In recent weeks, claims about a mysterious respiratory illness sickening dogs across the country have spooked pet owners.
Efforts to pin down a culprit have so far yielded more questions than answers. That’s fed fears of a new contagion. When Michelle Hiskey’s dog Sheba fell ill, for instance, her friends and family members blew up her phone with texts, concerned about what some on social media branded “COVID for dogs.” Hiskey, a freelance writer in Decatur, Ga., is “not generally a worrier,” but the horror stories she heard did startle her, she says.
Experts, including those who had previously sounded alarm bells, now say there’s most likely a simple explanation behind the cases. Here’s what we know and what still remains unknown.
It’s not unusual for dogs to occasionally catch kennel cough, a chest infection that manifests most clearly in a honking cough, runny nose and sneezing. But beginning in late 2022 and surging the summer of 2023, more and more dogs seemed to be showing up to clinics, sicker than usual.
2023-12-15 14:50:56
Source from www.sciencenews.org