Blastomycosis in dogs near Morson??

Hi everyone.

I've had a rough week....had to put my 3-year-old Lab down last weekend due to a too-far-gone case of blastomycosis, a serious fungal lung disease that affects both dogs and people.

He first started showing symptoms in mid-November, which made it likely he contracted the disease during one of our early fall trips to my in-laws' cabin just east of Hanson Bay.

Sure enough, I called the cabin neighbors and one of their Labs came down with the same disease at almost the exact same time, and two of my in-laws dogs are also showing mysterious symptoms.

So, it's become pretty clear that the dogs contracted it in the area immediately surrounding the cabin.

Just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences in this area. If so, what do you do to keep your dogs safe??

After going through the pain of losing this dog, I'm tempted to simply leave future dogs at home rather than risk their lives by bringing them to lake of the Woods.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Ryan

Hey Ryan,

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your dog to blasto. I don't have a lot of first hand info I can provide you, but I will share some observations and tidbits gained from speaking with many of our park/launch customers that own places in the area.

I know of one of our customers that lost a dog to blasto a few years ago. However, that is the only fatal case I can confirm in the 19 full seasons my family has operated Mylie's. Admittedly, there could easily be more cases that I haven't hear about, but when you get to be close friends with some many people, you will often hear of them losing a dog as it is akin to them losing a family member.

During a conversation with a lifelong resident of the area that owned dogs his entire life, it was suggested that many vets in places that don't have to be concerned with blasto don't consider it a possible diagnosis and that the misdiagnosis is often the biggest roadblock in helping save a dog when it contracts blasto. This gentleman was insistent that if one of our customers had taken their dog to the vet in Fort Frances, instead of their vet at home, their dog would have had a better chance of getting through it because the vet here deals with it more often and has a good handle on what to do with it.

Now, this couple was aware of the blasto fungus and was able to give the correct into to their vet, but the dog wasn't able to survive.

In general, I would say more than half of the people that come up and spend time at their lake properties travel with dogs. I don't know any that leave their dog at home because they are scared of it contracting blasto.

I've found a couple of links that people may be interested in reading that relate to blasto in dogs. I'm sure you will do what you feel is best for any future dogs you own and the "better safe than sorry" approach is never a bad thing.

http://www.dogsincanada.com/blastomycosis

http://blastomycosis.ca/

Thanks, Justin. I appreciate the info and links.

As you kind of point out, all my in-laws have been bringing dogs to the lake for decades, and none have ever gotten sick till this year. We're thinking our cases were just the result of a perfect storm of the right blasto conditions.

Also, I think the reason my dog's case wound up being fatal was that my vet misdiagnosed him three times over the past month.

To make matters worse her final diagnosis was for something called "immune mediated poly arthritis." The treatment was Prednisone steroid, which knocks down the body's immune system.

Unfortunately, that opened the floodgates for the blasto to totally take over, which it did. I'm not going to that vet ever again.....

I'll have to weigh the risks for future trips with out next dog.

Thanks

Ryan

Sad to hear the vet missed the problem, Ryan.

I thought I would post the info for the vet clinic in FF as well for anyone that may like to contact them if they fear their dog has blasto symptons in the future.

The word around here is that "Dr. Dan" is the man when it comes to treating blasto.

Nor-West Animal Clinic:

http://www.norwestanimalclinic.com/index.php

Keep the info in mind if you are a dog owner. It may be worthwhile giving them a call.

Justin,

In case you're curious, another one of our cabin neighbors' dogs has been diagnosed with blasto.

That makes at least three dogs out of seven that were up there this summer.

It might be a good idea to keep dogs away from the area east of Red Wing Camp!

Ryan

My parents have a place at Sportsman's harbor and lost their lab to blasto 3 years ago. Very nasty and it devastated them. They'll never get another dog.