SAN DIEGO — A mystery respiratory illness that is affecting dogs has sent some dog owners into a panic before the holidays.
The San Diego County Health and Human Services said they are monitoring the disease but have no cases.
Dr. Zarah Hedge, chief medical officer for the San Diego Humane Society says she's aware of the unknown respiratory illness outbreak in dogs that's stumping veterinarians across the country, but it hasn't hit San Diego.
“At this time, there's no reason to panic. I think it's just a matter of risk and in all honesty, I'm not afraid to take my own dog out to places,” said Hedge.
But some dog owners are afraid to even take their dog to a park, groomer, or board them during the holidays.
CBS 8 spoke to some at the San Diego Humane Society’s vaccine clinic who say they are not worried but taking precautions.
“I’m just being cautious. I want to take her out to those places to kind of look for things like that. That could be around other dogs and such,” said Hedge.
Hedge says don't get this confused with the shelter's Strep zoo respiratory outbreak that happened last month. A spokesperson for the SDHS says they’ve given all animals vaccines to treat the outbreak but there is still a temporary halt on dog surrenders until January 2 as they continue to clean the kennels.
“Our outbreak that we had last month is different than what's going on nationwide," Hedge said. "And that concern we know what ours is. Ours is really a respiratory disease that's very much related to animal shelters."
This mystery illness in dogs doesn't have a name but has been described as an atypical canine infectious respiratory disease. There isn't a national reporting system, but cases are popping up least 14 states including California and in Los Angeles.
“There are a lot of experts now that are thinking it's probably one of our general respiratory pathogens,” said Hedge.
She believes since the test is expensive some owners are waiting to take their dog to the vet and by that time the pup has already shed the mystery virus or bacteria.
“In dogs that aren't getting better, they may say, 'oh, now we should test,' but it's been a month or two months. And so that dog is not going to test positive for anything,” said Hedge.
Call the vet if your dog is showing signs of heavy breathing, nasal or eye discharge or lethargy. But most importantly, keep their vaccines up to date.
“Make sure that your dog has all the preventive care to reduce the chance of them getting sick from the diseases that we know about,” said Hedge.
Currently there is not a vaccine for the mystery illness but based on symptoms veterinarians will try to treat the dog’s illness.
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