Salmon Poisoning is REAL

[ASHQUACK]

Many of you may know about Salmon Poisoning Disease (SPD) but it is REAL and nasty.
My griff just spent the day in the ER after the symptoms hit him hard. 7 days from a pit stop at vantage after a bird hunt last weekend and where he found and chewed on a nasty rotten salmon left at the boat launch.

https://www.seattledogspot.com/dog-salmon-poisoning-disease/

Just putting this out there to raise awareness, I knew nothing about it and it was/is scary and was not cheap.

I hope my pup heals up, and that others don’t have to learn the hard way.

Can I ask what the course of treatment was?
Our local vet used to give my dad a weeks worth of Tetracycline for his bird dogs and always told him when and if they started to show signs start giving it immediately.  Most all.of our dogs survived it. Oh and the old wives tale about not getting it twice is BS.

[gaddy]

Hope your dog recovers. Pretty sure this is what took my lab some years ago but it was very, very quick in our case. Hunted her one morning and she went after a cripple. Nasty windy day and she couldn't hear me calling her off. Lost track of her down river. I went looking for her after a bit when she didn't return. Noticed several carcasses along the bank as I looked for her but didn't pay attention at the time. Had never heard of salmon poisoning. Found her at the truck later. Next morning she wasn't herself. Get to our hunting spot, she gets out of the truck and starts squatting all over the place. She was usually very excited and sniffing all over as I unload. I noticed something was off, looked at where she was squatting with a flash light and it was all blood. Record time back to town and the vet's office, emergence call at 5 am. They found nothing conclusive but gave me a bunch of meds and suggested a urinary infection or possibly something she ate.
She went down hill fast, passed the next night. Two Days. I don't think the vet had any experience with, or a clue about salmon poisoning. Like said, I had never even heard about it at the time or would have mentioned all the dead fish I saw.
Again I hope your pup recovers quickly and thanks for the reminder and information.

[2MANY]

Been there done this with the best bird dog I ever owned.

Dr. Randy Kieth in Tenino took my dog home with him and saved his life.
If Randy still practices there is no finer vet.

[CoyoteCowboy]

Many of you may know about Salmon Poisoning Disease (SPD) but it is REAL and nasty.
My griff just spent the day in the ER after the symptoms hit him hard. 7 days from a pit stop at vantage after a bird hunt last weekend and where he found and chewed on a nasty rotten salmon left at the boat launch.

https://www.seattledogspot.com/dog-salmon-poisoning-disease/

Just putting this out there to raise awareness, I knew nothing about it and it was/is scary and was not cheap.

I hope my pup heals up, and that others don’t have to learn the hard way.

Can I ask what the course of treatment was?
Our local vet used to give my dad a weeks worth of Tetracycline for his bird dogs and always told him when and if they started to show signs start giving it immediately.  Most all.of our dogs survived it. Oh and the old wives tale about not getting it twice is BS.

Once they got some fluids in him (IV) they did blood work and ultra sound to look for enlarged lymph nodes... then dewormer pills and antibiotics. We forwent the actual SPD test as the results take 3 days to get... he would have been toast by then.

[Cylvertip]

Been there done this with the best bird dog I ever owned.

Dr. Randy Kieth in Tenino took my dog home with him and saved his life.
If Randy still practices there is no finer vet.

Randy saved several of ours to. Don't know if he is still practicing or not.  Really good guy. Salmon fever was all I ever heard it called.  Dogs only got it once and then good to go if they got treated.  Lost a couple before we found out the cause and what to look for.

[actionshooter]

Pretty amazing how many peoples dogs made it through....it used to be pretty much a guaranteed death sentence if a dog got salmonella.

[jackson7]

good reminder Gents. thx Jackson

[BD1]

Uncle lost his dog within 24 hours...was hunting near a vineyard and dog got into some discarded rotten grapes. His hunting partner was a vet...knew what was up got her directly to a local vet hospital but couldn't reverse it...scary and very, very sad deal. Only takes a minute of them being out of your view.

[one more]

It's REAL and in Scatter Creek right now.   
For two nights I thought my dear, silly Griff, Camie, would be dead by morning.
On Monday she was her frisky self.  Tuesday morning she was a little slow and got slower during the day.  She ate treats but not her regular kibble.  No vomiting or diahrea. So I thought we would take a trip to the vet Wednesday morning.  I got up around 7:30 to check on her and she would hardly move for me.  I called our local vet and their recording said they wouldn't be in until 9:00.  I called Tumwater Vets and they said bring her in as soon as I could.  I had to help her climb into my car.  They said it looked like salmon poisoning and took samples and verified it.  She had a temperature.  They gave her fluids under the skin and gave me more fluids to give her.  Also, they gave me blue antibiotic caps and a worm medicine to give to her at home.  (Years ago I was a vet tech.)  They said to bring her back if she got worse.  We drove home. 

I searched the inter net. A snail carries the worm (fluke) that carries the bacteria that kills 90 % of the dogs that aren't medicated at all or not treated soon enough.  It lives on the wet side of the states, in freshwater from Northern California into British Columbia.  The worm also lives in the slime layer on the skin of trout and salmon.  I haven't let her go down to the creek lately,  but eagles follow the salmon and could have dropped a piece of skin.  I wondered, did I wait too long to take her in to the vet? 

I pushed the capsules down her throat.  A half an hour later she threw up yellow bile with three blue spots in it.  She seemed a little perkier anyway for a while.  The next morning she hardly moved, so I took her to the vet again where they gave her a couple antibiotics by IV and something to keep her from vomiting.  That night I thought she wouldn't make it through the night. She did and had a third IV early the next morning.

Well, she is still with us.  She doesn't like it, but every 12 hours I shove three blue capsules down her throat. and by the number of caps they gave me, will keep doing it for another week.  She still sleeps more than she did before.  She's not eager to run, not yet.

So, if you live near a salmon or trout stream, watch your dog.  And if it acts ill and doesn't eat, take it's temp and if it's high, take it to the vet.

Diane 

[Bunny Thumper]

The salmon poisoning is caused from a three way relationship between the salmon the snail and the dog, raccoon, etc. The fish eat the snails the animal eats the fish and it’s the animal waste that gets in the river to the snail that completes the cycle. You can feed dogs salmon in Alaska because the snail doesn’t live that far North. At least that’s how I remember it from fisheries class thirty some years ago.