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Caithness_MMM
26-Jun-07, 11:15
As an area coordinator of the BDMLR (British Divers Marine Life Rescue) I have had some disturbing news that *MAY* affect a lot of dog owners in the UK.
Some of you may have already seen the news article yesterday about a virus called PDV (Phocine Distemper Virus) that has again occured in Denmark.... you may ask what has it to do with us? well briefly, it s a 'form' of the canine distemper virus and it kills. At the moment, the UK seal population has not contracted it, but, if history is going to repeat itself then give it a few months and we will start to see dead seals (more so than normal mortalities) washing up on our east coast beaches first then possibly spreading to the rest of the UK.
The virus affects Common seals more than Grey seals, and IS POSSIBLY TRANSFERRABLE TO DOGS. If your dog is vacinated then you *should* be ok if he/she decides to go and play with a dead infected seal carcass on the beach, if your dog is not vaccinated, then it stands a high chance of contracting this virus and believe me it wont be pretty.

The virus itself will damage the seals lungs, which will then be able to expell air into the body cavity causing 'airbubbles' under the skin which will not only be painful for the animal, but will stop it from diving and therefore hunting and eating and the affected animal will end up starving to death, the other way for it to die as the virus also attacks the immune system is other diseases etc coming in ie pneumonia, septiceamia from wounds etc.

As i said there are NO reports of this virus in the UK at the moment, it took 4 months from it being found in Denmark last time to reach the shores of Norfolk, but, i think it only fair that people are warned of the dangers of this happening as the first outbreak in 1988 (i think) saw over 3,000 carcasses washed up on the beaches and who knows how many more never came ashore.

For those of you that think the seals should be culled, there has been a 40% drop in numbers in the last year, this virus, if it does get to the UK can possibly drop the population by another 40% or more. It should make the salmon fishermen happy.

ANNIE
26-Jun-07, 12:24
My dog goes for his injections every year faithfully. Not only does he get his yearly booster he also gets his kennel cough. I always do this because you never know when you might need to put them to kennels and they won't accept them unless its been 3 weeks since they have had their kennel cough. I think it's a responsability to your dog for the sake of their health as much as he hates it but it only takes a few seconds. I know the cost will put some people off but is it not better to do this than end out with hundreds of pounds of vet bills.

Ash
26-Jun-07, 12:43
we got our puppy at the end of may and he has had both of his injections, and i intend to carry on having him get them, its crazy the people who dont have their animals vaccinated!:confused

why risk it?

Wish
26-Jun-07, 23:43
My dog is vaccinated too

I just wondered if I could copy and paste the information to dog forums I use to get the news to as many dog owners as possible?

Please let me know, thanks