the dog’s health, to recognize the signs and symptoms of dog diseases is considered preventive caution on his part as some dog germs are rare while others are very common.

Another preventive caution is to always wash our hands with running soap and water before and after  handling a dog, his feces, his food/water bowls, or coming into contact with saliva. Dry the hands with a clean towel and immediately throw it into the wash, or dry with a paper towel.

Our health status and age affects how our immune system operates, which explains why some people are more apt to become more ill than others. Extremely vulnerable to dog diseases are infants, children who are younger than five of age, HIV/AID patients, cancer patients, and organ transplant patients. These people need to be more careful than others when handling a dog or any animal as they are considered a higher risk.

THE MAIN DOG DISEASES

Considered the main dog diseases are canine coronavirus, distemper, heartworm, infectious canine hepatitis, kennel cough, lyme disease, obesity, parvovirus, and rabies.  But what we also need to consider is that the health advantages of having pets around far outweigh the diseases we may or may not get if we are around a dog, as long as we are knowledgeable about washing our hands and knowing what the signs and symptoms of dog diseases are.  The animal-human bond that is strengthened by owning or having a dog around as a companion can lower the blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, decrease feelings of loneliness, decrease depression or anxiety, and can increase socialization and opportunities for walking and exercise.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF TOP DOG DISEASES:

• Canine Coronavirus

A virus that affects the intestinal tract, diarrhea from coronavirus in puppies is the second leading viral death next to parvovirus.  SYMPTOMS: diarrhea in young puppies is the primary symptom, no vomiting, diarrhea is less profuse than in parvovirus but has the same “sickly” odor.  Lasts for several days with less of a mortality rate than in parvovirus. Laboratory testing is the only way to recognize the difference but most puppies are affected with both diseases if they have severe intestinal enteritis.

• Distemper

Puppy shots usually prevent distemper if given correctly, so dogs who have it will have questionable vaccine backgrounds with an incomplete vaccine series–such as rescue puppies or pet shop puppies. EARLY SYMPTOMS: nasal discharge around the nose and eyes, coughing with possible pneumonia development, intermittent fever,  and  poor appetite due to not being able to smell or taste food. LATE SYMPTOMS: vomiting, diarrhea, development of hard calluses on nose and pads of foot (originally called “hard pad disease”). FINAL SYMPTOMS: tremors, imbalance, limb weakness, seizures and death. Young puppies may not make it past the early symptoms.

• Heartworm

Caused by the bite of a mosquito, dog heartworms live and colonize in the pulmonary arteries which lead from the heart to the lungs. Unfortunately, in the early stages most dogs do not show early signs of having heartworm. Later signs and symptoms of heartworm disease are fluid build-up in the dog’s abdomen, difficulty doing strenuous exercise, heavy breathing, coughing and bloody mucous or sputum from the mouth and nose. Two different blood tests are required to determine the heartworm disease.

• Infectious Canine Hepatitis

Infectious Canine Hepatitis is caused by Canine Adenovirus Type-1 (CAV-1).  An extremely contagious viral disease that kills puppies if left untreated, it affects the dog’s liver and other organs. Present in domestic dogs, wolves, foxes and coyotes, it is not associated with human hepatitis. Un-vaccinated puppies are the most serious affected.  SYMPTOMS: nausea, vomiting, jaundice, light colored feces, decrease in appetite, and enlargement of the abdomen/stomach area.

• Kennel  Cough

Kennel cough in dogs is a highly contagious upper respiratory disease that recently has been referred to as Bordetella, or canine infectious tracheobronchitis or “Bordetellosis”.  With the main symptom being a dry hacking cough followed by retching, also referred to as a honking sound, it may be accompanied by a watery nasal discharge. With the majority of kennel cough in dogs occurring in un-vaccinated puppies, the disease may progress to lethargy, pneumonia, fever and death

• Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is referred to as borreliosis, with the tick as the primary carrier of this infectious dog disease. Only about ten percent of dogs exposed will catch the disease, with the tick needing to be attached to the host for 48 hours before transmission of the disease to develop. With people and cats also developing Lyme Disease symptoms, severe dog symptoms will occur from two to five months after the tick bites into the animal. SYMPTOMS: fever of 103 to 105 degrees, lameness in the joints, swelling in the joints, lethargy, swollen lymph nodes, and loss of appetite.

• Obesity

Even though obesity is not a disease of dogs, it is a major problem that is caused by humans. Many things affect a dog gaining weight in addition to their diet controlled by their owners:  the type of food they are being fed, their activity level, whether or not they are neutered or spayed, genetics, breed disposition, age,  social/physical environment, and medication.

• Parvovirus

A highly contagious disease spread through contact with feces,  parvovirus is characterized by bloody diarrhea ending in death if left untreated in puppies.  Since before 1980, three different strains of parvovirus have been present, with a fourth type CPV-2c present today as the most common type of parvovirus. SYMPTOMS: severe vomiting, diarrhea with dark or bloody feces, dehydration, fever, lowered white blood count, with acute parvovirus enteritis seen in some dogs. A rapid progressive disease, death can occur within two days after the disease onsets.

• Rabies

Considered one of the most well known of all dog viruses, rabies takes about three to eight weeks to six months incubation time in a dog from the moment of bite from a rabid animal. The rabies virus in the dog moves to the brain, then to the salivary gland where it can be spread through a bite. SYMPTOMS: the rabies in the brain is demonstrated in one to three phases: prodromal phase–lasts for two to three days with behaviors of solitude, anxiety, apprehensive and nervous with a fever occurs (licking the site of the bite is common); furious phase–lasts from one to seven days and show restlessness and irritability, hyper-responsive to any visual or auditory stimuli, roaming with signs of viciousness and extreme irritability, and seizures may develop with eventual death.

The paralytic phase can occur in either of the above two phases, developing two to four days after the first signs noted. Salivation occurs in the dog as the animal is unable to swallow. A “dropped jaw” and deeply labored breathing is due to the  facial muscles becoming paralyzed. Eventually the dog will become so weak it will go into respiratory failure and die.

RESOURCES:

Animal Hospitals USA

CDC-People at Extra Risk for handling dogs

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