Mystery dog illness on Hilton Head? As cases increase, here’s what owners need to know

Dogs on Hilton Head Island are showing symptoms of a contagious respiratory illness, but the exact cause remains uncertain even after a round of lab work.

“I don’t want to scare people, because ... although a lot of dogs have gotten sick, no dogs have died,” said Tracy Duffner, a veterinarian at Heritage Animal Hospital on Hilton Head. “We do want to track down what this is.”

Duffner first reported seeing a spike in the number of dogs with coughs ranging from mild to severe last week.

Over the course of the week, she said she treated about 15 dogs suffering from the mystery respiratory illness.

Some of them had coughs bad enough to cause vomiting, she said. Some also had fever and were lethargic.

Tests were done to check for 11 viruses and bacteria that can cause coughing in dogs, Duffner said. That includes bordetella and canine influenza, among others, according to the animal hospital’s Facebook page.

However, early results came back negative, leading vets to question whether the cause of the dogs’ illness could be a new or mutated virus.

Additional tests are being conducted, Duffner said.

Reports from other clinics

Other area animal veterinarians say they’ve also seen an uptick in dogs with respiratory issues.

Veterinarian Ben Parker of Coastal Veterinary Clinic in Bluffton said he’s seen 3-4 cases a day for about the last month.

He emphasized that the illness is contagious, even if dogs have been vaccinated.

“If it affects one dog in a family, within days, all the dogs will have it,” he said.

And just like humans, aged dogs and puppies are more vulnerable to complications and to a longer recovery.

“I worry more about the really old dogs and the really young dogs,” Parker said.

Bethany Parnell, veterinarian at Plantation Animal Hospital on Hilton Head Island, said her clinic, too, has treated around three dogs a day suffering from the unidentified respiratory illness.

Meanwhile, on the northern side of Beaufort County, Marikay Campbell, head veterinarian at Port Royal Veterinary Hospital, said last week that she had not seen cases of the illness but her clinic is taking precautions to keep dogs separated.

Avoid areas where dogs gather

Heritage Animal Hospital posted on Facebook that dog owners in Hilton Head and Bluffton may want to avoid grooming and boarding facilities until more is known about the contagious respiratory infection.

Other vets echoed that recommendation this week.

Some vets also are recommending that dogs have an additional vaccine, administered nasally, that offers extra protection against parainfluenza and adenovirus or mutations of those.

Duffner emphasized that Heritage is being careful to keep dogs apart, so pet owners do not have to worry about bringing their dogs to the clinic.

Parker explained that Coastal Veterinary Clinic is carefully sterilizing exam rooms to keep the infection from spreading.

Outbreak in Virginia

Media outlets in other parts of the East Coast have reported similar outbreaks.

People magazine reported the number of cases at “more than 1,000” in the area surrounding Charlottesville, Virginia, over the last month.

Fox News called the Virginia cases “an epidemic.”

Duffner explained that it’s important for dog owners to watch their pets carefully and react to any symptoms quickly.

“As soon as they start coughing, bring them in so we can start treatment,” Duffner said, explaining that starting antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and cough medicine within a day or two of the first symptoms offers the best chance of preventing the illness from progressing to pneumonia.