Blue Green Algae Toxicity

[Spit]

This came through the flyball board and I thought it was pretty important to cross post here. We do have this type of algae in California. Here is the link for the State of California.

http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/ddwem/blueg...ae/default.htm

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this and I apologize for its
length. Please, PLEASE pass this around.

On Monday, June 25, 2007 I took my healthy 9 month old Border Collie Vita
swimming at approximately 6:30 p.m. Vita and two other BC's spent about an
hour
and a half diving off the dock, chasing the Water Kong, and running around.

The temperature that day was just over 90 degrees, but none of the dogs
looked
particularly winded or hot.

Vita emerged from the water and looked as if she was going to vomit. She
threw up lake water three times. I wasn't particularly concerned as she
took in
a lot of water from retrieving and swimming so much and had seen other dogs
do
that in the past without complications.

After the third time throwing up, she lay down and closed her eyes. Her
tongue was hanging out of her mouth and I began to suspect she may have heat

stroke. I immediately placed ice on her stomach and checked her gums. They
were
pink. I took her temperature which was 101.9, still normal. I then called
my
Vet who said these conditions did not indicate heat stroke and said I needed

to get emergency medical attention right away.

Vita was not responsive and when I picked her up to put her in the car she
was limp and her eyes were still closed. Her breathing was slow and her
heart
was racing. I arrived at the emergency clinic only a half hour from the
time
she showed signs of distress. The ER Vet asked me what sorts of things Vita

had been doing all day. I explained that she was crated as I was gone for
the
latter part of the afternoon and that upon coming home, the only other place

she went was to the lake.

Vita's eyes were fixed and dilated and the Vet suggested there was already
brain damage. After administering an IV and oxygen, the Vet called me in
and
said Vita was not responding and that it appeared that she was suffering
from
some kind of toxic poisoning. Her heart rate was 200. He mentioned that he
had
recently seen a couple of dogs who died from Blue Green Algae Toxicity. I
told him that the lake had what appeared to be algae blooms on the surface
of
the water. Neither of the other two dogs showed any of the signs that Vita
had
and that neither dog took in as much water as Vita apparently did. We
decided
to put her on a ventilator overnight and give her a "chance" to pull
through.

When I got home I did a Dogpile.com search of "Blue Green Algae Toxicity in
Dogs" and found some very disturbing information.

-Blooms can occur at any time, but most often occur in late summer or early
fall. They can occur in marine, estuarine, and fresh waters, but the blooms
of
greatest concern are the ones that occur in fresh water, such as drinking
water reservoirs or recreational waters.

-Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface

of fresh water lakes and ponds. The blooms can be blue, bright green, brown,

or red and may look like paint floating on the water. Some blooms may not
affect the appearance of the water. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die,
the
water may smell bad.

-Some cyanobacteria that can form CyanoHABs (Harmful Algal Blooms) produce
toxins that are among the most powerful natural poisons known. These toxins
have
no known antidotes.

-Swallowing water that has cyanobacterial toxins in it can cause acute,
severe gastroenteritis (including diarrhea and vomiting).

-Liver toxicity (i.e., increased serum levels of liver enzymes). Symptoms of

liver poisoning may takes hours or days to show up in people or animals.
Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.

-Kidney toxicity.

-Neurotoxicity. These symptoms can appear within 15 to 20 minutes after
exposure. In dogs, the neurotoxins can cause salivation and other neurologic

symptoms, including weakness, staggering, difficulty breathing, convulsions,
and
death. People may have numb lips, tingling fingers and toes, or they may
feel
dizzy.

Vita had indeed exhibited salivation and signs of weakness, staggering,
difficulty breathing and vomiting.

At 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 I called the Vet and was told that
they took Vita off the ventilator a couple of times during the night and
that she
was not breathing on her own. I told him to discontinue the procedure and
to
let her go.

I called the DNR here in Michigan and was told that Blue Green Algae didn't
usually appear this time of year and I told the agent that the conditions
were
that of late summer in Michigan, very hot for the last two days and reminded

him that Blue Green Algae can appear at any time. He told me not to panic
or
to alarm other people. I told him that had someone else panicked, we
wouldn't
be having this conversation right now.

Later that morning I found out from a neighbor that her two young boys had
vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps last week and her Doctor suggested she

bring in a water sample. I do not know if she did or not.

I also talked to a woman from a neighboring county whose neighbor's dog
ingested a lot of water from a pond and died suddenly a couple weeks ago.

As of this writing, Wednesday, June 27th, I have not heard anything from
Michigan State where I took Vita for a necropsy and toxoligical panel.

For the time being, I would strongly suggest you watch your dogs when
swimming in small lakes and ponds as the potential threat of toxic poisoning
from
Blue Green Algae is prevalent. Had I known that algae of any kind was
toxic, you
can be sure my dogs wouldn't be swimming anywhere and that Vita, whose name
quite ironically meant "life" in Latin, would be alive today.

Missing you more than you can imagine.
May you rest in peace, Red Top Vita
09/05/06 - 06/26/07

Bob Tatus
5997 Mabley Hill Road
Fenton, Michigan 48430
248-255-2111

PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST

[MickeyD'sMom]

Dear Bob:
My heart goes out to you. In March of 2005 while my husband finished jumping our precious lab, Cash. Cash spewed out diarrhea and went into grand mal seizures. He ended up blind and brain dead after 4 days of intensive care and with reluctance and heartache we put him down. It wasn't until months after I learned of this algae and then took a sample to UC Davis for testing. The test came back normal, but as you have said it can happen at anytime.
Thank you for your post and our hearts are with you now in this horrible tragedy. May God Bless You and your family.
Sandra & Jim

[Linda Hettich]

Candis,

Thank you for this post. And just in time, too. I was thinking of taking Tessa to Big Bear Lake and I did a Google of 'Big Bear Lake' and 'blue green algae', and sure enough, the lake is full of it.

I read through some of the links to WHO and found it's a little more difficult for the algae to gather in the ocean because of the current, so there is less of a threat when you take them to the beach. But, we have had 'algae blooms' off the coast of California, which produces domoic acid. This has been driving the sea lions and seals really crazy, quite literally. Sea lions have exhibited aggressive behavior, or have been beaching themselves. Others have died. [for more on domoic acid, see http://www.cimwi.org/stranded_domoic.html]

Now, that got me to thinking . . . does the domoic acid have an effect on dogs that swim in the ocean? I came across this from the CA Department of Health Services:

http://www.applications.dhs.ca.gov/p...shellfish.html

This is the sentence that is particularly chilling:

"Dogs, cats, birds and other household pets are also susceptible to domoic acid poisoning and should not be fed these products [shellfish harvested from five Southern California Beaches]."

I put in a call to Sacramento to find out if they have any data on dogs sickened by domoic acid by swimming in the ocean. When they get back to me, I'll be sure to post what I find out.

Now, this is particularly troublesome because the last time we took Tessa to the beach, she came down with a respiratory infection. I know dogs have problems when they drink too much salt water [vomiting, diarrhea, possible dehydration, etc.], but Tessa had problems breathing. I don't know if this is related, but it's worth finding out.

[Spit]

You can actually go to www.google.com and before searching up in the left corner, click on images and then search Blue Green Algae Toxicity. It has several very descriptive pictures. We let our dogs swim in the farming canal behind our home and while this does not carry any toxins when the farmers filter it through to their secondary canal and then to the crops on the top layer is this toxin. We have taught our dogs not to go anywhere near the secondary canal just because of what it looked like, little did I know what it actually was.

[Chase]

Dear Bob:

That is a horrifying story. I am so sorry for your loss and I truly appreciate that you took the time to pass on the information to the rest of us.

I only live about a block from the beach in Southern California. And yet, I drive 120 miles round trip from my house down to Fiesta Island in San Diego whenever I want to take my dog, Chase, to the beach and into the ocean water, because the water in front of my house is so polluted. I thought I was protecting him by doing that, but after hearing your story, I am no longer so sure. Fiesta Island is in Mission Bay, so there are no waves to circulate the water as there are in the open ocean. In addition, there is a lot of grass growing up from the ocean floor where Chase swims.

Linda emailed me the other day about Tessa getting sick after going in the ocean and I told her I thought it was the pollution. I was referring to all the bacteria. Apparently this blue green algae could also be the culprit.

I doubt that any real interest or effort will be taken to test the lakes and oceans in California for the blue green algae in order to PROTECT PETS, since at the present moment the powers that be are very close to passing a law mandating the neutering of ALL dogs by 4 months of age, unless you have a special and apparently difficult to obtain breeders license. If people obey the law, it will end up wiping out all mixed breed dogs as well as most of the pure breed dog population in the state within a few years. So, those of us in California REALLY APPRECIATE and will very much RELY on those of you OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA to keeping us informed and abreast of any newly discovered dangers to our dogs.

Thank you very much for that. And again, Bob, my deepest sympathy goes out to you.

Brooke & Chase

[Linda Hettich]

Brooke,

Were you able to find any information on blue-green algae on Fiesta Island? I tried to google it, and got some hard-to-decipher information on San Diego Bay. Let us know what you find.

Have not heard back yet from Sacramento. I will keep you updated.

[Chase]

Linda:

No, I have not been able to find any information on the internet about the algae yet for any San Diego beaches.

I use www.healthebay.com to tell check the beach report water quality whenever I go surfing at San Onofre and it says that Fiesta Island, as well as most of San Diego, get "A" grades. But, after reading this information on the message board today, it made me wonder about all that grass. It is like a marsh with grass and mud on the ocean floor. Very much like silt. The water is very still where I go on Fiesta Island, so I am very concerned about returning now. Too bad because Chase loved it there and swam for hours.

Dog Beach at Ocean Beach in San Diego is on the open water and also usually gets "A" ratings. I have not gone there yet. I asssume it does not have the grass and mud silty bottom since the water movement is much higher with waves. But, Tessa was in the ocean with waves and water movement and she got sick.

Do any of you from San Diego know anything about the water around Fiesta Island or Dog Beach? And what's the deal with the grass growing in the water at Fiesta? Mellissa? Brian? Lisa? Mark?


Brooke

[Sardo]

I have been taking the dogs swimming to Fiesta Island for the past seven years and have never had a problem with them swimming in that water and I am there almost daily. It is a highly active area for speed boats, jet skis, and and para-surfing. Which keeps the water from sitting still. Fiesta island, I believe has nothing to worry about. Grass grows underwater and has nothing to with algea blooms nor does the sut that sits at the bottom. I have lost a few pairs of flip flops in that nasty stuff but the dogs love it and i will continue to use it as long it is dog friendly so Brooke get that dog down here and enjoy a good time.

[Chase]

Thanks Brian!

Your dog, Maximus, got brochitus in January when we were at the San Diego Boat Show. Could that have been caused by something in the ocean?

By the way, where on Fiesta Island do you take your dogs? Which section of the beach? There are a few places that they allow dogs and people to swim in the water. And then others areas are for boats only. I was considering going to one of the other Fiesta Island beaches where the water moves around a lot more than the cove I go to try to avoid any algae or other pollution issues. Which do you like the best?

I take Chase to the far end of that cove that has that water skiing dock. When the ski boats come through, I take him out of the water. The water is pretty still, but aside from the sharp shells and rocks that cut up my feet a lot and the bottom of his paws a little bit, he has a blast. We swim in the water together. He loves it. And so do I.

Thanks for the info. Protecting our puppies is a lot of work, but worth every second of it.

Brooke

[Sardo]

Maximus aspirated water at the Chula Vista pool and caught an upper respiratory infection. I normally don't take the dogs swimming too much in the winter time. Maximus doesn't really care to swim really anymore unless he is jumping so he does a few retrieves and than plays with his tire on the beach while Mia enjoys the swimming.