Dog owners are being warned of a potentially-deadly outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting.
Pet referral centre Wear Referrals is urging dog owners to take no chances if their pet is hit by a prolonged bout of diarrhoea and sickness, especially if it is bloody and persistent.
Staff at the animal hospital in Bradbury, near Sedgefield, have treated a spate of stricken dogs in recent weeks – including the case of one-year-old miniature schnauzer, Roker.
Specialist Nicki Redd said: "When Roker arrived with us, he was already in shock as a result of hypovolaemia and sepsis. He was dehydrated and was breathing heavily.
"An ultrasound scan of his abdomen showed the bowel wall was severely ulcerated and in places it was only 0.6mm thick. In addition, gas had travelled from the bowel to the lymph nodes and liver.
"Roker received a plasckima transfusion, along with intravenous antibiotics and analgesia, as well a fluid resuscitation and supportive medication for ulceration and nausea.
"Within 48 hours he was eating again. A second scan documented his bowel wall was recovering and he was finally discharged from the hospital four days after admission.
"He is continuing to improve and is nearly back to normal but he could very easily have died from this condition, as he was at high risk of bowel perforation."
Roker’s relieved owners, Gareth and Joanne Devine, from Hurworth, Darlington , have revealed how they suffered a horrendous 18-day ordeal as their beloved pet struggled to survive, TeessideLive reports.
Gareth said: "At the start, no-one realised the severity of Roker’s condition. He was seen by four different vets from two different practices, six visits over a period of 11 days, before we were referred to Wear and discovered how much danger he was in.
"We were so shocked that we could lose Roker to something so common-place and seemingly benign as sickness and diarrhoea but he’d become so poorly we were prepared for the worst.
"That’s why we want to warn other dog owners to be aware of this very serious outbreak in the area. We don’t want anyone to go through the awful roller coaster experience that we did – or worse."
Joanne said: “The worst time of all was when he was in intensive care at Wear Referrals. I was in tears and I couldn’t speak to anyone because I was so upset.
“We don’t have children, so Roker is really special to us and the thought he might die so young was terrible."
Wear’s hospital manager, Darren Stubbs, says the cause of the outbreak remains a mystery, which is a further reason for vigilance.
He said: "It’s worth saying that a number of these cases had been treated for vomiting and/or diarrhoea prior to referral to us.
"They’d appeared to show an initial improvement at first, but then rapidly deteriorated.
"This may mean there’s a novel viral agent, such as the vesivirus, which was identified in an outbreak in Virginia in 2015, or a toxic agent such as mushrooms which have been suggested to be involved in a recent outbreak of acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea in Norway."
