Blue-green Algae

Posted by: Richard Dane on 14 August 2017

Twig, one of our Lurchers, is in dog hospital tonight thanks to a suspected case of blue-green algae poisoning. He probably lived for much of his life outdoors and so has a taste for pond water in preference to the many clean water bowls around and about the house. He was off his food at supper time - very odd when it's raw steak, eggs, carrots and kale -and then I found him salivating and with uncontrollable bowel evacuations. A call to the vet and the prognosis was a real shock - probable blue-green algae poisoning. A quick check of the pond in the garden showed that today there is a bloom in progress. He needed immediate attention and worst of all, there's no antidote. I'd heard about the dangers of blue-green algae with dogs, but never dreamt it would something that would affect one of our dogs.

Luckily the other dogs are not so keen on pond water and I will ensure that the area is blocked off as best as possible. But tonight we just have to wait and hope for the best and pray that Twig is strong enough to make it.

Here's a picture of Twig taken in the field just a couple of days ago (luna behind and Louby-Lou somewhere else in the corn)..

So for all you dog owner and lovers out there, please take care if you see any blue-green algae around.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Richard Dane

He's home and we've just been on a fairly gentle walk. I say "fairly gentle" but it was difficult to rein him in, particularly because Luna was egging him on so much. He's now asleep on the sheepskin in my office. It appears to have made a quite remarkable recovery. Strong dog. A survivor for sure.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Gazza

Did the vet think there would be any after effects as it can damage the liver, or was he really lucky?

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Richard Dane

Liver damage is a risk although thanks to getting him to the vet quickly the vet thinks that more serious damage was averted. He has been prescribed some Samylin which is an antioxidant and should help towards liver recovery.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Gazza

Great Richard, sounds like good news. Discussed your near miss with blue green algae today with friends, it's surprisingly common occurrence in lakes and ponds! Did not realise.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Richard Dane

Gazza, yes, I've learned a lot more about blue-green algae in the last 24 hours.

p.s. I followed up on your problem discs and Phil Harris is on the case.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by MDS

GregU posted:
Potatoes? No way. Dogs love French fries

Mine too. Roasties, chips even mash. I knew about onions, grapes and chocolate but not potatoes.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by MDS

Just caught up with this thread Richard. As a fellow dog lover I can well imagine the worry you've been through over the last 24 hours so am really pleased to learn that Twig's pulled through.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Gazza

Richard, thank you about the cd,s

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Bruce Woodhouse

Glad to hear that Twig has reasonable expectations of becoming Branch.

Bruce

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by NFG

Richard Dane posted:
He's home and we've just been on a fairly gentle walk. I say "fairly gentle" but it was difficult to rein him in, particularly because Luna was egging him on so much. He's now asleep on the sheepskin in my office. It appears to have made a quite remarkable recovery. Strong dog. A survivor for sure.

Thats great news Richard, heres hoping his recovery continues.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Gianluigi Mazzorana

Richard Dane posted:
It appears to have made a quite remarkable recovery. Strong dog. A survivor for sure.

Good news!

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by analogmusic

good news ! wish him a full recovery soon.

I have a cat myself, and I understand the feeling very well you went through.

Posted on: 15 August 2017 by Corry

tonym posted:
Our second home in Cumbria's next to Derwent Water (I know it's one word but the bad word filter doesn't like that for some reason).

The bad word filter gets a sad because it sees a naughty sequence of four letters when you turn Derwent Water into one word.

The tendency of computer filters to mistakenly block bad words is so common that it has a name, the Town in Lincolnshire problem (had to redact the actual name, for reasons that will be obvious when you visit the link).

Posted on: 16 August 2017 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Well the one that gets me and I still wince when I see it is the word smeg... I won't say what that meant to me when I was growing up and with the playground humour ... but it is very unsavoury and no way would I have something with the word smeg on it in my kitchen, let alone my house.... and the naughty word checker clearly lets it in here... it's funny how parochial these sensitivities are..

Posted on: 16 August 2017 by Eloise

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:
Well the one that gets me and I still wince when I see it is the word smeg... I won't say what that meant to me when I was growing up and with the playground humour ... but it is very unsavoury and no way would I have something with the word smeg on it in my kitchen, let alone my house.... and the naughty word checker clearly lets it in here... it's funny how parochial these sensitivities are..

(with apologies to Simon in advance)

Posted on: 22 August 2017 by Gazza

Hi Richard, is all still OK with your dog, no after effects?

Posted on: 23 August 2017 by Richard Dane

Gazza, he's doing just fine thanks. He recovered very quickly - incredible to think what he was like just over a week ago.

Posted on: 28 August 2017 by TOBYJUG

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/28/mystery-remains-over-chemical-haze-that-hit-east-sussex-coasthttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/28/mystery-remains-over-chemical-haze-that-hit-east-sussex-coast