Respiratory Illness - January 2024

Friends of the Riney Canine Health Center,

Thank you for joining our pack! I’m Brian Collins, an extension associate for the Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center and I’m pleased to share this month’s “From the Vet’s Desk” monthly health tip with our members.

If this finds you in a colder climate, I hope that you are staying warm and possibly enjoying some fun winter activities with your dogs! In addition to snow and freezing temperatures, this time of year for humans also means cold and flu season. And of course, the last few years have also been complicated by COVID-19. With kids back in school and people spending more time inside it’s easy to “catch” something from a coworker or family member during the winter months.

We don’t have quite the same scenario with dogs, but we do see respiratory infections in dogs throughout the year and the numbers of cases wax and wane. We refer to them collectively as Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC) because there are a number of potential infectious agents (bacteria and viruses) that can be involved – and often more than one can be involved at a time.

Over the past few months, you may have heard about a “mystery” respiratory illness in dogs that has been highlighted in many news stories and on social media. In fact, many of us at the Canine Health Center and around the College of Veterinary Medicine were interviewed for radio, TV, and numerous publications regarding what was often being called an “outbreak.” Over the past two-years, it does appear that there were more respiratory cases around the US and Canada than typical. Most concerning were reports of dogs becoming much sicker than usual and some lives were lost to the illnesses despite receiving excellent veterinary care. To make matters worse, it was unclear what type of infectious agent was behind these seemingly unusual cases.

Understandably, this has caused a great deal of concern among dog owners who feared for their dog’s safety, and sadly some were left to grieve the loss of their beloved companion. Fortunately, we do have indications that case numbers appear to be on decline. However, a singular cause for these cases has not been determined. Often CIRDC (often referred to more commonly as “kennel cough”) is a self-limiting condition that resolves on its own or with minimal veterinary intervention. In some cases, it may result in a more severe illness, particularly among more susceptible individuals which includes the very young, the very old, animals with other illnesses that affect the heart or lungs, as well as other illnesses or medications that can weaken the dog’s immune system.

So, what is causing this illness? That is the question we are trying to answer. Candidates include any of the bacteria or viruses that we are already familiar with, or potentially something “novel” – an agent that we haven’t seen before. It is also quite possible that all these cases do not have a common cause. We know that outbreaks of respiratory disease are not unusual, and the cause can vary from one situation to another.

What can you do to protect your dog?

1. Be aware of the signs of CIRDC. The most common sign is a cough, but there may also be sneezing, and runny eyes and nose. Dogs may be lethargic and have a reduced appetite or thirst.
2. If you think your dog is sick, call your veterinarian or an emergency hospital right away – don’t wait. Though many cases are mild, early testing and treatment can make a significant difference. After a few days it may be too late for testing to detect what may be causing the illness. This is especially important if your dog is in a higher risk group.
3. Follow your veterinarian’s advice for vaccinations. There are vaccines available for canine distemper virus, canine parainfluenza, Bordetella bronchiseptica, and canine influenza (though this vaccine has been in short supply).
4. Check with your family veterinarian, kennel, doggy daycare, and groomer as to whether they are seeing unusual numbers of cases or cases that seem more severe than usual.
5. If there are cases reported in your area, consider maintaining a stable social group with a limited number of dogs who are vaccinated.
6. Avoid contact with dogs who are showing signs of respiratory disease.

This month my goal was to share information about this reported respiratory illness in dogs, to help put things in perspective, and try to provide some helpful tips to keep your beloved dogs healthy. One of the challenges in the veterinary profession is that we don’t have a central reporting agency, such as the Centers for Disease Control, for dogs. Nationally, there isn’t currently the infrastructure or funding for that. However, there are numerous veterinary schools (Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine included) and veterinary laboratories working to find answers. Veterinarians communicate through state veterinary societies, the American Veterinary Medical Society, publications, and numerous other channels to share information. At Cornell, we have launched a project with the help of rapid response funding made available through the Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center, to study samples from dogs around the country with signs of respiratory illness. Tests are being performed to detect the known agents that cause illness, as well as other microorganisms that aren’t typically involved in dogs, and even looking for novel DNA that could point to a “new” pathogen.

Visit our webpage to learn more about The Riney Canine Health Center’s response to the canine respiratory outbreak and read recent articles about the illness.

We will continue to post updates on this subject on our website and we welcome questions from you as we strive to help keep your dogs healthy.

As always, thank you for being a Riney Canine Health Center member. We look forward to catching up with you next month!

 Dr. Brian Collins, D.V.M. ‘94

 extension veterinarian

 Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center