19/04/2021
Keep your fur babies safe everyone ... this virus doing the rounds sounds scary! 😟
IMPORTANT SAFETY NEWS:
If you are in the Kommetjie, Fish Hoek, Noordhoek and surrounding areas in the Western Cape, please take the time to read this post.
There is an outbreak of a particularly severe gastric virus in this area. We know, because it has affected one of our own. We are not vets, and this post is not medical advice, but intended to be informative and increase awareness and vigilance to ensure you keep your pups safe, as this virus is highly contagious, and extremely severe.
Leelo, one of our own, hasn't eaten anything since Thursday last week. She is finally drinking water, after an incredibly long and emotional weekend, and two visits to the vet.
She started throwing up bile on Friday night, and by Saturday, was in excruciating pain, despite a midnight vet visit, anti nausea and pain injection. By Sunday, we thought we were losing her, despite a second vet visit, antibiotics and pain injections. Her entire little body looked like it was caving in on itself, her breathing was ragged, uneven and shallow. She was constantly trembling, and isolating herself from us.
That's how quickly this virus deteriorates their health. After two vet visits, antibiotics and 2 pain injections, by Sunday, Leelo had not slept (neither had we) nor had she eaten anything, drank any water for two days. Getting her antibiotics tablet in, was incredibly challenging, as she kept throwing it up.
By 11 am on Saturday morning, Leelo was already the 7th dog in the area that our vet had seen with the same virus.
We are really grateful that we caught this as quickly as we did, and although not completely out of the woods, she is at least drinking water, and is not constantly trembling, or fighting sleep. We're now hoping she will eat something today, otherwise she'll have to be put on a drip. We are also really grateful for the 3 vets who helped us, guided us, and worked with Leelo to turn this around.
Please be vigilant about your dogs, if they stop eating, drinking water or start throwing up, monitor them closely, it's easy to assume that it could just be a little bit of bum tum. It started out that way for Leelo, but within 6 hours of still drinking water, and having a solid stool, she was in danger and regressing quickly.
If your dog is showing symptoms, please don't take them to public places until they have the all clear, and get them checked out by your vet as soon as you can. We still don't know how Leelo contracted it, but our vet has advised us it could have been as little as a droplet on one of our shoes that was enough for her to catch it.
