Dog Illness Map Shows States Where Pets Are Affected

Dogs are falling sick with a mystery illness across the United States, with cases being recorded in at least 11 states, according to reports.

Health officials have confirmed instances of the respiratory disease in canines in California, Colorado, Oregon, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. There have also been cases reported in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois and Georgia, suggesting the illness may be spreading.

Dogs that come down with the illness are said to develop symptoms including a cough, fever and lethargy. Some can contract pneumonia and, in some cases, lead to death.

The illness was first recognized in Oregon earlier in the year, though local dog medics have previously told Newsweek there seemed to be little evidence of a widespread outbreak.

Newsweek approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratories via email for comment on Wednesday.

In an update on Tuesday, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association said it had received 200 reports of an "atypical canine infectious respiratory illness" to date, while "the cause remains unknown." Cases seem to be focused around the Portland region.

Kurt Williams, director of the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University, told the New York Times that dogs were finding the new illness harder to fight and, in some cases, it had resulted in the death of the animal.

He said veterinarians were unsure whether the illness was caused by a bacteria or a virus. "I'm open to it being either, and I'm open to it being something we're not even thinking about," Williams said.

The University of New Hampshire's Veterinary Diagnosis Laboratory has said that it may have identified a bacterium that may be responsible for the sickness, based on genetic sequencing of 30 dogs who were infected in the state in 2022 and a further 40 from Rhode Island and Massachusetts this year.

David Needle, chief pathologist at the diagnostics lab, described the microbe that they had isolated as "a weird bacterium" to NBC News, as it was smaller than normal bacteria.

Cases have also been reported in Colorado, with veterinarians in the Denver metro area recording the new respiratory disease impacting dogs. Anastasya Carbon, medical director of the Animal Care Center of Castle Pines, told CBS Colorado on Tuesday that it was seeing "at least five to six cases per day."

Lindsey Ganzer, a veterinarian and CEO at North Springs Veterinary Referral Center in Colorado Springs, told Today the clinic has seen around 30 dogs suffering with the symptoms of the mystery sickness since mid-October.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's veterinary program said on Tuesday it had received "multiple" reports of the unknown illness in dogs—10 since last Thursday.

Karl E. Jandrey, a professor at the University of California's School of Veterinary Medicine, told NBC News he had heard of unconfirmed cases from veterinarians in North Carolina and Virginia as well.

Vets in southwest Florida are also reportedly starting to see cases appear in the local dog population. Local news station WESH 2 cited the Seminole County Office of Emergency Management as saying eight dogs had so far been quarantined with the mystery illness.

Today also reported anecdotal cases occurring in Indiana, Illinois, Idaho and Georgia, citing Ganzer and the Oregon Department of Health.

The Washington State's official veterinarian Amber Itle stated on Friday that the Department of Agriculture had "not received any official reports from veterinarians nor any laboratory confirmations" of the illness.