An animal shelter fundraiser and adoption event has been cancelled over the spread of a mystery respiratory illness affecting dogs, while holiday dog walks have been axed over fears of the disease, according to reports.
Redlands Animal Shelter, near San Bernardino in California, was hoping to send some of the canines it currently cares for home for the holidays at an event organized by a local food market, ABC 7 reported on Friday. However, the event has now been shelved over the mystery illness that has spread across at least 11 U.S. states.
Newsweek approached Olive Avenue Market, which runs the event, via email for comment on Friday.
Dogs that come down with the illness are said to develop symptoms including a cough, fever and lethargy. Some can contract pneumonia and, in some cases, lead to death.
Vincent Scherer/Getty
The illness was first recognized in Oregon earlier in the year, though local dog medics have previously told Newsweek there seemed to be little evidence of a widespread outbreak.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s veterinary program said on November 21 it had received 10 reports of the unknown illness in dogs in the prior five days alone.
“This disease is a novel disease; it has never been seen before,” Sara Strongin, a veterinarian at the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, told ABC 7. “Research is being done to determine the cause of this agent, but as of right now we do not know.”
The apparent spread of the illness has prompted dog owners to take a cautious approach towards the animals mixing—but it means, at least in Redlands, dogs are more likely to face a Christmas in the kennels than on a new owner’s lap.
At the same time, the Vanderpump Dog Foundation’s World Dog Day event, due to take place on Saturday in West Hollywood Park, also in California, was cancelled “to ensure all necessary precautions are taken to safeguard the health and wellness of dogs, following recent news of a severe upper respiratory virus affecting dogs,” city officials said.
The “celebration of dogs” has been tentatively rescheduled for May 2024. “As a Foundation that focuses on the wellbeing of dogs everywhere, and out of an abundance of caution, we want to ensure all necessary precautions are taken to safeguard our four-legged friends,” Vanderpump said in a social media post. “Their health and wellness is paramount to our mission and to our lives.”
Meanwhile, the city of Bettendorf, Iowa, has opted to cancel its seasonal dog walk at Crow Creek Dog Park, due to have taken place on Sunday, due to concerns about the mystery infectious disease, officials said. It later said it had decided to close the dog park altogether “until further notice” over the illness.
“The American Veterinary Medical Association is recommending that dogs avoid contact with other dogs or animals from outside their household until the illness is contained,” city officials said in a statement on Monday. “There are no plans at this time to reschedule this year’s event.”
The University of New Hampshire’s Veterinary Diagnosis Laboratory has said that it may have identified a bacterium that may be responsible for the sickness, based on genetic sequencing of 30 dogs who were infected in the state in 2022 and a further 40 from Rhode Island and Massachusetts this year.
David Needle, chief pathologist at the diagnostics lab, described the microbe that they had isolated as “a weird bacterium” to NBC News, as it was smaller than normal bacteria.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.