Blue-green algae: Toxic scum can kill your dog
By Gina Spadafori
June 29, 2007
Pond scum can kill your dog. That’s the bottom line on blue-green algae, microscopic organisms that under the perfect storm of proper conditions can produce a neurotoxin that can kill your dog (or you child, for that matter) in minutes.
The Whole Dog Journal just moved an alert confirming a death in Michigan. I have a strong suspicion of another also in the humid middle of the country, that cannot be confirmed because it’s too late for the necrospy, but the story is almost exactly the same as the one below. But cases in previous years have been reported all over the country. From the WDJ:
The dangers of a “toxic bloom” of blue-green algae are well known in some states. According to a website published by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, certain environmental conditions that generally occur late in summer can trigger a sudden overgrowth of a certain family of algae called cyanobacteria. This type of algae occurs in many aquatic environments year-round, but may thrive to a dangerous degree in during periods of sustained warm, sunny days in shallow, nutrient rich bodies of water. In these conditions, the blue-green algae suddenly “blooms” – that is, reproduces exponentially. The algae produce a powerful toxin – one of the most powerful natural poisons known. The state of Minnesota warns its citizens about this hazard, stating that the blue-green algae blooms are occasionally responsible for the deaths of livestock and dogs who drink contaminated water.
However, when the man whose dog died this week in Michigan contacted his state’s Department of Natural Resources, looking for more information about the dangerous algae, he says he was told that the toxic blooms rarely occur except in late summer, and not to either panic or panic other people. “Had someone else panicked, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” the grieving owner told the state representative.
Dog owners should be aware that toxic algae blooms usually occur in late summer or early fall, but can occur at any time. They can occur in marine, estuarine, and (especially) fresh water. The latter are of the greatest concern to dog owners, as dogs are commonly taken to ponds, lakes, and reservoirs in the summer for recreation, exercise, and cooling — and they routinely drink the water. Some of these algae blooms look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of the water. The blooms can be blue, bright green, brown, or red (“red tide” is perhaps the best-known so-called “harmful algal bloom”) – but some blooms may not affect the appearance of the water. The water may or may not smell bad. As a further difficulty to dog owners trying to protect their dogs, not all algal blooms are toxic!
When an algal bloom is toxic, obviously, it can kill or seriously sicken an animal, sometimes as quickly as within 15 or 20 minutes of ingestion. The effects depend on the amount ingested, the size of the animal, the amount of food in the animal’s stomach (a full stomach has some protective effect), the sensitivity of the species and individual animal, and the amount of toxin present in the bloom.
Here’s the rest. We also did some quick veterinary journal searches and checked with other veterinary sources and found that this is not at all uncommon. And yet … I did not realize how big a concern it should be and I swim my dogs all the time. We always avoid stagnant water — in fact, they’re river swimmers — but you can be double-damn sure I’ll be even more careful now. Especially since some of the cases in recent years have been in California.
Thank you for this thread post Gina. I walk my dogs around G. P. Ponds but keep them away from the water even though many people swim their dogs in the pond. Well one day I forgot my portable cloth bowl I carry and just had my water bottle so I took them to the pond and was going to let them drink then I looked at the water - nothing but gross scum and I wondered how people could let their pets swim in it. Now for sure I’ll keep them away from all stagnate water and especially the scum -
Comment by Linda — June 29, 2007 @ 1:36 pm
I too want to say thank you for covering this story. Too often we forget the dangers of water to our dogs and ourselves.
Thanks Gina,
Katie
Comment by Katie — June 29, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
thanks gina, I had no idea. we have an old bog down back the dogs like to jump into.
Comment by Trudy Jackson — June 29, 2007 @ 5:27 pm
another thanks here! i have the 12-24 hour rule for the huge puddles we get here for dot rolling, and i’m sure they dry up before algae hits, but i know plenty of others i need to pass this on to! and another thing for me to remember when i hit country living!! OY! visions of playing with dog in river dance out of my head . . .
Comment by straybaby — June 29, 2007 @ 7:21 pm
I live in Humboldt County, California (about six hours north of San Francisco) and the algae bloom warning has become a yearly event since the death of nine dogs was front page news three or four years ago.
The South Fork of the Eel River and Big Lagoon seem to be the riskiest places.
Because I know that he will drink at the first opportunity, I don’t let my rough collie go anywhere near any river or lagoon around here from late June until the rains start in October. We go to the beach instead. Not much of a sacrifice though :-).
Comment by Susan Fox — July 2, 2007 @ 7:40 pm
Thank you very much for this article. I run my R Ridgeback almost daily a mile or two and at the end of the run she goes for a swim in the reservoirs here in the UP of MI. One day about the middle of June the water had golden “seeds” floating in it. For some reason ZOE did not go swimming that day. Maybe she knew something was wrong.
Thank you again for this article.
Comment by Jolly Jim — July 4, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
Hi, I’m glad you’ve put this up. I believe my cat may have died from this algae, this summer - in Minnesota no less - but even when I took him into the vet, algae poisoning was not the first thing they thought of, because his symptoms were more similar to a cat who had been hit by a car and had internal injuries. The pond next to our house was covered with green algae - like a mat, just as the descriptions said. He had only ingested a small amount of water, but I think he had gone over to the pond several times over the course of several days. Obviously he did not swim but several small ingestions are probably equivalent to one swimming session.
Perhaps you could post more on your site about what the treatments are, for vets who are unfamiliar - in a small number of cases you may save a life if a person can bring in the instructions to their vet off of your web site.
Comment by H. Franek — November 10, 2007 @ 12:44 am
O.K., I have just found the treatment myself, from a 2005 article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online paper. Bring it to your vet if you suspect poisoning:
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Jim Stevenson, co-owner of the Oregon Veterinary Clinic, treated the dog with intravenous fluids and Valium to reduce the seizures.
“Every muscle on the dog was going,” he recalled. “The legs were trying to run.” But Griffin couldn’t stand.
After Mittelsteadt described the thick concentration of blue-green algae in the pond, Stevenson also administered atropine, a poison antidote, and charcoal, to absorb any remaining algae in the dog’s stomach.
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Hopefully we will stop losing pets to this horror!
- Heather Franek
Comment by Heather Franek — November 10, 2007 @ 12:57 am
wow, i am 59 years young and i was raised up next to a creek that flowed near my home,there was one deeper spot know as the BLUEHOLE where on hot summer afternoons kids would come some with ther dogs , from near and far to dive wade and swim for hours on end,moss everywhere , filthy? oh heck yeah , i was about 7 and i played in it with my friends till we were at least 14 or 15 ,after that it wasnt to kool to smell like creek water,any how my question is ???how did everyone survive this?or is this something new??
Comment by mike zilem — April 16, 2008 @ 7:43 pm