Pooch lucky to be alive after drinking Lake Winnipeg water
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2019 (1685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A pet owner whose two-year-old dog nearly died after lapping up blue-green algae-laced water in Lake Winnipeg is warning others to keep their animals away from the contaminated water.
Graham Thorne said he went out to Lester Beach for a day of fun with his dad and his Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, Odie, last weekend. But they had no sooner gotten there than they ran into trouble.
“The dog might have been to a beach as a puppy, but this was his first time this summer,” he said.
“He just went to the water and had a few gulps and it started impacting him in about 20 minutes. The water was green and disgusting and we tried moving further down, but he had already drank the water.
“He probably got three or four good gulps in him.”
Thorne said when the dog began vomiting they decided to leave. But by the time they got off the beach and were back at the vehicle, Odie “limped and fell down flat on his side.
“It was extremely scary when he started going into paralysis. We got him into the truck and sped to Winnipeg. He puked three times on the beach and at the vet, too.
“I’m grateful we got him to the vet in an hour and a half.”
Four days of treatment later, the emergency veterinarians on Pembina Highway released the dog.
“His liver toxicity was at 1,680, when high normal is 120 — that’s 10 times the normal,” Thorne said.
“The bill was over $2,000, but that’s what you do when you have a sick dog.”
Dr. Jennifer Loewen, an emergency and critical-care specialist at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, said “he’s a lucky dog.
“One of the problems with the toxins of blue-green algae is they act so quickly. And sometimes you can’t seen the (algal) blooms.”
Loewen said the toxins in the algae affect the liver and gastrointestinal tract, but also cause neurological damage.
“It can happen so quickly,” she said.
“They could still be in the water or on their way home. And there is no antidote.”
Loewen said the best a veterinarian can do is treat the symptoms by injecting the animal with a protectant medicine for the liver and administer anti-seizure medication.
She said veterinarians don’t really have an idea about the long-term prognosis of pets who get sick on algae because “so many dogs die of this we don’t have long-term followups.”
As for Odie, Thorne said he’s thankful the dog appears to have left all the ill effects behind him.
And Thorne’s advice for other dog owners heading to the lake?
“Be extremely cautious and look for all the warning signs for algae,” he said.
“It’s only a matter of minutes and your life can change forever.”
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is one of the more versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether it is covering city hall, the law courts, or general reporting, Rollason can be counted on to not only answer the 5 Ws — Who, What, When, Where and Why — but to do it in an interesting and accessible way for readers.