All events in Norway canceled: Mysterious virus kills 20 dogs

Several dogs in the vicinity of Oslo have recently suffered sudden and fatal illnesses. Veterinarians of Norway and the Norwegian, as well as Swedish Kennel Club strike alarm and take first steps to prevent the contagion. The Norwegian Kennel Club is canceling all events where dogs are included next weekend, while in Sweden, Norwegian dogs are prohibited from attending events in order to prevent the hitherto unknown pathogens from crossing. So far veterinarians attribute the 20 deaths in the last two days to this previously unknown disease.

The disease from the affected dogs is shown in the form of a bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Some of the animals have died on the way to the clinic, others could be stabilized emergency. What and where the disease is coming is still item of investigations. Due to the extreme frequency of the incidents, several specialists from Norway are currently exploring the mysterious disease. Because of the dispersion, there is no systematic overview of the cases. Nevertheless, attempts are made to explore similarities, such as contaminated feed or other influences. Generally it is recommended to keep the dogs as good as possible without contact to other dogs.

The Norwegian Kennel Club has responded within a short time and decided as a first step the cancellation of all events in which dogs are involved. Although it has not been proven that the pathogen is transmitted from dog to dog, nevertheless one would like to take as no risk as possible. Most affected cases were preceded by a walk in public parks. Sufferers who hold more than one dog report that the others have no symptoms so far. Sweden, as a direct neighbor, has responded promptly and excluded Norwegian dogs from all events until more is known about the disease.

In Finland, also neighboring country in the north and host country of the Agility World Championship 2019, they haven’t committed any measures so far. But they are follow the situation closely. Also, the organizers of the Norwegian Open, which will take place in October and are considered one of the largest European Agility tournaments, have drawn attention to the current situation in a first statement. But for the moment, they can only wait for the official investigations as all other involved dog owners.

Update: Finland has now also temporarily banned all in Norway living dogs from all events. Read more about it in our latest news about the epidemic.

Source: https://www.newsinenglish.no/2019/09/05/dogs-threatened-by-mysterious-ailment/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+newsinenglish%2FAzQS+%28Views+and+News+from+Norway%29